There are many benefits associated with car leasing however before we explore the advantages lets understand the procedure of leasing a car. When you lease a car you have to pay a small down payment which is usually a percentage of the value of the car. once you decide the duration for which you want to lease the car, the dealer will fix the monthly payment amount. The calculation of the total payable amount is very simple and it is the difference in the car’s current value and its expected value at the end of the lease period. The amount thus calculated is divided over the duration of the lease and added to the monthly interest. Depending on your credit rating it rarely takes more than a day or two for you to drive out with a brand new car. Once the lease expires you can choose to buy the car or to just hand in the keys and walk away.

Advantages:

Leasing is a perfect option for people who want to drive a brand new car for a really low price. Since people generally opt for the one year lease it means that they can drive in a new car every year. Since most new models come out in the market in fall the holiday season is the perfect time to get a new car.

Most establishments that deal with auto leasing have the more upscale models which are always brand new.

One of the problems if owning a car is that you have to take care of all the expenditure involved in maintaining it but when you lease a car it is covered by a warranty because it is brand new. So if you meet with a minor accident the dealership will take care of all the structural damage

Another major advantage is the fact that you pay substantially less for a lased car almost 30-60% less than what you would have to pay to own a car. If you want to negotiate further on the amount you have to pay as the down payment or even the monthly payment you should consider trading your old car for the leased vehicle

Leasing a car is considerably hassle free as compared to owning a used car which would involve not only buying it but also selling it eventually, plus the insurance is taken care of by the dealer when you lease a car.

When you lease a car you are also offered free gap protection which covers you in case of loss due to accident or theft.

Disadvantages:

Unfortunately a leased car cannot be included in your assets list because you dont actually own it.

You will of course have to incur a loss over the buying price when you sell an owned car but at least the balance is yours.

Before you lease a car you will have to contact the dealership to determine if you are eligible for a car lease

However, the biggest issue with car leasing is the fixed mileage. Your lease agreement will usually include the mileage limit per month and any usage above this limit will be charged over the fixed monthly payment. To read more about this and virtual currency then visit the link in this sentence.

A new traffic system is being developed for Heathrow Airport in an attempt to reduce congestion on the buses. The system that they are creating is like no other in the world, it features 21 electric shuttles that are controlled by computers so there is no need for drivers.

The electric shuttles will be going along a 2 and a half mile path connecting Terminal 5 to the business car park. Each shuttle carries 4 passengers, as well as their luggage, travelling at 25mph, the system is targeted to carry over 500,000 passengers every year.

The company that is developing the new transport system is Advanced Transport Systems Ltd, they are creating the technology with the help of Bristol University. The shuttles are said to be comfortable to use, while be environmentally friendly because they use laser guidance technology and computers to control their movements.

This new system looks to start the change to driverless cars where eventually we will all just key in our destination to the on-board computer, and the car automatically delivers us. It now appears that traffic systems that are dreampt up in films like I-Robot and Minority Report and become less of a dream and more like reality.

Once this system has been fully developed, we could see lives saved as cars automatically detect traffic patterns and collisions to help avoid injury. Although this does sound good for us, whether the car industry and the contract hire industry will enjoy having to make these changes to another matter.

The motoring industry are already suffering from the recession so the last thing manufacturers and companies offering cheap van leasing will want to do is built and buy new driverless cars and vans. Although many motoring companies won’t welcome the changes, with technology being the way it is, in the near future companies will be required to offer a driverless BMW lease.

Back in May this year, the UK government launched a scheme that would reward car buyers when they scrapped their old cars. Oddly enough it was called the ‘Car Scrappage Scheme’ and it gave car buyers 2000 towards a new car when they scrapped a car that’s more than 10 years old.

The cost of the scheme was 600 million. Out of the total pot required to fund the scheme, half was payed by the tax payer, the other half was payed for by the car manufacturers. Although this seems a large amount, it’s definitely paying off.

