Money Factor?

[NickCats]

I will never lease again ! About 4 cars ago I learned a very valuable ( and expensive ) lesson. I leased a brand new Jeep Grand Cherokee from a leasing company here in Chicago. I told them I needed a 3 year 60k mile lease ( I used to drive a lot back then ). They said no problem, found me the Jeep, I signed the papers and was on my way. 3 years go by and I have 60k miles. I go to the leasing company and all the doors and windows were boarded shut. I went home and pulled the contract and instead of being on a 36 month lease I was on a 63 month lease ! I called the bank and my options were :

a. Continue driving the Jeep and pay for every mile over 60k until the lease ends.

b. Purchase the Jeep for $12k PLUS the remaining lease payments ( another $12k )

( Keep in mind I had already made $18k in lease payments ! )

My $30k Jeep was worth about $10k at the time...

So, I had to buy ANOTHER car and the Jeep sat parked in the driveway for 2 years until the lease was up ( while I continued to make $500 monthly payments and keep full coverage insurance for a vehicle I could not drive ).

If I had continued to drive the Jeep and put another 40k miles on the car I would have owed the bank $10k ( $0.25 per mi ) at the end of the lease.

The company that scammed me had done this to 300 other people, pocketed the money and filed bankruptcy and there was nothing I could do.

Needless to say, I will never again lease a car AND I read every contract IN DETAIL before I sign.

Bottom line, if you lease :

a. do not attempt to get out of the lease early
b. be very careful of the mileage restrictions
c. only lease from well established dealers
d. READ THE CONTRACT

Nick