I have been shopping around online for the ftype and I was looking at leasing a brand new V6, but then I saw some used V8r's at my price range so I was wondering if it is possible for me to lease a used V8r?

 

It depends on the leasing company, but most won't let you lease a used vehicle. You can still lease an older model year that hasn't been registered though. Up to a certain point anyway... I think up to 2 years old.

Failing the lease option, you can also look for a payment saver loan from a place like PedFed that will give you a lease-like payment structure while still owning the car. You can generally do that with used vehicles up to 3 years old.

 

www.penfed.org

 

In the UK, Jaguar offer leases on used cars up to the maximum age that they lease new cars for. So if you found a year old car at the dealership you could lease it over the following two (or possibly 4) years.

 

What is penfed and is there any catch to it?

 

Pentagon Federal Credit Union was the original institution, but now that credit unions are essentially open to anyone, they've shortened their name to PenFed.

I don't know what you mean by "catch," but what's been suggested here is a rather unique auto loan product, where you essentially have a low monthly payment for 3 years, and at the end of that period you have a big balloon payment for the balance. It's like a lease, but you own the car, and will need to either pay it off, sell/trade it, or re-finance at the end of the loan period.

 

PenFed (www.penfed.org) is a credit union. They offer a balloon payment loan option that is structured very similar to a lease in that you're paying off the depreciation loss rather than the principal of the vehicle. The "catch" is that it is a loan and not a lease. So, if you're in a sales tax state, you have to pay taxes up front (but this also means you can write them off on your taxes.) At the end of the loan term, you have the option to keep the car by purchasing the car (taking out another loan for the remaining balance on the loan) just like you can with a lease, but if you choose not to do that, you have to sell the car yourself (or trade it in towards a new vehicle.)

The upside is that you generally have lower payments with a payment saver loan as the interest rates are generally much better than with a lease. You also have more control over the vehicle, since its not a lease (which is effectively a long-term rental) so you can do things like get custom license plates and make mods to the car.

If you want to read more on this program, here is a direct link to the payment saver loan information... https://www.penfed.org/Payment-Saver-Auto-Loan/

 

if by "custom plate" you mean vanity/personalized plates you get from the DMV, u can do that with leases no problem...

 

Well you can in most places, but not everywhere... in fact even here in CA if you apply for a custom plate via the DMV web site it asks if you're leasing and if you say yes, it declines your request for a custom plate. Not sure if that is a new change or not. I know in Virginia it wasn't an issue, you just had to get permission from the leasing company.

 

There was some confusion about getting personalized plates for a leased vehicle in CA in another thread somewhere here.

The question asked on the DMV site is “Is this Vehicle Leased or Owned in a Company Name?” If you are an individual leasing in your name, you can get personalized plates by simply saying “no” to the question. Not sure why they don't allow them for leased business vehicles.

 

If that's the exact wording, it is very ambiguous. It could be legitimately interpreted as two separate questions, is the vehicle leased, OR is the vehicle owned in a company name?

This is a good example of the kind of language that keeps lawyers gainfully employed.

 

That would have been me...I was confused at first by that wording...even though I've leased cars with personal plates before.

Sucks getting old...

 

That is the exact wording from the DMV web site. I agree, it is somewhat confusing and I misinterpreted the question the first time I read it too. I imagine California wants the extra revenue for vanity plates but they probably lose out because of ambiguous wording, as you say.

 

If you read the red text that pops up, it clarifies that it is for any lease, or if its company owned. Clearly you can just say no in any case, but its not technically accurate.

Luckily my car isn't leased so I didn't have to worry about it, but I did check the no response to verify.

 

I've leased 3 cars in the last 6 years, no problems with personalized plates. The DMV only cares that the car is in your name, leased, owned, financed, they don't care. If it's in your name, that's all it matters.

 

I think the jury is still out on that since it seems like CA may have changed their stance on that recently. Or whomever writes the copy for the website needs to change the wording. I think its dumb but it doesn't really matter to me anyway... I am just echoing what is on the website.

In any case, back to the original topic... the point was if the vehicle is owned rather than leased you have more freedom to do with it what you like, as it is your property, whereas a leased vehicle is owned by the leaseholder and you're more restricted in what you can do with it under the terms of the lease.

I consider that as a net positive in the lease vs buy question when comparing a payment saver loan vs a traditional lease. Certainly for vehicles you cannot get a lease on, it is a pretty good option if you're looking for a lease-like program.

 

Would penfed ruin my credit? Sorry for the questions. I never heard of this so I'm kind of afraid of using it

 

LOL . . . it's no different than doing business with a bank.

 

Why would you think that? PenFed is a credit union and a recognized banking institution. Getting a loan product from them is no different than getting a loan product from any other bank or lending institution. Getting a loan through them will not impact your credit rating any more or less than a lease unless you fail to make payments, etc. In which case its you, not the credit union, that is causing the problem.

There are quite a few of us on this forum who have used the PenFed payment saver product. There are also other banks and credit unions that offer similar products elsewhere. You just need to look for balloon payment auto loans.

 

Ok, thanks for the info. I'll look into this