If you’re thinking about getting a new car you may have one thing holding you back: your auto lease. We wrote recently about a dealership who is offering a buy out option (see Deal of the Week: the Buy-Out Option). This option is great if you live near this dealer but for the rest of us, getting out of our lease can be difficult and nearly-impossible. Car Leasing Blog talks a little about what your options are:
“Most contract hire agreements have an option called contract novation. This means a contract can be transfered to another party before the end of the contract.
This allows you to get rid of your lease contract earlier than expected.”
So for traditional ways to get out of your lease you need to read the fine print on your agreement. But you may be asking
how do we find someone to take over our lease? For this we found Swap A Lease:
“…the leader in car lease transfers. We are the largest lease assumption marketplace and lease trader in the world. Break your lease with no penalties. Buyers have the opportunity to take over leases. With over $500 Million of successful automobile lease transfers, Swapalease is your best option to get out of your lease or to takeover a great deal on a short term lease.”
Swap a Lease is a cool Web 2.0 tool that puts you in touch with people who are interested in taking over your lease with, did you get that, no penalties. This is definitely the easiest and cheapest way to get free from that old lease and start the new year in a new ride. And if you’re looking for recommendations on a new ride, may we recommend the Toyota Tunda, definitely our favorite pickup of the year.
So thank you for your questions and suggestions and please keep them coming.
Popularity: 43% [?]
So Pontiac is finally working on its image:
“Pontiac has been revamping its brand, cutting the ass-ugly (Aztek, Montana) and adding the badass (G8, SolsticeA
GXP). There’s a strong desire to shift the median buyer age down. The effort’s already underway, and has seen some success thus far, but Pontiac wants the coveted younger buyer. In the interest of getting the Pontiac name in front of their intended buyer, the division is actually cutting back on traditional advertising efforts. Huh? Well, how many 20-somethings do you know who watch Dateline? Right.” - Pontiac puts its faith in the internet
Although, that may be to nice a term for the aesthetics of the Pontiac Aztek, just look at the picture ::shiver::
Popularity: 37% [?]
At Inside Auto Deals we’re all about alternatives to fossil fuels (especially if they can power a V8) so we were fascinated by
what we read on AutoBlogGreen about converting animal fat into fuel:
“What can you do with lots of unused fat? Well, if you’re in an industry that produces too much fat, you might want to look into a new device called ‘the FatBox,’ which was recently introduced by Pacific Natural Energy (PNE). The FatBox produces biodiesel from solid animal fat.”
What’s so fascinating about biodiesel to us, is that it doesn’t require any new technology to be used. In fact, Rudolph Diesel invented the Diesel engine so that farmers could make their own fuel to power their tractors and other farm vehicles. Hybrids, on the other hand, like the Prius still uses gasoline (see “Will the Next Prius Even Use Gas”) and require a heck of a lot of Research & Development which, in turn, spins off a lot of waste. So ‘use what you have’ is still the most efficient plan of action.
And this leads us to our rumor of the week thanks to our friends at Tundra HQ: Toyota Tundra Diesel Near Development. Do you realize what this means? We could be cruising down a rocky farm road in a Pickup that is actually being powered by that farms animal byproducts. Hell, thanks to the folks at Pacific Natural Energy, we could power a Hummer with this stuff as long as it has a diesel engine. Not to mention the exhaust pipe emitting a pleasant smokehouse aroma.
Popularity: 98% [?]
This year’s Green Car Journal’s 2008 Green Car of the Year went to the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid. Wow, an SUV that’s better for
the environment? Well, not exactly. Our friends at The Truth About Cars took a close look at the actual ratings:
“The powerplant installed in this belle of the enviro-ball Tahoe hybrid begins with a 6.0-liter V8. GM opted to graft its hybrid system onto a motor that’s substantially larger (e.g. thirstier) than either the 4.8 or 5.3-liter conventional motors used in other Tahoes. Attach 400 pounds of batteries to this mammoth mill, and the resulting ecotank offers no improvement in highway fuel economy and slightly less towing capacity over the old-fashioned dino burner.”
So the Tahoe’s ecological efforts are actually counter-productive! The car and engine are just too big to be efficient, you’d actually be better of buying a used Corolla if green transportation is what you’re looking for. But The Truth About Cars adds that not all of the winners were a disappointment:
“Both the Nissan Altima Hybrid and the Mazda Tribute Hybrid accomplish their missions: delivering relatively low emissions and strong fuel economy relative to their respective classes.”
The takeaway from the awards for Inside Auto Sales is this — if you want fuel efficiency you’ll just have to stick to a smaller car. It looks like the gas free Prius is still a future fantasy and sorry Arnold, the hybrid Hummer is nowhere on the ecological radar.
Popularity: 100% [?]
