A good friend, Maria, has just asked your advice now that you are taking business math. She has never owned a car before and doesn’t know if she should lease or buy one. She doesn’t really understand the financial or other advantages and disadvantages of owning versus leasing. She has visited a dealership and gotten some basic information on the car of her choice. Maria summarized the information from the dealer into a table and outlined some of her questions. She would like your help analyzing the information and deciding what to do.

 

 

1.Look under the Project icon and download the file name Car Worksheet. Save the worksheet to your computer with the filename your lastnamefirstinitial_worksheet_P3. For example, if Jenny Wu is doing this project she would save the worksheet as wuj_worksheet_P3. When you open the worksheet be sure to put a heading at the top with your name and the project title.

 

 

2.Complete the remaining entries under Solution Plan in the worksheet. Be sure to use complete sentences in items 1 through 5.

 

 

3.Scroll back up the worksheet and look at the questions under What we are looking for and include your answers under each question. Be sure to write in complete sentences.

 

 

4.Now its your turn. Pick a car that you like and that you may be able to afford. Complete the following. Use full sentences in all responses.

 

 

1.Call or visit a dealership and find out how much it would cost to lease and to purchase the car of your choice. Don’t forget to record the name of the person you speak to, their title, the date, and the dealership name. Be sure to specify what optional equipment you want. Be specific. Tell me the exact model you want.

 

 

2.Visit the two websites http://www.kbb.com/ and http://www.edmunds.com/ and get the car sticker price, dealer costs, and the average purchase price for the car you selected. How does the dealer cost compare to the sticker price? Be sure you include all the options you specified when you priced the car with the dealer. How does this information help you when negottiating with the dealer?

 

 

3.New cars depreciate, that is lose value, as soon as you drive them out of the showroom. Some cars hold their value better than others. Search on the web and find out about depreciation rates on new cars. See if you can find the rate for the car you are interested in. Use the websites listed above and look up the resale value of a three year old model of the car you are interested in. Compare it to some other cars. What does that tell you about the rate of depreciation on the car you are interested in?

 

 

4.After reviewing your answers to question 6 on the worksheet what would you do – buy or lease? Why?

 

 

5.You should be able to add the information to your worksheet file but if you created a new file to answer the questions be sure to name the file with with the filename your lastnamefirstinitial__car. For example, if Jenny Wu is doing this project she would save the file as wuj_P3. Remember the file must be a WORD or Rich Text file. Be sure you put a heading at the top with your name and the project title.

 

 

6.Include a Reference List giving all sources you consulted for this project. If you are not sure how to properly cite your references seehttp://www.bergen.edu/pages/2306.asp. (Note: The BCC English Department uses MLA format. You may use MLA, APA, or Chicago style but you must be consistent in your usage.)