Car Insurance

Most parents know that car seats are the safest way for their child to travel and most parents use them. The problem is that of these, in fact about 80%, use their car seat improperly and they don’t even know it. The easiest mistake to correct is to make sure that your child is in the right car seat for their age and they are facing in the right direction.

Other common mistakes are that the harness straps are too loose or in the wrong position or the harness chest clip is in the wrong position. A big mistake is placing the infant seat in front of the airbag. Some parents are not locking the seat belt correctly and not using the locking clip for seat belts that do not lock automatically. Some are not positioning the seat correctly.

Make sure your infant is in the right seat for their age. Babies that are less than a year old and less than twenty pounds must be in a rear facing car seat. Many babies will reach twenty pounds before their first birthday, they still must be rear facing until their first birthday. Same goes for infants who are one year old but not yet twenty pounds, they still need to be facing the rear. When your baby has reached one year old AND twenty pounds, then they can sit in a forward facing seat. They can stay in this seat until they are 40 pounds.

If your child is over forty pounds then they need to be in a belt positioning booster seat. This is the seat that they will probably stay in until they are eight years old. The harness of the booster seat needs to be used until the child is at least eighty pounds and 4 feet and 9 inches tall. By that time they can use the car’s lap/shoulder belt as long as they are positioned correctly. The lap portion needs to lie across their hip, not across their belly. The shoulder part needs to be across their shoulder, not rubbing their neck. All children of 12 and younger need to stay in the back if possible.

There are many things that parents need to double check before their child is safe in their car seat. When using the rear facing infant or rear facing convertible seat, you must make sure that the chest clip lies across the chest at armpit level, not by their belly. The harness strap needs to be snug and straight, not twisted or loose. Rear facing harness straps need to be level with your child’s shoulders or slightly below. The angle of the seat needs to be at a 45 degree level. Never place your rear facing infant seat in front of an airbag.

When facing your child forward the harness straps need to positioned at your child’s shoulders or slightly above. Parents should be using the top set of harness slots. The straps need to be snug and tight and the chest clip needs to be at mid-chest or armpit level.

Parents need to avoid car seats that have been recalled, involved in a crash and are more than four years old. Your car seat should not have any cracks, missing parts, instructions or the label showing the model number and manufacture date. Always read all the instructions before installing.

What is Car Leasing?

Many people are choosing to buy their new car on lease agreements nowadays. This gives you the chance to own a brand new car without the upfront costs of buying a vehicle outright, as you would typically do at a car dealer.

There are many types of car leasing agreements.

Why buy a new car on a leasing scheme? The main reason is that you can spread your payments over a fixed term but start driving your new car straight away. Maintenance charges can also be kept to a minimum depending on the service schedule.

Buying your new lease car on the Internet

Buying over the Internet protects the buyer under the Distance Selling Act. When buying from a car leasing website make sure that the company displays their full contact details such as phone number, fax number and full address (not a P.O. box). The Internet is a very useful tool for comparing prices from different companies, all in the comfort of your own home.

When looking at new lease car prices on the Internet make sure there are no hidden extras and whether VAT is inclusive or exclusive. If necessary call and speak to a representative and ask as many questions as you like – if you are not happy with the answers move on to the next one.

New Lease Car - Advantages and Disadvantages

Pros

• Full manufacturers warranty
• Better safety features
• Owning a brand new vehicle
• Your choice of colour and specification
• Accident free and mechanically sound
• Latest features
• Low initial payment
• Easy options at the end of the deal (you don’t have to sell the vehicle, either hand back or trade in against a new car leasing deal)

Cons

• Cost is higher than a used model
• Depreciation of vehicle is high initially
• Insurance could be higher for a new car
• Early termination can be costly
• Can be costly if you go over the annual mileage agreement
• Must return the car in good condition or penalties will apply

Reasons not to lease a car.

• If you are not sure how long you will need a car or you may be getting a company car in the near future
• Not cannot guarantee that you can meet the monthly payments or have a regular income
• You have a high annual mileage
• You do not look after your cars
• You do not like to be in debt or owing money

GMC Leasing is an independent car leasing company specialising in personal and business contract hire. We also arrange all other types of finance including finance lease, lease purchase, hire purchase and cash sales. We can finance any make on model new or used.

There may be circumstances in life where you will need a vehicle for a certain period of time, and don’t want to get locked into a long-term payment. For example, you may have a temporary job opportunity, or have a family situation that requires use of a car. Depending on your situation, short term car leasing may be the best and most affordable solution.

Long term car rentals are often the proper step if you need to drive a vehicle for just a short period of time. Renting a vehicle though, can quickly get expensive, even with long-term rental discounts. However, if you will only need the vehicle for six months or less, renting is probably your best option.

If you are looking to keep a vehicle for a longer period of time, short term leasing is usually the most affordable if the duration is between 6-24 months. Unfortunately, this is usually not a possibility if you are looking to lease a new car from a dealer. Most new car leases are at least 24 months or longer, so going directly to the dealer for a new car lease will only be a choice if you can commit to something more permanent.

The best solution for a 6-24 month use is a short term car lease. You will actually be be taking over, or assuming a lease, on a used vehicle from another driver. You’ll take over the auto, the monthly payments, and the time that is left on the lease, which can usually be from a few months to 2-3 years.

Short term leases are often great bargains. Unlike a new lease, you will not have to come up with any sort of down payment or additional fees, you will just take over the payments each month. However, you may be charged at the end of the lease for excessive mileage, so its important you become familiar with the leasing contract and the vehicle condition before you agree to take over the lease.

