To Buy or To Lease? All Car Buying or Leasing/Renting Doubts Cleared

• Published On: 28 June 2019
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Droom takes a look at the future of car lease/subscription/rental services in India.

Although it is quite the norm in the western nations, leasing cars or renting them on a subscription basis was never a major thing in India because the market has been limited so far. However, with the growing influence of western economic in the country, now there are a lot of options as online services such as Revv and Zoom’s ZapCar have been thriving in India. However, as the natural human stimuli to every change, Indians too still hold reservations about this new kind of service. Many countrymen think owning makes more sense as compared to paying a monthly fee for ‘subscribing’ to a car. However, analyze your need in an individual manner and then one can reach an objective conclusion as to whether the rental/subscription service makes more sense for you. Therefore lets delve deep and look at whether the lease/subscription/rental services make more sense for the way which you will use your car, or whether it will be better to just buy the car outright.

Lease/Rent/Subscribe

Changing Taste

Does every new car in the market make you want to own it and are you ready to do so? If the answer to this question for you is in affirmative, then lease-a-car service might just be the right choice for you. Once you get bored of the car you currently own, you can always end the lease on the current car and move on to a new model and then lease it. Under the plans of leasing services, one can always make the switch as per their wishes, by swapping their existing car for the wheels they desire next, given that you have leased the car for a certain period. Contrast this to buying a vehicle, selling it in the used car market, and then buying a new car, and you find that leasing services are very convenient for such usage patterns.

No Strings Attached

Under the subscription or leasing services, there are no major initial charges involved and for a relatively smaller sum one can get the full experience of ownership. The small upfront cost of leasing a vehicle saves one from making a hefty down payment on a car purchase. Not to mention that the lessee is also saved from paying various taxes involved when buying a new car, which further cuts down the initial cost. That there are no maintenance charges despite having the ownership experience of a car is just icing on the cake.

Backseat Passengers

If the daily commute of an individual involves long hours of driving, a lot of people take the option of being chauffeured around to save on time and effort. If this is the same with you and you prefer being driven on the backseat rather than driving the car yourself, the subscription model is the way to go. This not only rids the lessee from the concern of driver’s handling of the car, one can always end the chauffer service and return the car once the need for daily longer commutes is over.

Buying

Road Trip Lover

A major caveat that follows the leased cars is that they come with the yellow commercial number plates. This is a major difference as compared to the conventional white number plates of private cars. One can feel this difference in their pockets when crossing a state border. Since road trips often span a few states/union territories, the commercial vehicles are charged at every entry into a state. This is a major deterrent when going on road trips or tours because one might end up paying a lot of money as tax when crossing state borders, and the road trip may burn a major tax hole in your pocket. Comparing this to a private car, where one has to pay not tax on crossing any state border and the choice is as clear as a crystal.

Customization Life

If you love leaving an imprint of your personality on the car and have grand plans of customization for you next ride, buying a car is the way to go for you. Cars and owners often develop a personal bond and the car then becomes the extension of the personality of the owner, and then the owners modify/customize their cars as per their wishes. On the other hand, leasing services do not even offer the choice of changing something as small as the speaker of the car. Therefore, if you are a person who feels the car you own says a lot about you, buying is the option to choose.