I am on day 2 of negotiations with my local dealer. I have the truck in my signature, which I am trading in.

Brief story: I bought this truck used one and a half years ago. I traded in an 11 month old z71 for this one, causing me to become upside down on the loan. 37k on the clock right now. I estimate that I would have to keep the truck another 4 years to ever start any equity in it, at that time, the drivetrain and engine warranty would be either gone, or almost gone with still another year and half on the note to pay.

We are down right now to trading mine in and a complete payoff made on my truck. I leave with an '06 CTD quad cab, SLT 4x2, 39 month lease with option to buy at the end of the term, or pay $250 disposal fee and get the keys to another new one. Payment on my current truck is $542 mo and payment on the '06 would be $549 mo.

I will have 12k miles annually on the '06. I have had my truck a year and a half and have put 11k on it, so this is not a problem for me. As you can see, It is not a daily driver. Only used on my days off, always pampered and clean and main use is pulling my travel trailer on weekend getaways.

Any thoughts or recommendations welcome.
Thanks

 

how much more than 549 a month could it be if you were to buy it instead of lease? even if you tack on another year or two to the loan it would be yours, to do with what you want, to bomb customize modify dent whatever you want. while the mileage you put on it you could keep it 15 years without a problem. I cna't figure leases out unless for business use and writeoff.

 

i think you are better off keeping the truck you have now and just paying it off . no disrespect- i have never been up side down on an auto loan- i made sure of it! i could never justify a 549.00 payment a month on a vehicle- especially a lease!!!!

 

DONT DO IT!!!!


ZERO EQUITY AT END OF LEASE


Yeah I have a 550+ payment cause amount due at end of lease ate up trade-in value

Dont believe that $250 disposal crap...If you terminate early, as in trade before lease is over, you owe whatever is remaining on the lease....$250 ony applies at full term of the lease....then you have nothing left to trade....

Either way, you're left with nothing in the end


Yeah, I learned the hard way

 

It is a closed end lease right, not a opened end. Opened in where they can change the price at the end of the lease, and closed end is where the value of the truck at the end of the lease is set now. My sister is leasing a bmw right now (wants more car than she can afford) just don't scratch it and put new tires on it when you take it back and you will be fine. If your not going to use all of your miles, try to deal for 10k miles a year, it should drop the payment. My sister got hers for 15k a year, miles on it were 15 cents up front or 20 cents at the end so try to hit it as close as you can, and use them all. jmo

 

Leases are only good if you plan on switching vehicles on a regualr basis. Thats definately a luxury that I'd like to be able to afford. You have to be resigned to just renting a vehicle and always having a car payment.

The advantage is that you are always driving something newer and you can better keep up with the new technology. These days , no matter what you buy, it's outdated by the time you get home .

I like to switch vehicles frequently but I'm going to try my best to keep this truck another 8.5 years or longer . I figure if I spend another 10 grand on it, it'lll be the perfect truck .

 

Thanks for the replies, from one end of the scale to the other. I am leaning toward the lease option at this point and as pointed out, I am upside down for the first time in my driving career by a long way with this one. The Z71 being only 11months old, did not have the Umphh to pull my TT, so I had to trade it for the one year old Dodge at the time, which put me upside down and backwards in it.

I have owned new & used vehicles for the past 20yrs and have NEVER paid one off yet. I have always had a car payment, and have spent some $$ in the past on out of warranty repairs which really hurt.

That has made me paranoid for the last 4-5 vehicles I have owned and I have always traded prior to the expiration of the warranty.

With that being said and with having always had a car payment, I see this as the only way to bail out on what I have now and keep a new vehicle every 39 months.

One question I do have for anyone who knows, what is up with the 39 month lease? This puts me out of manufactors warranty by 3 months or just over 36k miles?

Thanks again for all responses.

 

I would really avoid the lease. If you really want a new truck, as has been mentioned, buy one...you still make out better in the end than leasing. Sure, the payments will be slightly higher, but in the end you either have a truck you can keep, or a good trade in for another.

I would just hang onto yours. Its my understanding that Cummins has a 100K warranty? If so, at your present mileage/year, you have another 8.5 years of warranty left on the engine.

