Frequently Asked Questions

Yes, yes and yes.

Yes. We’ll work with you to find a lease that fits your needs, but if you’re not a good leasing candidate, we’ll show you alternatives for purchasing your new car instead.

In most cases, FairLease requires only the first month’s payment. There’s no money down, no fees and no TTL upfront.

The majority of your lease payment is based on the purchase price of the car. This is the no-haggle price we offer each customer. However, the lease agreement differs from person to person. For example, you may choose a 48-month term instead of a 36- or 60-month term. Another variable is the annual mileage allowance. The number of miles you drive impacts the value of the car when you return it at the end of your term. We have to offset the reduced value of higher-mileage cars by adding dollars to the monthly payment. Finally, your credit history impacts the financing rate and, in turn, your payment price.

In the car business some fees are legitimate. They cover the real costs that dealers pay at the end of your lease. The rest are just an underhanded way for dealers to make more money off you. At FairLease, we do not profit from any fee. In fact, we only charge three fees, and two of them depend on how you use your car during its lease:

1. Acquisition Fee
   This fee is $695 and includes both our cost to originate your lease and Gap Insurance, which, if your auto were stolen or totaled, would cover the difference between the actual value of your vehicle and the value of your remaining payments. This is not an out-of-pocket cost. It's included in your monthly payment.
2. Excess Mileage Fee
   If you exceed the agreed-upon mileage in your lease agreement, FairLease will assess a fee of $0.10/mile, one of the lowest mileage fees in the industry.
3. Excess Wear and Tear Fee
   At FairLease, we don’t have a service department out to make a buck over a couple of minor issues. This fee applies only if your vehicle requires an inordinate amount of service at the end of your term. In fact, we believe a 5-year-old car should look like a 5 year-old car, and we use an independent third party to inspect our lease returns. If it passes muster with them, it’s fine with us.

For the sake of comparison, other dealers charge a Purchase Option Fee, a Disposal Fee, an Early Termination Penalty and a much higher rate for Excess Mileage. For more details on these "gotcha" fees, see The Real Cost of Your Lease – Us vs. Them.

There are two important points to understand here:

1. Running your credit early is a sales technique called “prequalification.” The typical dealer wants to know whether you’re “worth their time.” At FairLease, we feel each of our customers is worth our time and respect. Also, we understand the private nature of your financial history. We don’t even want to inquire about it until we absolutely need to determine your monthly payments.
2. Through the credit reporting process, the dealer learns exactly how much you’re paying for your current car. So, even if you follow the advice of experts, and don’t divulge your current payments, this is the dealer’s secret, sure-fire way of finding out. And why is that important to them? Well, read the next FAQ.

Frankly, the amount you pay for your current car should have no bearing on the cost of your next car. The only reason other dealers want to know is so that they can determine what range you’re comfortable with. Based on your response, they’ll get you to commit to a payment at the top of your range and then work the math backwards, regardless of the cost of the car. If they ask about your payments, don’t tell them. Or just walk away. They’re trying to take advantage of your forthrightness.

This is a great question. The first half of the answer reveals quite a bit about how most dealerships operate. Those three people represent different departments within each dealership, and all three departments are designed to make a profit off you. One is trying to make as much as possible from the sale of the car itself. The second is trying to make as much as possible from the financing, insurance and any extended warranty options. The third is trying to sell you on accessories and other dealer options. By the time you go through that gauntlet, the dealer hopes to have made a very pretty penny off you.

At FairLease, we provide one lease consultant to help you because, first, we’re not interested in making money from you at all costs and, second, because we want to make your experience with us pleasant and relaxing – anything but a high-pressure sales process. Essentially, one experienced consultant in our office will out-service any three people at theirs. And you’ll save a small fortune in the process.

FairLease provides all the funds for every car we lease. There is no additional markup or middleman.

In some ways, franchised dealerships that sell new cars are set up similar to our structure. The auto manufacturer has a financing group that services your lease directly. That part works without a middleman. However, the lease itself is set up by the employees of the dealership, not by the lender. The dealership has its own profit motivation and acts as a middleman while setting up your lease. They add a little more to the financing so they can take a cut and make the maximum amount from your deal – at your expense.

At FairLease, we have no hidden fees. In fact, we have only one mandatory fee at the beginning of your lease and two fees that may apply at the end. Those fees are detailed above in FAQ #5. Before you sign any agreement at FairLease, your consultant will explain each of these fees to your satisfaction. If you don’t understand something, just speak up and we’ll clarify it.

We charge no disposition fee at the end of the lease, no purchase option fee and no fee for terminating your lease early (although you must pay the remaining balance of your lease, as agreed upon at the outset.) Other dealers charge acquisition fees, disposition fees, excessive over-mileage penalties, wear and tear fees, early termination penalties, purchase options and excessive title and license fees. All of these can easily add up to thousands of dollars.

FairLease has the lowest possible liability insurance requirements for Texas residents that lease their autos. We adhere to the minimum auto liability insurance limits required by the state of Texas, which as of 8/1/2011, are $30,000/$60,000/$25,000. In fact, to our knowledge, we’re the nation’s only leasing company that does not require limits of $100,000/$300,000/$50,000. Over the term of your lease, this can save you several hundred dollars, even thousands of dollars, in auto insurance premiums.

Of course, every new car from FairLease is covered by the manufacturer’s warranty, and many of our ReNewed™ pre-owned autos are covered by remaining factory warranties. Above and beyond that, FairLease stands behind every car we provide to customers. We are 100% committed to the satisfaction of our customers at all times, and if something’s not right with your vehicle, we’ll work with the manufacturer or the manufacturer’s dealer to make it right.

Our new cars and trucks come from a list of our preferred dealers, where, in most instances, we receive special pricing below dealer invoice. Because we’re not interested in profiting from the sales of the autos themselves, we pass the original low cost on to you without markup.

Our pre-owned, ReNewed vehicles come from a number of sources. Many are end-of-term lease returns. In order to meet the demand for the most popular pre-owned cars, we purchase some models at special wholesale pricing just to keep in our inventory. Or if a customer is interested in a particular pre-owned model that we don’t have in stock, we’ll search the market to deliver exactly the car they have in mind.