Owning A Car

Owning a Car

Introduction:

Leasing and buying a car are two different methods in which an individual can acquire a car, the two are however different but they are both similar in some aspects, buying involves paying up for the whole value of the car either by funding it through a loan from a bank or cash, when you obtain a loan from a bank then you will be required to pay some amount each month and at the same time pay interest for the loan.

leasing on the other hand is the process of paying only a portion of the car value and this is a measure of what you use up when driving it, in leasing a person is required to make a down payment and at the same time pay each month which is similar to loan payment and at the same time pay for the money factor which is similar to interest payment for the loan. When the lease period is over one may decide to purchase the car for the current value after depreciation or return it.

This paper analysis both situation whereby one buys a vehicle and the other option is car lease, this two options are different and one must consider both option depending on the prevailing interest rates and loan payment and at the same time the lease options available, this case studies the purchase of a Nissan maxima car and the various option a buyer will have. The Nissan maxima car costs $30,380 where both cases in the lease and loan have differing terms and conditions.

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Buying a car:

When one buys a car and funding this by acquiring a loan from a bank, one is required to pay for the loan on monthly basis and at the same time one is required to pay interest, at the end of the loan payment the car will be your property. This is one major advantage with acquiring a loan instead of a lease in that nothing is required to be paid when one repays the loan.

Leasing:

Leasing requires that you pay up for the depreciation of the vehicle that you acquire and at the same time pay for an amount as security, you own the car for a certain period of time of which you have an option to buy the car after the period has expired or you return the vehicle. Leasing however in most cases offer less monthly payment than purchase, however at the end of the lease period you will have to return the vehicle or purchase the vehicle.

Nissan model and their recommended or suggested prices for retailers, data was retrieved from http://autos.aol.com/nissan-listings:NI—?sort=az&page=2

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CAR TYPE

RETAIL PRICE

1

Nissan Sentra

20,180

2

Nissan Titan

38,530

3

Nissan Versa

15,630

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4

Nissan Xterra

28,630

5

Nissan 350Z

40,250

6

Nissan Altima

28,280

7

Nissan Altima Hybrid

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25,070

8

Nissan Armada

44,630

9

Nissan Frontier

27,950

10

Nissan Maxima

30,380

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11

Nissan Murano

31,930

12

Nissan Pathfinder

38,780

13

Nissan Quest

34,330

14

Nissan Rogue

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21,870

We will consider the Nissan maxima car, the recommended retail price is 30,380, this is

according to the website http://autos.aol.com/nissan-listings:NI—?sort=az&page=2 , while

in the lease we have the condition that an individual will have to pay $460 per month for 48

months, and this is according to

www.leasetrader.com/info/short-term/car/lease/transfer/auto-lease.aspx

We will compare the two situations where we have lease and the other where we have loan to purchase the vehicle, because the lease is 48 months then we will still have to consider a loan that goes for the same number of years. The interest rates are retrieved from http://www.eloan. com/

Loan

We will consider a loan payable within 48 months which also means two years, at the same time we will consider the interest rate as 7.2%, and we will consider both simple and compound interest rate.

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simple  interest rate

compound  interest rate

rate

7.20%

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period

48months

year one

2187.36

amount

30,380

amount

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32,567

year two

2344.84992

interest  rate per year

2187.36

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amount

34,912

two years

4374.72

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total  amount

34,755

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total  interest

4,532

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total  interest

4,375

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payment per  month

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payment  per month

724.0567

727.3377067

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From the above excel calculation, when we consider the simple interest rate which is 7.2% per annum for two years the total interest to be paid will be $4,375 with simple interest rate the amount to be paid per month amounts to $724 for two years. In the case for compound interest rate the total interest rate to be paid amounts to $4,532, the amount to be paid each month for 2 years amount to $727 each month.

Lease:

In the case of a lease one is offered 48 months where each month you will be required to pay $460 per month for two years, from the calculations after two years one will have paid $22,080 while at the end of the two years the value of the car will be $8,300, therefore at the end of the two years if one wants to own the car he or she will have to only pay for $8300 and the car becomes his asset. However this amount is exclusive of other charges that are not indicated. The table below summarizes the lease option when purchasing a car in the US.

460 DOLARS PER MONTH

48MONTHS

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TOTAL PAY

22080

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cost of car

30380

scrap value

8300

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total pay is

30380

Advantages of a lease:

There exist various advantages that are associated with a lease and they include:

In a lease one will have to payless per month than in a loan, from the above when one goes for a loan one is required to pay $724 per month, for the lease you will be required to pay $460 for the same car for two years, this therefore clearly shows that a lease is much less cheaper than finance through loans.

The other advantage is that for a lease one does not pay interest rate, for the loan one is required to pay interest rate, in the case of simple interest rate for the two years the total interest paid to the bank is $4375, while for the compound interest rates then one will pay a total of $4532 of interest rates. As compared to the lease there is no interest rates that are paid and for this reason a lease has advantage over the loan.

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Interest rates may fluctuate over the years for the acquired loan, for a lease the terms are not likely to change in the extent that there will be a heavy burden to the car owner, therefore to avoid the changes in the interest rates which may lead to one paying high for his loan it would be better to opt for the lease.

Advantage of a loan:

When one acquires a loan the car automatically becomes his and the only thing that remains is paying back the money to the bank, in this case when one opts for lease one is required to pay the amount that remains after depreciation has been deducted on the initial value of the vehicle, at the end of the lease period one will have to pay the difference so that one acquires the car, in our case if one opts for lease, after two years the person will be required to pay $8300 in order for the car to be his property.