Be VERY careful of leases. I have close personal experience with people who have been taken when turning in a vehicle. One woman was charged $4000 for a new paint job for her minivan, because it had carwash swirls in it. If you put a trailer hitch on and forget to remove it when it gets turned in, they can charge you for the reduced value of the vehicle because it was towed with. There are laws that say you can't be charged for "normal wear", but who decides whats normal? And when the dealer charges for "damages", they don't exactly go easy on you. If the tires are low, would you like to be charged over $200 each for factory original tires, when you could have bought some for half that? Or charged $1000+ if the driver's seat fabric has wear? its all possible, and something to watch out for.

Just don't fall for the temptation of having a brand new shiny truck for the same monthly payment of yours, then get taken in the end.

Jim

 

In your case with no down payment a lease may be an option..

My neighbor went to buy a new car and the lease interest rates were less than the new car financing. so instead of giving them her down payment (which was about what the buy off was) she leased it and put the buy off money in a 36 month CD. at the end of the lease she just paid it and kept the car.

In this case she saved some money with a lease. It was just give them the down payment at the end instead of the beginning..

Gerry

 

I would NEVER lease a truck . Any time you bring it in for service they can make you have any little ding or dent repaired . They'll nickle and dime you to death .

 

I have to agree with the general consensus of the others and say DON'T DO IT!!!!

I just don't see why you want to trade anyway. What is wrong with the truck you have? I don't see that you gain anything except a truck with 39,000 less miles (which is nothing on a Cummins) and you lose the 4x4, which is a mistake in my opinion.

You are asking for opinions....so here is mine. Keep your truck! Drive it for 300,000 miles. You will eventually get it paid it off and as long as it runs it will always be worth $10,000 or so.

Have you considered spending a little bit of money on yours to bomb it a little? If you bought an exhaust or air intake....eventually a chip or something it may stay new and interesting to you for a longer period of time.

I wouldn't worry so much about the warranty. The cummins is not likely to fail you.

The reason you are in this upside down fix is because you keep trading. Your truck that you have now is already depreciated it's largest part of it's worth, so you may as well keep it. You go and get another one.....lease or buy....you are still going to be eating that depreciation. They just move the numbers around some.

I vote to keep your current truck and make some minor modifications to it that will make you LOVE it.

 

that is tue in some cases but not usually me and my wife have leased 8 vehicles and done ok on all of them, the thing to remember is to go short term or atleast the term you plan on keeping it....most people get into trouble when they do a 60 month lease and try to trade in 2-3 years.....the 39 month Chrysler lease is a good deal.....you can buy it at the end of the lease or turn it back in! like he said he has had a car payment for 20 years, why not drive a newer vehicle if you know you are going to have a payment....and yes usually the 39 month lease through Chrysler Financial has a better Money factor-interest rate- than the typical buy interest rate! try to plan it out if you want a new truck in 39 months , keep it 39 months!
they do offer 15,000 and 18,000 miles a year if you plan on turning it in, yes the payment is a little higher but the residual is lower with the extended milage. Keep in mind if you come back in 3 years you also can trade the truck in to the dealer(not having to worry with the bank issues) and the diesel has a great tradein value-atleast here anyway.

Good luck Id do the 39 Month deal!
Joe

 

I truly appreciate everyone's opinion here, pro and con. Today is the day to make my decision though, and after sleeping on it, I will proceed with the lease.

As stated, with the exception of the Z71 which caused this problem, I have never kept a vehicle longer than 3 years max anyhow. To gain my first $1.00 bill in equity in this one, means I will have to keep it another 4 years, still leaving another year and half on payments. Buying it used, means that the inservice date to the original owner only leaves me with less than 36months on DC's 7 yr warranty, which means I would drive an 8 1/2 yr old truck and still be making payments.

From having always made payments and always trading at warranty expiration, I've never had equity anyhow. This will allow me to eat this mistake in 39 months instead of over the next 5 1/2 years.

In 28 months, which will be the expiration of this trucks current warranty, I will start a savings account based on what parts and labor would be for a hypothetically replaced lift pump, injector pump, ball joints and ECM, (all of which seem to be frequently failing items in the early '03's). That and 2 complete sets of hypothetically replaced tires, will give me an account at 39 months equal to having equity to pay down on the next one.

Again, thanks for the responses, each and everyone has helped me.

 

Leasing is like renting. It's never yours. Leasing only make sense if the vehicle can be used as a write off for business expense.

MikeyB