You can use a heat gun to restore plastic car moldings and bring them back close to original condition. It’s a good alternative to painting. I made this video in real time to show both the procedure and the time it takes. These particular moldings are on a 2000 Jeep Cherokee Sport but this works on most vehicles.
It doesn’t matter if your leasing a new car, truck or suv, the same principle applies to all three.
See my other articles on buying a used car and on buying a new car.
Leasing a new car is similar to buying except after 3 years you have to give the car back! It’s kind of like renting a car long term.
When you rent a car, you have full use of it but it’s limited to your rental agreement. At the end of the lease you have to give the vehicle back too. In essence it’s a long term rental with the option to buy at the end of the 3 years.
Depending on your situation, leasing can be a good alternative to both buying a new car or buying a used car. If you plan on always having a car payment, then leasing a new car every 3 years could be a good option.
You don’t lose on a trade in because when your lease is up, your out, give the car back. If you bought the car then after 3 years you would have to trade your car in. When leasing there are no worries of losing money on your trade in.
There are other things to keep in mind like you can’t bring that vehicle back with any kind of damage. It needs to be very well taken care of because, if it has damage, then you’ll be hit depreciation charges that could run very high.
The mileage usually can’t exceed10k miles a year on most leases with an additional charge for every mile over the 10k. You really need to know how many miles you average a year in order to determine if it’s gonna work for you.
Usually you can pay for the overage at the beginning of the lease before you use them because you get a discount if you pay up front on the excessive mileage.
Say at the end of the lease you go over the mileage by 2k per year times 3 years is 6k miles and it’s say 0.27 cents per mile. This equals $1,620 over the 3 year period but if you purchase the excessive miles beforehand then they would give you a discount of say 0.17 cents per mile = $1,020 which would be a $600 savings over the 3 years.
Again this only works if you know how many miles you average per year and you can pin the miles close so you don’t run into any surprises at the end of the lease.
Another point is the total vehicle price. The total price doesn’t have such a huge impact on a lease because it’s only based on 3 years and makes getting in that vehicle a little easier with a lower monthly cost.
I don’t want to forget a key component to all this; you have to have “A tier” credit to get the best rates. At the time of this writing, a FICO credit score of 750 or above will give you the best rates. The dealership will pull all 3 credit bureau reports and scores then take your highest score to qualify you.
It is nice that your driving a brand new car every 3 years with no stress of repair bills or having to worry how much money it will be costing you over and above the initial purchase.
The money for those periodic maintenance repairs that come after 40k miles or so can be somewhat expensive. When you put it all together leasing a new car has it’s good points and it’s bad points but overall with the cost of buying a new car, it could be a good alternative to a new car purchase.
Lets take a look at the advantages and disadvantages of buying a used car. You have to figure in the possibility that a used cars, pre-owned cars or previously owned cars will breakdown and the repairs could be costly. Then you have to rely on a service repair shop fixing your car and hoping the repair isn’t going to cost too much.
Buying a new car or leasing a new car isn’t for everyone. Buying a used car is the other option and has it’s advantages especially when it comes to price.
can be more affordable but usually out of warranty most of the time. An extended warranty on a used car can be expensive but I highly recommend getting one.
Used car warranty’s are okay but they usually don’t match what you get with a new car warranty. Sometimes a used car warranty may have a small deductible, which means you’ll have to pay a portion of the repair bill.
You should consider the possibility of a used car breaking down and the repairs could be costly. This is why you should keep an extended warranty in mind to help cover most of the cost if the car breaks down. Also carry a AAA membership in case you need to get towed to a repair shop.
If you don’t have an extended warranty then you will have to rely on a service repair shop or dealership servicing your car,truck or suv and hoping the repair isn’t going to go over your budget because it’s coming out of your pocket. Not to mention having to get rides to work or having to rent a car while yours is being repaired if the shop don’t have a free loaner.
Car inspection – When shopping for a used car make sure you examine it thoroughly. You or someone you know who has experience to identify potential problems with a vehicle should inspect it for issues.
Another alternative is to take it to a trusted repair shop or auto mechanic to have them check it out and give you an estimate on what repairs, if any may have to be addressed. They may be able to spot other problems like frame damage which could be unsafe. Then you can negotiate a price with the seller or dealer if your still interested in buying.
Here is a short vehicle inspection checklist of things to look for when inspecting a vehicle.
Open the hood and check the oil to see if it’s full and look at the color of the oil. If it’s black then the oil hasn’t been changed in a while which could be an indication of the maintenance or lack thereof that was done. Check the level of transmission fluid to see if it’s full and for color.
