Need to add a truck...lease or buy certified used?

Just buy a good 10 year old rig and pay cash. Even if you need to put a rebuilt engine or transmission in it you will be money ahead, you could do both for less than you would pay a leasing company for a half year. If looking at the bottom line, don't worry about the Jone's or let someone sell you something new. Last rig I bought new was 74 Mazda Rotary pickup, still have it, not driving it though and haven't bought a new rig since, hate that depreciation when you drive the new off of the lot or paying so much to a Banker for the status of a new rig.
jud

What do you plan on getting? I'm in the market too and looking at cargo vans, just not finding any with 4x4.

I have always bought new for the last 30 years or more. Take advantage of depreciation and enjoy the fact that maintenance will be practically nothing for the first 3 - 5 years. But I do do Jiffy Lube every 3000 miles!

And I am very lucky to have employees that take good care of equipment.

I think the Chevy Express Cargo Van has an option for all wheel drive in the 1500 series. I don't know if Ford still has an all or 4-wheel option on their vans.

Thanks, none used in Colorado Springs that I have found yet.

I would wonder about the real 'savings' of leasing a vehicle with intent to buy-out at the end of the lease. I've never crunched the numbers on something like that so I don't know what you would end up paying. To me, it always looks like that money down stretched out over the lease terms adds enough to the payment that you would be just as well off buying outright.

If all you put is 17K/year on the truck, a new purchase should last you a good 15 years with little to no issues.

Since interest rates on a new purchase can be as little as 0% now days, I would personally be looking at just purchasing new with the best rate I could find. As it is a business truck, it should have two things going for it

1) using a quick calc of $3.50/gallon for 17K miles, subtract fuel cost (not oil changes etc...) and you have a mileage write off that is about what the cost of the payment would be

2) if you need it, it should be making you money anyway

Be careful of the certified pre-owned. If I remember an article I read a long time ago correctly, there are either a dealer or a factory certification available. One can be basically worthless and the other may help on certain issues.

Check with your accountant for the depreciation schedule. I typically drive one till the wheels fall off. Just got rid of my 1998 F-150 with 260k on it . I was about to have to spend some $$$ on it so I opted for a new one. Got a 2013 FX 4 F150. You can typically take a $25,000 write off the first year with the rest taken over the next 4 yrs (if you choose that option) depending on what you need to do tax wise in any particular year. Good Luck and happy hunting!

a quick search on edmonds.com shows 66 used ones in my area (western Kentucky) and none of the have the AWD option.

Probably going to be tough to find.

Do your homework on the AWD Astro vans before you buy one. Buddy of mine who drives them says they're great to drive but engines have a tendency to develope valve issues after 60k miles that requires a spendy head job to fix. They'v had same problem on several of the same model vehicles in their fleet.

If you buy used, don't trust CarFax. I recently saw a news program that exposed them to be untrustworthy.

Ford Transit Cargo?

Well I guess this is a good place to ask. What about the Ford Transit Cargo? Seems like a nice little Van, good mpg and I believe they will soon be available here in the US with 4WD and Diesel? Only problem is not a good ground clearance. But not sure if that matters for you?

Ford Transit Cargo?

Interesting, kinda like a mini Sprinter. What I really want is a full size Sprinter and set up a small drafting desk in the back. Sorry for hijacking the OP's thread.

Leasing is always a bad idea. Here is a great explanation.

I heard the piece on the radio from Dave Ramsey that its a bad idea to lease. He is probably correct for an individual. The place I work, we lease them all and its for tax reasons. Someone tried to explain it to me how it saved the company money, but it went "whiff" right over the top of my head. An accountant can explain it better probably.

As far as used, its almost always a better buy to get something a few years old. In my opinion, there is a sweet spot for mileage on a used vehicle. This is usually around 50,000 to 75,000 miles. Its gone down in value, but still has a lot of life left. In my area, there are a lot of used 4x4 crew cab pickups for sale. Of course buying used is great unless you buy a piece of crap, then it can suck in a lot of money.

I agree with that on a personal vehicle.

I do wonder if that still holds for a business vehicle. Again, I have never done the math on a lease option to check, I like owning the truck after paying all the money.

If you use the standard mileage rate, without doing the cost analysis, I would bet leasing is not worthwhile.

If you use the expense method, you do get to write off the lease payment as well as all costs of running the truck. It might be worthwhile for a business if you had no intention of buying the lease out AND prefer to have a new truck every few years as part of your business image. (so it would be less of a financial matter than a preference)
If you buyout the lease, you have to do some kind of adjustments for the value of the past lease write off and the buyout value on your taxes when you do purchase at the end of the lease.

I was hoping someone on the board had previously crunched all the numbers in a spread sheet with the old future value of money calculations included adn could say here is a data set and here is the proof of the numbers.

If you want to lease and really if you want to buy, you need to be dealing with the fleet manager or whoever handles commercial accounts at a dealer. When I bought my current truck new in the fall of 2000, I went though an independent leasing company, they did all the ordering, had it dropped to a dealer of my choice and it went very smooth, no hassle at all. I went lease route BECAUSE I had a body built and no one I could find would loan money or it AND the leasing at the dealer wouldn't cover it either.

The lease was written with a provision to roll into a purchase after a few months, as I recall it could be converted anytime after 24 months, as soon as that date came, I went off lease and rolled it into a loan. Probably wasn't the cheapest route to go, but leasing in a business is way different than leasing for personal use.

If you are going to maintain a vehicle and keep it a good long while like say 10 years, then I find buying new works real well, sure you eat the deprecation, BUT there again in a business that might be good. You know everything about the vehicle AND aren't buying someone else's problems, I always wonder about the low mileage used vehicles, I think one, either they are a problem child or two the previous owner just churns through vehicles, if you aren't going to keep it you probably don't treat it with care, BUT that might not always be true.

I have purchased three vehicles new in my life time, all were kept for 10 years+ and 250K+ (well my current car is only at 90K and 8 years, but I have time yet!). This has worked well for me, YMMV.

SHG