Use these fleet leasing tips to get
the best arrangement for your fleet. |
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Fleet Manager:
Always ask for the Fleet Manager if you have
to lease from a dealership.
Go directly to the person who is equipped to
provide you with the customer service you
need. |
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Leasign Source:
Leasing from an auto manufacturer through
one of their dealerships is preferrable to
leasing through an independent leasing
company. Manufacturers offers
discounts and other incentives and even
financing to make it more attractive. |
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Step Lease: If
your business is cash strapped but need to
build your fleet ask for a "Step Lease".
This type of lease will allow you to make
the minimum payments in the early months of
the lease while you work on increase your
cash flow. |
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Lease Period: Pay
attention to the lease period.
Dealerships will try to shorten the lease
period in order to move you over to the new
model that will be coming soon.
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Financing Source:
You can finance your lease fleet through a
bank loan, an independnet leasing company or
financing from the dealership. If you
have a line of credit with the bank don't
use it to finance the lease. Instead
use it for other business operations and use
the finance offered by the dealership or an
independent leasing company. It's
taking an additional debit, but it leaves
you with more working capital to grow your
business. |
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Shop Around:
Shop around to see what others have to
offer. Get quotes from different fleet
managers. Use bids from other dealers
to add leverage during the negotations with
the dealership you want to do business with.
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Mileage Limit & Fee:
Pay attention to excess mileage charges.
Leases are written with a mileage cap and
any amount of mileage driven over that limit
will incurr an additional cost. This
could be very expensive to a small business. |
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Leasing Source:
If you have a requirement for different
types of vehicles try to get all of them
from the same source.
This makes the process of leasing and
managing the fleet more efficient and
economical. |
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Downpayment: Don't
make a down payment on a lease. If the
vehicle is stolen or damaged beyond repair
you are not entitled to a refund on your
down payment. Also, many states
require taxes be paid on any down payment on
a lease. Insist that any down payment
be rolled up into the monthly lease
payments. |
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Timing: The best time
to lease a vehicle is when the new models
have been introduced. The newer the
vehicle the higher the residual value.
Newer vehicles also have a higher cost so,
you will have to negotiate a good price.
New vehicles are introduced in July and
October every year. |