To Lease Or Not To Lease
TO LEASE OR NOT TO LEASE
AUTOMOTIVE LEASING, while not exactly the rule, is still more than just the exception. According to the people at Kelly Blue Book, car leasing has been on the in crease for the last eight years or so. In 1999, approximately 30 percent of the cars on the mar ket were leased. Not an overwhelming number, but not insignificant either. The big question, of course, is will it work for motorcycles?
Opinions are mixed. Con vinced that the concept is mo torcycle-friendly are Harley Davidson and BMW Other manufacturers, such as Honda and KTM, remain on the fence.
Thus far, however, nothing is writ in stone. Harley Davidson Financial Services offers 24or 36-month leases. op tions include insur ance, prepaid maintenance, up to $4000 worth of acce~ sorization and more, with no money down. Says HDFS' Tim Rousseau, "It's a great program for the blue-col lar guy, or the guy who's not sure if motorcycling is for him."
Something similar is hap pening at BMW. A relatively new program centers around the entry-level R1IOORL, a soon-to-be-debuted, limitededition, lower-priced model that lacks ABS and bag mounts. Explains BMW's Jeff Ehoodin, "What we're trying to do is find the right combina tion to work for the customer, to have a low monthly outlay and still be able to buy."
Meanwhile, Honda's Gary Christopher isn't so optimistic. He says, "We've been research ing this for more than a decade. We've found that leasing ap plies to transportation vehicles but doesn't work so well with recreational vehicles."
This is mostly due to the lia bility of the lessor, most bikes' lack of residual value, the diffi culty in allowing modifications and, in the case of dirtbikes, the tremendous depreciation and lack of a state-mandated licens ing system.
KTN4's Scot Harden concurs. When comparing the prices of entry-level cars versus entry level motorcycles, for example, he doubts that leasing would be economically feasible. Harden points out, `l could see it with S 15,000 bikes like Ducatis or Harley-Davidsons.
To lease or not to lease, that remains the question.
Wendy F. Black