The total number of new cars registered for July 2009 have just been released and they show a rise of 2.4% compared to July 2008. The 2.4% rise on last year’s figures mean that a total of 157,149 new cars were registered this July. Out of the total 157,149 cars registered in July, over 33,000 of them were registered using the scrappage scheme system. This rise of 2.4%, although not alot, is actually the first rise in sales seen in the motoring industry since April last year.

Because the scheme has resulted in good news for the motoring industry, many MPs are calling for the scheme to be renewed for 2010. Currently the scheme is due to end either when the tax payers money input runs out, or in February 2010. However, as it has proved so popular with over 144,000 cars registered with the scheme since it’s start back in May, I wouldn’t be shocked if it was continued.

Car retailers will be hoping that if the scheme is kept going, the amount of cars being registered will continue to rise.

Despite this being good news, there are some downsides to the scrappage scheme. The first would be the second hand market. As everyone is scrapping their old cars, many people are finding it hard to find a suitable second hand car. The other problem occurs in the cheap car leasing market.

Because many people are opting to buy a new car rather than lease, many leasing businesses are loosing out as people choose not to go for a Nissan lease whereas they could just scrap their old car and get money off a new one. This problem doesn’t so much affect the van contract hire sector because the scheme doesn’t benefit van scrappage as yet.

In an attempt to reduce traffic congestion, Heathrow Airport are implementing a new, state-of-the-art, traffic system. The system that they are creating is like no other in the world, it features 21 electric shuttles that are controlled by computers so there is no need for drivers.

The computer powered shuttles will travel down a set 2 and a half mile track that links the airport’s business car park to the new Terminal 5. Each shuttle carries 4 passengers, as well as their luggage, travelling at 25mph, the system is targeted to carry over 500,000 passengers every year.

The company that is developing the new transport system is Advanced Transport Systems Ltd, they are creating the technology with the help of Bristol University. The shuttles are said to be comfortable to use, while be environmentally friendly because they use laser guidance technology and computers to control their movements.

The new system is the spark that will begin the production of fully automated, driverless cars that will deliver us to anywhere we want. It now appears that traffic systems that are dreampt up in films like I-Robot and Minority Report and become less of a dream and more like reality.

Once this system has been fully developed, we could see lives saved as cars automatically detect traffic patterns and collisions to help avoid injury. Although this does sound good for us, whether the car industry and the contract hire industry will enjoy having to make these changes to another matter.

The motoring industry are already suffering from the recession so the last thing manufacturers and companies offering cheap van leasing will want is to be required to build new driverless vehicles. Although I guess technology won’t stop because the motoring industry doesn’t like it and I wouldn’t be shocked if we eventually saw businesses offering a driverless BMW lease.

Earlier this year General Motors, owner of Chevrolet, files for bankruptcy. However, they have now sorted themselves out, and from July, they have stopped receiving bankruptcy protection from the government.

After sorting themselves out, they are now trying some new methods in an attempt to bring more sales to the business. The company are looking into a series of new methods to sell their vehicles. The first one is car leasing, which they had previously pulled out of this time last year. The company now has plans to return once more to the contract hire market sometime in the next month. As it’s coming directly from General Motors, they might be able to offer some very cheap van leasing offers as they can sell straight from the manufacturer lines, undercutting many other companies.

The other method, and possibly the more news worthy, is that General Motors are going to be teaming up with the American eBay site. Starting from August 11th, General Motors began listing, within the California area, new Chevrolet, Pontiac, GMC and Buick cars on the auction website.

The plan is to run the system on a trial basis until September, however, it’s already proved popular with over 225 out of 250 of their Californian dealers signing up. The system will work by website users either haggling for a price or paying the listed price for the car. Once the car has been bought, the customers must then go to one of the registered dealers to pick up their new vehicle.

If both eBay and General Motors find the system to be successful and profitable, they will looks to expand it across the entire United States. Also if it does prove successful for GM, I wonder whether we will see other companies offer their own cars for lease such as a Mazda lease.