Considering....need advise
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 326
Likes: 0
From: VA
Considering....need advise
I currently own a 02 Quicksilver. My bio lists the meager mods I've done. At any rate, I'm considering a new C6. My car is paid for. My company throws in $500 (something like $380 after taxes) to own a vette.
Would it be better to lease with a huge down payment or buy outright? I don't commute in it anymore so I don't put alot of miles on a vehicle. It's kinda nice not having a payment at the moment, so I really am considering the lease proposition as my Credit Union does something like 4.9% for 36 months on a lease. I just do the deal with the dealer and get the lease through them.
Would it be better to lease with a huge down payment or buy outright? I don't commute in it anymore so I don't put alot of miles on a vehicle. It's kinda nice not having a payment at the moment, so I really am considering the lease proposition as my Credit Union does something like 4.9% for 36 months on a lease. I just do the deal with the dealer and get the lease through them.
Pro
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 517
Likes: 0
From: Arlington Texas
If you think you'll keep the car for no more than three years, then a lease can make sense. If you want to own it or keep it longer, then buy it outright. There's probably a $5000-$10,000 difference in cost if you buy it at the end of the lease.
Melting Slicks
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 3,049
Likes: 0
From: The second childhood is the best one of all.
Originally Posted by Jim Taylor
If you think you'll keep the car for no more than three years, then a lease can make sense. If you want to own it or keep it longer, then buy it outright. There's probably a $5000-$10,000 difference in cost if you buy it at the end of the lease.
Team Owner
Joined: Jan 2006
Posts: 58,551
Likes: 95
From: The warm part of Anger Island
St. Jude Donor '09
I've never leased before so I don't know much about the process. But if you do lease, are you going to have to find some way to fend off the imminent "Mod-Fever" or will they let you mod and then return to stock before giving the car back?
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 326
Likes: 0
From: VA
Originally Posted by BAMF AE
well...first of all where do you work and how did you manage to pull that off?
The guy who owns the company loves vettes. He announced this program a couple of years ago. It doesn't matter who you are or how long you've been with the company. It took me a few years to get onboard because money was tight, raising a family, etc, etc...
Lifetime Member
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 10,702
Likes: 76
From: New Jersey
St. Jude Donor '05, '12-'13, '15-'16, '21
Leasing can be tricky and you have to be sure you really, really are going to stick to the terms of the lease (mileage for one) or it can come back and bite you. Given current rates, leasing might be a good way to get into the car, with the intent to buy when the lease expires. However......look closely at the residual value.
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)
Michael S. Palmer
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems
Pouria Savadkouei
10 Reasons the C6 Z06 is Still A Performance Benchmark After 20 Years
Joe Kucinski
How Much Horsepower Every Corvette Engine "LOST" in 1972
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 DOs and DON'Ts for Protecting Your Convertible Top!
Michael S. Palmer
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Race Director
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 16,795
Likes: 62
From: Lake Havasu City, AZ
Do you drive a lot of business miles?
Will your Company lease the car for you? (I suppose you could make a monthly top up or make a down payment and they assign buyout right to you)
If so that is a great way to go.
You keep a mileage log. You reimburse the company for personal use of gas...
The controller at the end of the year needs to calculate the taxable benefit you enjoy for personal use of a company provided car. They use an IRS look-up table based on the car's current value each year.
IT tells the taxable benefit for 100 percent personal use. They prorate that according to your actual log based personal percentage use.
They input that into the taxable benefits section of your W2.
Depending on your tax bracket and % personal miles you could pay less than $30/month in taxes ( not including your monthly top-up [or down payment] & personal share of gas and insurance) to drive a $50K+ car.
Will your Company lease the car for you? (I suppose you could make a monthly top up or make a down payment and they assign buyout right to you)
If so that is a great way to go.
You keep a mileage log. You reimburse the company for personal use of gas...
The controller at the end of the year needs to calculate the taxable benefit you enjoy for personal use of a company provided car. They use an IRS look-up table based on the car's current value each year.
IT tells the taxable benefit for 100 percent personal use. They prorate that according to your actual log based personal percentage use.
They input that into the taxable benefits section of your W2.
Depending on your tax bracket and % personal miles you could pay less than $30/month in taxes ( not including your monthly top-up [or down payment] & personal share of gas and insurance) to drive a $50K+ car.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 326
Likes: 0
From: VA
The problem there is that I don't use the car for business use. It's a whole political thing with customers. If you show up to a customer's site/office and they see you in a vette, you could be setting them up with the attitude of "no wonder your stuff is more expensive, you have to pay for that car". I've seen it.
At any rate, the vette program is a love/hate thing around here. Very political, but when you work for a company this is privately held, the man at the top makes the rules, everyone else follows. No matter how much they might hate it.
Besides, they don't want to lease the car as they would be stuck with it if I quit or they fired me. NO, it's just money handed over. The owner has to deal with the rest, just like it's my beater.
At any rate, the vette program is a love/hate thing around here. Very political, but when you work for a company this is privately held, the man at the top makes the rules, everyone else follows. No matter how much they might hate it.
Besides, they don't want to lease the car as they would be stuck with it if I quit or they fired me. NO, it's just money handed over. The owner has to deal with the rest, just like it's my beater.
Administrator
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 368,324
Likes: 24,777
From: In a parallel universe. Currently own 2014 Stingray Coupe.
C7 of the Year - Modified Finalist 2021
MO Events Coordinator
St. Jude Co-Organizer
St. Jude Donor '03 thru '26
NCM Sinkhole Donor
CI 5, 8 & 11 Veteran
I'd like to work for a company like that - what a 
way to be able to afford a Vette.
way to be able to afford a Vette.
Racer
Joined: Apr 2006
Posts: 397
Likes: 3
Originally Posted by TAGVETTE
I currently own a 02 Quicksilver. My bio lists the meager mods I've done. At any rate, I'm considering a new C6. My car is paid for. My company throws in $500 (something like $380 after taxes) to own a vette.
Would it be better to lease with a huge down payment or buy outright? I don't commute in it anymore so I don't put alot of miles on a vehicle. It's kinda nice not having a payment at the moment, so I really am considering the lease proposition as my Credit Union does something like 4.9% for 36 months on a lease. I just do the deal with the dealer and get the lease through them.
Would it be better to lease with a huge down payment or buy outright? I don't commute in it anymore so I don't put alot of miles on a vehicle. It's kinda nice not having a payment at the moment, so I really am considering the lease proposition as my Credit Union does something like 4.9% for 36 months on a lease. I just do the deal with the dealer and get the lease through them.
http://www.edmunds.com/advice/strate...7/article.html
