Leasing a Dell
Jun 29 '00
At first glance, it would seem that leasing is an attractive alternative to buying. In general, this may or may not be true. With Dell, while I highly recommend their products, I also recommend BUYING instead of leasing. There are a couple of reasons why:
First, let's talk about price. This is a general downside of ANY lease, not just a lease from DELL. When leasing you end up paying far more than the original purchase price during the term of the lease. For a business, this may be worthwhile because you can write-off the expense. But, expect a $4000 laptop to cost you about $4600 for a 2 year lease (these are rough estimates...many factors can change these numbers).
But, the cost doesn't stop there. At least not at Dell. You see, by default your lease is AUTOMATICALLY EXTENDED (forever if you don't either buy the computer or send it back). That means that Dell will GLADLY continue to take your monthly check for years if you decide to keep sending it.
The smarter thing to do is to buy the machine. But, now you're buying a 2 year old machine and the price you'll pay is about 15-20% of the original purchase price. Now the $4000 machine you've paid $4600 for will cost $600-800 more to keep...or $5200-5400.
AND...Don't expect those extra lease payments you made by mistake (because you didn't realize the lease ended) to apply to the purchase price...no can do. Because the lease AUTOMATICALLY EXTENDS, you owe those payments PLUS the buyout price.
And, oh yeah I forgot, the monthly statements you get from Dell DON'T TELL YOU WHEN THE LEASE ENDS! That means you have to get on the phone with Dell Financial Services (my experience was a 15-20 minute wait) to find out. I've leased several cars, and I always get a notice from the leasing company letting me know my lease is about to expire and what to do about it. Dell doesn't bother to tell you (well, they didn't tell ME and they say that's normal). They WANT your lease to keep going so that you KEEP PAYING.
So, if you decide you don't want to buy the 2 year old slow-poke system after all, you still have a price to pay. Dell doesn't pay shipping and handling to send it back (or insurance)...YOU DO. Read the fine print. It cost them $90 to send it to you 2 years ago, but since you aren't a big shipper like Dell it will cost YOU a lot more. Probably like $150 for a desktop system w/monitor (I suggest hardcore lease advocates BUY the monitor since it can be used on the next system). You can send it ground, the cheap way, but keep in mind that you are responsible for lease payments until the computer has been received AND CHECKED by Dell, so the longer it takes to get there the more it costs you. And, don't forget the charges for missing software, broken dongles, scratches, dents and dings.
My advice...if you're willing to pay 25% above retail or more for a computer, go ahead and lease a Dell. Otherwise, throw it on a credit card and pay it off as quickly as you can. It will PROBABLY cost less than a lease and you can SELL the computer on EBay when you want a new one... and make a little of your money back.
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droolindog
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