Short Term (3 month) Car Lease?

[Mrs. Ciz]

We have never leased a car before but are considering a short term lease for the summer months. DS will be home from college and will be working a 9-5 internship. DD, DH and I will also be working. DH and I each have a car, but we only have 1 "kid" car. DH thought about buying a 4th used car, but I don't want to have the monthly expense for several years because we only need a 4th car for the summer months. Although he doesn't really need it, DS will take the "kid" car to college with him in late August. He'll be a junior. DD will be a college freshman and can't have a car on campus, nor does she need one.

Since we just need a 4th car for 3 months, I thought of leasing. Do places even do short term leases? Are they super costly? Any experience you can share is appreciated.

 

[starry_solo]

I don't think there are short term leases available. Have you looked at car rental companies? They usually can give you better deals for a longer period of time (rather than the charge per week), similar to hotels and motels.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

We have never leased a car before but are considering a short term lease for the summer months. DS will be home from college and will be working a 9-5 internship. DD, DH and I will also be working. DH and I each have a car, but we only have 1 "kid" car. DH thought about buying a 4th used car, but I don't want to have the monthly expense for several years because we only need a 4th car for the summer months. Although he doesn't really need it, DS will take the "kid" car to college with him in late August. He'll be a junior. DD will be a college freshman and can't have a car on campus, nor does she need one.

Since we just need a 4th car for 3 months, I thought of leasing. Do places even do short term leases? Are they super costly? Any experience you can share is appreciated.

Is there any possibility to make it work with just 3 cars? Maybe DS and DD can share a car and carpool to work or one of them can get a ride with a co-worker? I know this may not be a possibility, but it something to seriously consider.

My DH and I rented a small SUV for a month for our honeymoon and it cost us about $1000. You might be able to rent an economy car for less, but over 3 months it will still end up being a significant cost.

ETA: And with a rental car, if the driver is under 25, the cost goes up significantly. You won't want to lie and say that you or your DH are the primary drivers if you do plan to let your DS or DD drive the car, because then your liability insurance will not cover anything if either of them get in an accident.

 

[Nayan]

There's no such thing as a short-term lease here in the States. You will either have to make-do with 3 cars, rent a car for 3 months (but like the PP said, under 25 and the prices rise dramatically!) or maybe buy a cheap used car that you can turn around and resell when done with it.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Is there any possibility to make it work with just 3 cars? Maybe DS and DD can share a car and carpool to work or one of them can get a ride with a co-worker? I know this may not be a possibility, but it something to seriously consider.

My DH and I rented a small SUV for a month for our honeymoon and it cost us about $1000. You might be able to rent an economy car for less, but over 3 months it will still end up being a significant cost.

ETA: And with a rental car, if the driver is under 25, the cost goes up significantly. You won't want to lie and say that you or your DH are the primary drivers if you do plan to let your DS or DD drive the car, because then your liability insurance will not cover anything if either of them get in an accident.

I would drive the leased/rented car. One of the kids would drive my car. DH drives too many miles for his job, and the kids are under 25. I think I'm going to look at a 3 month rental from some of the local mom & pop rental companies that rent older cars in our city. When I priced out a 3 month rental in my city on Kayak (using one of the big name companies), it was $2200 for 3 months. Yikes!!!! I am also going to look at taking over a lease from someone who wants out early. Not sure what this procedure is called, but I found a website called lease trader(sort of like auto trader).

Maybe we will have to buy something...just trying to look at all the options before we make our decision.

 

[tvguy]

I'd just buy a $3,000 car and then sell it at the end of the summer.

 

[Lvsdisney]

I my area there are car sharing places (zip car is one of them). Not sure if that would make monetary sense, borrowing a car from them.

 

[Gracie09]

I pricelined a monthly rental a bunch of year ago. My car died the last month of school and i needed one to get around. It was cheap. I don't remember exactly the price but I was a poor student. You could do a series of rentals

 

[DLgal]

We have never leased a car before but are considering a short term lease for the summer months. DS will be home from college and will be working a 9-5 internship. DD, DH and I will also be working. DH and I each have a car, but we only have 1 "kid" car. DH thought about buying a 4th used car, but I don't want to have the monthly expense for several years because we only need a 4th car for the summer months. Although he doesn't really need it, DS will take the "kid" car to college with him in late August. He'll be a junior. DD will be a college freshman and can't have a car on campus, nor does she need one.

Since we just need a 4th car for 3 months, I thought of leasing. Do places even do short term leases? Are they super costly? Any experience you can share is appreciated.

How far away is the internship?

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

How far away is the internship?

Not sure yet. He has a bunch of interviews lined up.

 

[starry_solo]

In the thread about returning a rental early, one poster said that they rented a car for two months for about $2000 (minivan) and put 11,000 miles on it.

If you do end up going the car rental route, maybe have your husband drive the rental (as long as unlimited miles) since you said that he travels a lot.

But depending on the internship, how many days he would work, does he really need a car? Maybe he can take public transportation or one of you can drop him off?