Are leasing costs such as interest rates and mileage charges disclosed up front?
Not necessarily. While the federal Consumer Leasing Act requires lease agreements to include a statement of costs (such as the number and amount of regular payments), terms such as insurance requirements and the penalty for defaulting, and whether you are obligated to pay only the monthly payments or whether you’ll have a balloon payment at the end, many lease agreements are ambiguously drafted with key provisions buried in the fine print. Even the revised regulations do not eliminate all of the abuses. For example, the revised law does not obligate a dealer to disclose the interest rate that’s been built into your payments. If you want to lease, you’ll have to be a diligent consumer willing to read all the fine print. Ask a lot of questions and demand that the answers be put in writing.
