Anybody Lease a New Cobra?

[jhv48]

I am looking into a new SPF and heard that there are some leasing options out there. Rather than pay all cash, I thought I would look into it.

Anyone have any numbers they care to share?

Good experience? Bad experience?

[HI Cobra]

Maybe it is just me living on rock in the middle of the Pacific Ocean but I
have never heard of anyone leasing one of these cars. Usually hard to even
get a loan. Good luck!

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by HI Cobra

I have never heard of anyone leasing one of these cars.

Yeah, we just went through this with LudicrousSpeed. He wanted to use an outfit called Astra Leasing http://www.astralease.com/ -- they even have a Cobra on their leasing web site. Of course, several of us expressed concerns over the wisdom of leasing a Cobra.

[jhv48]

That's the company. Most leases ammortize the depreciation of the car over the life of the lease and then charge an interest rate on that depreciation.

Since SPF's don't depreciate that much it stands to reason that the ammortized depreciation plus interest should be less than a luxury car.

What I might want to do is lease it for a few years and then if I like it, buy it at the end of the lease. If not, I basically have rented a Cobra for a few years.

Just thinking about it. Not a for sure. I just hate giving up all that cash right now.

[patrickt]

Originally Posted by jhv48

Just thinking about it. Not a for sure. I just hate giving up all that cash right now.

There's a bunch of "lease versus buy" calculators on the internet that will compare the net costs of buying against leasing a car. The one "wildcard" I can see in this type of deal is the possibility that, after six months, you might say "This is not for me... I want out." Hedging against that with a negotiated "kick out" clause might make leasing not so bad in this unique situation (assuming, of course, the money terms make sense...).