Cheap car leasing - you must pay attention to these traps

Leasing is not worth it for private individuals, is often said. That is not right. Leasing a car can be a smart alternative, as some leasing offers hide big discounts.

Leasing attracts many interested parties, because you already get a new car from the dealer with a small down payment. The advertisement sounds seductive, but do not be fooled by statements such as "199 euros a month". Crucial for the costs of leasing is the combination of one-time payment and monthly installments, then converted from monthly 199 euros quickly more than 400 euros.

For self-employed leasing is interesting because of the combination of "leasing plus company car". For private drivers, the lease must also count on tax deduction.

Price decline in leasing

In the car market, the list prices are no longer the prices paid by the customer. Only with the so-called premium brands, the discounts for new cars are limited. To save, the buyer has to resort to a year-old car or lease. Special offers offer specialized portals - Leasingtime.de is one of them. Here, the cars are often preconfigured, so you can not take an extremely individual compilation, but must resort to commercially available configurations. But it will be much cheaper. An important sign is the so-called leasing factor - it indicates how many percent of the list price is a monthly rate. A few years ago, values of 1.2 were considered excellent; today there are many vehicles with a factor of less than 0.9 percent.

Which types of leases are recommended?

For the private customer, only so-called mileage leasing with guaranteed residual value is of interest. They typically drive the car for three or four years. At the same time, a total mileage is agreed. Drive less, get back money, drive more, have to pay extra. At the end of the term, the car goes back to the dealer. If you only want to drive new cars for a few years, you always have the latest model, but you also have to dig deep into your pocket. In the first years, the loss of value is particularly high, whether you buy or lease the car.

Which vehicles can you lease?

Leased vehicles of all manufacturers. Most of them are new vehicles and new ones, but leasing returns are also leased three years later. For older used cars leasing is rarely offered. The leasing of classic cars and classic cars is a special case, the peculiarities of German tax law uses cleverly. New vehicles can be configured freely. But make sure that a price indication usually includes only the bare base model. Within a series, there are price differences of over one hundred percent. Easier is the calculation of an existing vehicle - here is the declared price for exactly this car.