Assuming a lease, even for a short duration, does require completing and changing the existing lease contract through the leasing company. Although you may need the vehicle relatively quickly, make sure all the paperwork is complete before you take the vehicle, in order to avoid any trouble.

The best place to find short term car leasing is on the Internet. There are a handful of specialized companies that match buyers and leaseholders together, and help facilitate the transfer of the vehicle. By going through a third party company, you will have to pay a small fee, but you will increase your chances of getting a good lease deal and having the transfer done properly.

Short term leasing may be the best way to meet your driving needs, especially if your finances do not allow for a large down payment. If you are in a situation where you need to drive a vehicle for 6-24 months, you will probably get a great deal going through a company that specializes in lease assumptions and transfers. By doing some research online, you should be able to find plenty of lease deals.

When most people are looking for a new car, one of the options that they think about is whether or not a car lease would be more beneficial and cost effective for them than purchasing the car. There are many schools of thought about this and many differing opinions, but what it comes down to is that there is no right or wrong answer that applies to everyone, because everyone’s situation and needs are different.

When you sign on for a car lease, it means that your payments are going to reflect the amount of depreciation of the car over the term of the lease. For example, if the car you are looking at has a sticker price of $30,000 and you sign up for a one year car lease, the dealership estimates that this vehicle, after two years of use and about 24,000 miles, can be sold for say $20,000, assuming a modest dealer profit is included there as well. So your lease payments would be based on $10,000.

Granted, this is a very simplistic look at how lease payments are calculated, but this is pretty much the bottom line. Based on this, you can see that choosing a vehicle for your car lease that has a great resale value is going to keep your lease payments much lower than a car that depreciates much more quickly and does not have a good resale value.

The miles that you plan to drive the car that you put on lease is critical, since one of the major factors that influences the car’s resale value will be the number of miles on the car. Most lease programs allow you about 12,000 miles per year. It is very important that you are able to come up with a very good and very accurate estimate of the number of miles you will drive the car over the lease term, since that will have a major impact on the amount of your monthly lease payment.

If your planned usage of the car is to drive more or less than the standard number of miles per year, talk to your dealer about that. If your usage can be committed at 9,000 miles per year instead of 12,000 then your lease payments will be lower because the car will have fewer miles on it at the end of the car lease term, thereby giving it a higher resale value. But if you realistically plan to put 18,000 miles a year on the car, be VERY sure to mention that also. Your lease payment will go up, but that is much better than being assessed for excess mileage at the end of the lease, where excess mileage may be charged at a rate as high as 30 cents per mile!

In a car lease, you do not own the car and will never have title to the car. In essence, you are doing a long term rental of the car. But you still need to make the payments, and you are responsible for car insurance on it. And since you do not own the car, you will need to carry full insurance coverage on the car, including collision coverage. You are also responsible for repairs to the car, including things that are not covered under warranty, as well as “consumable” things such as tires, wiper blades, oil changes, etc.

The beauty of a car lease is that at the end of the lease, you turn in the car and can walk away. You don’t have the hassles of trying to sell it yourself, and can turn right around and lease a brand new car.

A car lease may be right for you but make sure you understand how a lease works and what the restrictions are so that it does not cost you more than a purchase would have!

Let’s face it, you love cars. You love to drive a new or late model car, the smell of a new car, the feeling of new and untapped power under the hood. It is exciting. But one of the problems is that your financial resources are a bit more limited than your dreams are, so you may want to consider a car lease instead of going out to get a car loan for a purchase.

The first thing you need to understand is exactly what is a car lease. When you lease a car, it does not mean that you own the car. Rather, it is more like renting the car, although there are still many very important differences. For example, you still need to pay for the insurance on the car. This is critical because you need to carry full coverage on the car, including collision insurance, which serves to protect the risk of the owner of the car while you have it out on lease. This insurance is typically more than what you might normally have if you had purchased the car outright, so be sure to figure the cost of insurance into your overall cost of driving the car.

One of the big bright spots with a car lease is that you do not worry about depreciation of the car, since you paid for that up front. You see, the cost of the lease is figured based on how much the car will be worth in resale value at the end of the lease. For example, if the car you want to lease cost $40,000 and at the end of a two year lease, assuming you have put about 24,000 miles on the car, the resale value is about $25,000 then the lease payment is figured based on the difference, or $15,000. This is exactly the reason that you can get a much better lease deal on a car that has a great resale value, instead of a car that it pretty much shot after two years.

Another reason that a leased car can be considered a better deal is because the payments are typically lower than if you had purchased the car. Again, as described above, this depends on the estimated resale value of the car after the lease period, but generally speaking, your payments will be less. However, since you are driving more of the car as an asset or resource with less of your commitment to the vehicle, your credit needs to typically be a bit better than it would for a purchase or a car loan.

The real beauty of a car lease is that at the end of the lease, you can just turn in the car and slide into a new lease on a brand new car. This is assuming of course that you have not put too many miles on your leased car. You should have a good feeling for how many miles you will drive. Standard lease agreements state about 12,000 miles per year although that can be adjusted up front if you know you will drive more. Be very conscious of how many miles you are putting on the car, since all miles in excess of what you agreed to when you turn in the car are assessed a pretty hefty charge, like 30 cents per mile or even more.

On the downside of a car lease program, you never own the car. You have replaced tires, wiper blades, paid insurance on it, but since you are leasing the car, you will never own it and will therefore always have a monthly payment. Contrast that with a car purchase, where after the car loan term, you own the car and can still drive it but you are not making car payments anymore.

Consider which option is right for you. A car lease can be a great deal and keep more money in your pocket, as long as you can live with the restrictions and limitations.