Leasing SFI Jul 22

You know, never thought about that. Never thought a carrier or SFI would pull the lease. Didn't think they could and if they can, why would they?

Well, just called Freightliner dealership again today and they wanted 45k down on a 2020 Cascadia with 350k miles. Then the payment would be about 3500 a month, which is only slightly better than the SFI program and not the significant savings that I thought would be.

 

I've heard of it being a problem for people who lease from their carrier. If the carrier decides to terminate you for any reason then the lease goes with it. I imagine you'd be safer with a separate leasing company, like SFI, where you can move the truck somewhere else if you need to.

 

I misread your statement. I thought you meant for some reason, SFI would pull the contract and I would lose all the payments I've made. But, you meant someone leasing and payment to the same carrier. In that case, that would make sense. And yes, if one carrier pulls the contract than I can take the truck and switch carriers by leasing from SFI and all my payments I've made should be safe.

 

I think the risk would be, if for some reason you could not continue with the lease at SFI, you would still lose all that you had paid to that point. There could be many reasons for that, such as rates going so low you can’t make enough profit with the high payment or health issues that required you to take an extended time off. If you’re leasing a truck with the intention of turning it back in at the end and never owning it, that’s one thing. It’s basically a rental. But, if you want to build equity in an asset, I would find a way to get more traditional financing.

 

Doesn't matter the source of financing. If you can't make the payments you lose the asset.

 

You don’t lose your equity, as long as you’re not upside down on it.

 

Um, so you're thinking they'll return your equity?
If so, you are terribly confused and have no business leasing.
If not, explain your post.

Look guys, here's the deal.
It's a rental, ok? Leasing only means that you're responsible for repairs.

You have no equity.
You have no 'ownership'.
It is a leased vehicle.

 

I think you misunderstood. I was talking about having equity with traditional financing, which is the point I was trying to make in the post MysticHZ replied to.

 

You have no equity in traditional financing.
Ask yourself this:
You buy a car for $30,000
You pay it down to $5,000, but you run out of money.
The car is worth $20k
Do you think they're going to give you the difference?
Nope. They gonna take the $15k difference and wish you a happy day. Because they own the vehicle.

Heaven help if you're upside down. Because you'll pay the difference.

 

I’ve never had a vehicle repossessed, but my understanding is that legally, the bank is required to return any proceeds from the auction of the vehicle over the amount you owe. However, it would be much smarter to sell before it ever gets to that. The point is, traditional financing gives you some ability to get some of your equity back in a sale. I wouldn’t advocate anyone let things go to the point of repossession.