The color should be cherry red in color. The transmission fluid is a little tricky because the vehicle should be driven a bit so it’s warm and then put in park and check the fluid while the car is idling. This procedure will give you an accurate reading on the dip stick.
Check tire wear and overall condition to determine if your comfortable with the purchase of the vehicle. There is a lot more to this but because this is an article and not a manual, it’s better to leave it there.
I’m not trying to discourage anyone from buying a used car but just pointing out the simple things to look for when buying a used car. Let me just say there are many good and reliable used cars, trucks and suv’s out there that will give you fewer problems than others so do a Google search and see what others are saying about the vehicle your interested in.
I hope this helped so you know I will be adding more information like a used car checklist,questions to ask when buying a used car & what to look for when buying a used car so keep coming back to see more on buying a used car.
I would like to give some car buying tips or maybe more of a quick guide should you consider buying a new Car. This article applies to most any vehicle on the market. See my article on auto lease to compare whether getting into a car lease or buying is the right move for you.
This isn’t a comprehensive article but sort of an overview touching on some points that maybe you haven’t considered. With that said, lets take a look at buying a new Automobile.
Let me start off by saying that buying a new car is usually the second biggest investment someone will make next to buying a home.
The odds are pretty good that a new home purchase won’t actually be a “new” as in brand new never lived in home but a used or pre-owned one that is new to you. So with that being said, I guess buying a new car is the biggest “new” investment that most of us will make in our lifetime.
Here is a calculator to determine how much car you can afford.
Okay so what are the advantages and disadvantages of buying a new car?
Buying new is fun and can be exciting because it will be yours, that’s pretty cool.
It’s got that new car smell and the vehicle is flawless. Inside and out that new vehicle makes you feel like a million bucks when you drive anywhere. You are just making up excuses to go driving.
Everything is new and perfect, the steering is responsive and the braking can even be fun to see how quick you can stop. You just can’t wipe that smile off your face…yes it’s that good.
Well I just wanted to get that part out there because those are the touchy, feel good parts of the car buying experience. Now lets get to the more serious reasons that make this a practical and hopefully good investment.
When you purchase a new car whether it’s leasing or buying, it’s under warranty and for at least the next three (3) years all you have to worry about is making the monthly payment
No surprises as far as service is concerned apart from regular maintenance. No worrying about auto mechanic cost for repairs. If you plan on keeping the vehicle more than the warranty period then you should seriously consider an extended warranty and check my site as I will be giving extended warranty tips.
I have worked in the auto industry for a long time and understand what is involved with a new Car, Truck or SUV purchase. The nice part of buying a new vehicle; you don’t have to worry about it’s history or anything else along those lines. It’s a lot less time consuming than buying a used car. It’s so much easier to buy new if you can afford to.
The biggest drawback to buying new cars are the Prices & rates and the total cost of car loans especially if you don’t have a trade-in which equal discounts. This is usually when people get “sticker shock” when they see the sticker price. New cars can be expensive, just search for new car buying guide or go to some local car dealers and look at the dealer invoice price. The dealer invoice prices is where you’ll see the breakdown of the new car quote along with dealer cost which is what it cost the auto dealers.
The auto insurance cost is higher because of the replacement value in the event that it gets totaled in a collision or stolen and then the insurance company has to replace the vehicle.
The depreciation of a new vehicle takes it’s biggest hit when you drive it off the lot which could be as high as $4,000 and then usually drops by roughly $1,500-$2,000 or so each year after that.
Of course those numbers are not 100% as I just through them out there instead of using percentages. While percentages are more accurate sometimes it’s better to see actual numbers to put it in more perspective. I was thinking $30,000 as a mid-range number.
Just some quick math and nothing written in stone but looking at a $30,000 vehicle with under a 100 miles would be worth around $26,000 once driven off the lot. Then a couple thousand each year makes that $30,000 vehicle worth roughly $17,000-$18,000 or so after 5 years with the right miles.
Again I’m just using quick math because of time and space reasons. There is a lot more that goes into the equation but I think you get the idea.
Anything over the average mileage per year is going to have a negative impact on the depreciation. This is vehicle dependent as far as depreciation because the residual value of some vehicles are a lot better than others.
At the time I wrote this article Honda, Lexus, BMW, Mercedes Benz are good examples of vehicles that hold better residual values.
This is just to give you a quick hypothetical example of how the car market works. There is more that goes into the equation than this like options the vehicle has… etc.
The Good:
The Bad:
As with every major purchase that we make, there is research that needs to be done in order to make the right informed decision and not leaving anything to impulse. I hope I have helped with my point of view on buying a new car.
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More info coming soon.