Thursday, February 21, 2013

Can I Buy the Car I Rent?

Sometimes, a person renting a car may wish to buy it. Whether the person will have the opportunity to do so will depend on the terms of the lease. Some leases allow a person to buy a car after the lease has been paid for a certain period of time. However, other leases will not afford the person this same opportunity, particularly if the lease is a short-term one.

Car Leasing

    When a person leases a car, he is contracting to use the car for a set period time. The person does not take ownership of the car, but only pays for the privilege of driving it. When the lease period is over, the car's owner will retake possession of it, and the leasee will no longer be allowed to use it. However, some owners will be willing to sell the car.

Long-Term Leases

    Generally, long-term leases -- leases of a year or more -- include an option that allow the renter to buy the car at the end of the term for a pre-set price. While the leasee does not have to exercise this option, he may wish to. In some instances, doing so may make financial sense, particularly if the price the leasee is required to pay is below the car's market price.

Short-Term Rental

    In nearly all cases, a person who takes out a car for a short-term rental -- say, for a week while on vacation -- will not be given the option of buying the car after the rental is over. This is because the company renting the car uses a different business model than leasing companies. These rental companies rent cars for short periods of time to many customers, not long periods of time to a single customer.

Contracts

    Whether a person can buy a car he is renting will come down to what his contract says. Some leases may allow the person to buy the car at any time, while others will not allow him to buy the car at all. For short-term car rentals, a person will likely not be allowed to buy the car, but it can't hurt to propose a deal to the car's owner.

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