The other advantage of the loan is that for the lease there are other hidden charges associated with the lease, for the bank loan all that is required to pay is the bank money and the bank interest on the loan.

Another advantage of taking a loan instead of a lease is that when one purchases the vehicle through a loan, one can sell the vehicle even before one completely pays up the loan, this is not in the case of a lease where on cannot sell the car for money before the completion of the two year period and also paying for the extra amount.

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Finally another advantage with the loan is that you can acquire a long term loan which may require you to pay the loan for an extended period of time example paying a loan for ten years, the monthly amount that one will be required to repay for this loan will be much less than the amount one is required to pay for the lease.

Short run:

In the short run it is better to go for the lease, when one acquires the lease in the short run you will only be required to pay only some little amount at the end of the month, according to our calculations one will be required to pay almost half of what a loan payer is supposed to pay, therefore it would be best to go for the lease in the short run.

Long run:

In the long run it would be best to go for a loan to finance the vehicle purchase, when one acquires the loan there will be no future amount that will be required in order to acquire the vehicle, one automatically acquires the vehicle when one fiancés the purchase through a loan. Therefore in the long run it would be best for one to go for a loan in that the car will be yours at the end of the two years and one is not required to pay any extra money as in the case of a lease.

Results:

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For the long term advantage it would be better to go for the loan, this is because on will only be required to pay for the loan and no other charges will be imposed at the end of the two years, however this will depend on ones income, for the loan one can sell the vehicle before the end of the two years which is not the case with a lease. If a person’s income is low it would be best to opt for the lease, at the end of the two year period one can acquire a loan of the remaining amount and pay for the car.

For the lease one is required to pay for $460 per month whereas for the loan one will be required to pay $724 per month if the interest is calculated using simple interest rates. With regard to monthly payment the lease would be a good option, however regarding the resale before the two year period it would be advisable to acquire a loan from a bank. In conclusion it is best to acquire a loan, despite its high per month pay. at the end one will have acquired an asset that requires no other charges apart from the interest rate and loan payment.

Example two:

We consider other cars which include Nissan Murano, Nissan frontier and our previous car which is Nissan maxima, for a Nissan Murano one is required to pay $578 for 36 months for the Nissan frontier one is required to pay $425 for 16 months on for our previous car which Nissan maxima one is required to pay $460 for 48 months. The table below summarizes the three vehicles under lease:

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lease

months

amount per month

total payment

original cost

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value after lease period

Nissan Murano

16

578

9248

27,950

18,702

Nissan frontier

36

425

15300

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31,930

16,630

Nissan maxima

48

460

22080

30,380

8,300

The table below estimates the amount while under loan payment;

loan  payment

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months

amount

interest  rate

interest

total  payment

payment  per month

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Nissan Murano

16

27,950

7.20%

2683.2

30,633

1914.575

Nissan frontier

36

31,930

7.20%

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6896.88

38,827

1078.524

Nissan maxima

48

30,380

7.20%

8749.44

39,129

815.1967

The table below shows a comparison of the two options in terms of their monthly payment:

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lease

loan

Nissan Murano

578

1914.575

Nissan frontier

425

1078.524

Nissan maxima

460

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815.1967

The chart below shows the different cars and the amount that is required to be paid either through a loan or lease:

From the above the lease is much cheaper as compared to the loan payment per month, therefore as compared above the loan payment is almost double the amount we pay when we lease a car. Therefore the lease has an advantage over the loan in terms of per month payments.

Conclusion:

Lease has an advantage over loan in that one will have to pay less per month than in a loan, from the above when one goes for a loan one is required to pay $724 per month while for the lease you will be required to pay $460 for the same car for two years, another advantage is that for a lease one will not pay interest rate, for the loan one is required to pay interest rate, in the case of simple interest rate for the two years the total interest paid to the bank is $4375, while for the compound interest rates then one will pay a total of $4532 of interest rates.

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As compared to the lease where no interest rates is paid, Interest rates are likely to fluctuate over the years for the loan where one may be required to pay high interest rates, for a lease the terms are not likely to change therefore to avoid the changes in the interest rates which may lead to one paying high for his loan it would be better to opt for the lease.

For the loan it has its own advantage in that the car becomes a persons property when one purchases a car which is financed through loan, in the case of a lease one is required to pay the amount that remains after depreciation, The other advantage of the loan is that for the lease there are other hidden charges associated with the lease, for the bank loan all that is required to pay is the bank money and the bank interest on the loan.

Taking a loan instead of a lease has an advantage in that when one purchases the vehicle through a loan. One can sell the vehicle even before one completely pays up the loan. Finally with the loan one can acquire a long term loan which may require you to pay the loan for an extended period of time example paying a loan for ten years, the monthly amount that one will be required to repay for this loan will be much less than the amount one is required to pay for the lease.

It is therefore best to acquire a loan instead of a lease when purchasing a vehicle, this is because after acquiring the loan the vehicle becomes ones asset and one can sell the vehicle even before one has completed repaying the loan. Therefore in our case the lease is only good for the case of short term benefits of low payment per month while the loan has long term benefits despite high payments per month.

References:

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Nissan cars (2007) Nissan cars and their retail price, retrieved on 29th September, available at http://autos.aol.com/nissan-listings:NI—?sort=az&page=2

Lease traders (2007) lease option on different cars, retrieved on 29th September, available at w ww.leasetrader.com/info/short-term/car/lease/transfer/auto-lease.aspx

Loan interest rates (2007) interest rates on loans, retrieved on 29th September, available at htt p://www.eloan.com/

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