You Will No Longer Lease a Car. You Will Subscribe to It. (?)

[RadishRose]

[h=2]Is there a difference?[/h]

"A curious trend has taken hold of the automotive community. Until recently, your only options with vehicle ownership were to purchase the car outright or to lease it from a dealership. But in a growing number of metropolitan areas, a third option is emerging: car subscriptions."

For instance:
"......... Ford’s car subscription service is called Canvas. On its website, it outlines the car subscription process. First, you choose a car—in its case, a pre-owned vehicle less than three years old—and then you choose a monthly mileage package ranging from 500 miles to unlimited. Additional miles add to your monthly subscription cost, but like some smartphone data plans, if you don’t use all the miles you paid for, they’ll roll over to the next month. From there, you schedule a delivery, and the car arrives with everything else included—registration, warranty, insurance, roadside assistance, and maintenance. At the end of each month, you can renew your subscription or return the vehicle............."

http://www.slate.com/articles/techn...che_and_cadillac_offer_lease_alternative.html

What do you think?

 

[Falcon]

Probably not.

The way I look at it is this: I read up on it, talk to my friends about it, test drive it, look at all the brands, etc.
Then make up my mind, go to the dealership and BUY it. Pay cash for it (Want that Pink slip in my hands

I keep it in my garage, take care of it and it feels like a member of the family.

My present vehicle is an 05 Gmc Envoy, has only about 29,000 miles on it and runs great. Has a 6 cyl straight engine
and keeps up with the freeway traffic. I wouldn't do it any other way of auto ownership.

Sorry, I'm not interested in any "Subscription" plan.

Maybe for some people but not me.

 

[RadishRose]

Falcon, I bought my last car new 10 years ago and paid cash. Those days for me are over now. I could never pay cash for another new car. I drive less than half as much as before. I'm wondering if, for people like me this might be an option. I haven't been to the sites yet though, I admit.

 

[terry123]

Not for me. I bought a demo with 5000 miles on it and now has 26,000 miles on it. I don't drive much but its all I need for now. Never understood why people leased cars. Of course I always worked at dealerships and was able to buy cars at cost usually.

 

[Loosey]

I will probably look into it and crunch the numbers next time I need a car. It might make more sense now than it once would have.

 

[Aunt Bea]

Sounds like a marketing exec has jazzed up a standard rental similar to Hertz or Avis.

I own my vehicle now and I'm not sure if I will buy or lease the next one. Leasing is definitely more expensive for me but I think it would give me a little peace of mind to always drive a relatively new vehicle.

A couple of years ago a small company tried to start a car sharing plan in this area and it eventually fizzled. The idea was to buy a membership and when you needed a vehicle you would schedule the day and time that you needed the vehicle, pick it up at one of the locations around town and when you were finished you could drop it at any location. The final cost of the rental was time plus mileage.

I keep waiting for the little autonomous bubble cars that will appear outside my door and take me where I need to go for a small fee.

 

[Don M.]

This sounds like a "variation" of leasing. Plus, at the prices this article quotes, it seems substantially more expensive than a traditional lease, or even a purchase. About the only Plus I see is that the buyer would not be locked into any long term commitment, and could change vehicles frequently....but they would Certainly be Paying a Premium for this "perk".

 

[jujube]

I'm holding out for teleportation.....

 

[chic]

Falcon, I bought my last car new 10 years ago and paid cash. Those days for me are over now. I could never pay cash for another new car. I drive less than half as much as before. I'm wondering if, for people like me this might be an option. I haven't been to the sites yet though, I admit.

Me neither. Could be an option.

 

[Manatee]

My car is waiting for me 20 feet from my front door. None of these "plans" can beat that for convenience. Said car has 20,000 miles on and it may outlast me.

 

[RadishRose]

This sounds like a "variation" of leasing. Plus, at the prices this article quotes, it seems substantially more expensive than a traditional lease, or even a purchase. About the only Plus I see is that the buyer would not be locked into any long term commitment, and could change vehicles frequently....but they would Certainly be Paying a Premium for this "perk".

Don, I cringed at the 600.00 too, but I believe that was for a Volvo. The cheaper cars shouldn't be that much. The article didn't quote the prices for Fords , etc. One of these days I'll look at Ford's Canvas plan, which includes insurance and maintenance. If they'd only throw in taxes...