Acquisition fee: A fee charged by a leasing company to begin a lease. Not all leasing companies charge an acquisition fee but if charge it starts at about $300 and is seldom negotiable.

Capitalised cost: The total selling price of the leased vehicle This also accounts for taxes, title, license fees, acquisition fee and any optional insurance and warranty items you elect to fold into the lease and pay overtime rather  than upfront.

Depreciation fee:
Forms part of the monthly lease payment charge and accounts for the loss in the value of the car at the end of the lease. The vehicle’s list price minus the expected residual value at lease end is divided by the number of months in the lease to give the depreciation fee. Suppose you decide to lease a vehicle with a retail price of $23,500. The leasing company
estimates that after a three year lease, the vehicle will be worth 35% of its original retail value, or $8,225. The difference, $15,275, divided by the number of months in the lease, 36 months, gives us the depreciation fee ($424)

GAP insurance Pays off the lease balanced if the vehicle is wrecked, stolen or totalled.

Inception fees any fees that are due at the beginning of a lease. These typically include a security deposit, acquisition fee, first monthly payment, taxes and title fees.

Mileage allowance The maximum number of miles a leased vehicle can be driven a year without incurring an excess mileage penalty. A typical mileage allowance is 12,000 to 15,000 miles a year, although this is negotiable with your leasing company.

Mileage charges a penalty that you incur if you exceed your mileage allowance on a leased vehicle. Typical mileage charges are 10 to 20 cents per excess mile.

Money-factor A fractional number, such as 0.00043, used in calculating your monthly lease payments. You can get a rough estimate of the annual percentage rate on your lease by multiplying the money factor by 2,400. If a dealer quotes a money factor such as 3.4 than you can get the equivalent APR, 8.16, if you multiply by 2.4.

Residual value Residual value is the amount of money the leasing company says your leased vehicle will be worth when your lease ends. Higher residual values lead to lower monthly payments but higher lease-end purchase cost if you decide to keep the vehicle.

Security deposits an up-front amount that your leasing company required at the beginning of a lease to safeguard against non-payment. This is generally refundable at the end of your lease.

Termination or Disposition fee The amount you have to pay the leasing company at the end of your lease if you decide not to purchase the vehicle. Wear-and-tear charges Extra charges you have to pay at the end of your lease for any wear and use the leasing company considers above normal

Kenwood car stereos have produced high quality consumer electronics, test equipment and communication equipment since 1946. Kenwood car stereos primarily specialize in the design, engineering and manufacture of wireless communication infrastructure but are also renowned in the production consumer mobile and home entertainment systems. Kenwood car stereos are also committed to creating the finest quality components with state of the art technologies that has earned them a huge following in the audio products scene.

At present, Kenwood car stereos have a very impressive product lineup that would make anyone drool over, whether he is an audio enthusiast or not. For the regular Joe who isn’t really into technical stuff, and is just looking for something nice to put into his ride, Kenwood car stereos offer sleek designs that will surely satisfy anyone’s craving for aesthetic. Tech-freaks and geeks will also be impressed with the specs a Kenwood car stereo has.

A lot of Kenwood car stereo units nowadays include popup LCD panels for watching VCD/DVD movies. The Kenwood KVT-717DVD 7.0” Wide, Fully Motorized In-dash Monitor DVD/WMA/MP3 Receiver is a good candidate for any situation.

• 7.0 inch Wide Color TFT Active Matrix Display
• Full-automatic Open/Close with slide and angle adjustments
• Interactive Touchscreen Control with OSD
• Audio Easy Control Mode while Playing Visual Source
• Selectable Wall Paper (6 Patterns)
• Installer/Backup Memory of Audio/Video Setup
• Maximum Output Power : 50W x 4 (MOSFET Power IC)
• 3 Preouts with 5V Pre-out Level
• 2 RCA AV Inputs / 1 RCA AV Output
• Video Input for Rear View Camera
• RGB Input for Navigation System
• System Q/ System E’s+
• DVD Menu Direct Touch screen Control
• MPEG 1/2 Video files (.mpg) and JPEG files (.jpg) Playback
• Dual Zone Source & Volume Control
• DVDฑR/RW Compatible
• External Media Control — iPod Ready
• Optional TV Tuner

For those who might not get what the hell all of these means, just imagine this: a really thin monitor panel that smoothly retracts and extends at the push of a remote, crystal clear movie and picture playback, all encased in a beautiful black matte finish polymer casing done with a space age design.

If all you want is a just a regular car stereo for playing CDs’, listening to mp3s or the radio, Kenwood car stereo have a lot to choose from. A good head unit would be the KDC-MP928 AAC/WMA/MP3/ CD Receiver with External Media Control.

• Auto-Slide Detachable Faceplate
• Rotary Encoder & Jog Control Knob for Easy Operation
• 4096 Color OEL Display
• Display Customize Function
• Maximum Output Power : 50W x 4 (MOSFET Power IC)
• ACDrive (Advanced Codec Drive)
• AAC/WMA/MP3 Playback
• G-Analyzer (Graphic Motion Analyzer)
• Built-in DSP : DTA/System Q(4band P-EQ)/Digital E’s/SRS
WOW Digital Effect
• O.D.D. (Offset Dual Differential) D/A System for Sound Quality
• Installer/User/Backup Memory of Audio Setup
• SIRIUS Satellite Radio Ready
• HD Radio Ready
• External Media Control — iPod Ready
• Dual Zone Source & Volume Control
• AUX Input
• Gold Plated 3 Preouts with 5V Pre-output Level

The Kenwood car stereo auto slide detachable faceplate allows you to take the faceplate (one which has all the buttons) in order to prevent theft by taking away the functionality of the unit left in the car.

First, you need to know the cost of buying out your lease. Read the fine
print of your contract and look for the “purchase option price”. This
price is set by the leasing company and usually comprises the residual
value of the car at the end of the lease plus a purchase-option fee
ranging from $300 to $500. When you signed on the dotted line, your
monthly payments were calculated as the difference between the vehicle’s
sticker price and its estimated value at the end of the lease, plus a
monthly financing fee. This estimated price of the car value at the end
of the lease is what is termed in leasing jargon “residual value”. It is
the expected depreciation – or loss in value – of the vehicle over the
scheduled-lease period.  For example, a car with a sticker price of
$40,000 and a 50% residual percentage will have an estimated $20,000
value at lease end.

Now that you know the cost of buying out your lease, you need to determine
the actual value, also termed “market value”, of your vehicle.  So, how
much does your car retail for in the market? To pin down a good, solid
estimate you need to do some pricing research. Check the price of the
vehicle, with similar mileage and condition, with different dealers. Use
online pricing websites, such as Cars.com, Edmunds.com and Kelly Blue Book
for detailed pricing information. Gleaning pricing information from various
sources should give you a fair estimate of your vehicle’s retail value.

All you have to do now is compare the two amounts. If the residual value is
lower than the actual retail value, than you’re into a winner.
Unfortunately, there is a good chance a car coming off a lease is a little
on the high side.

Don’t despair though. Leasing companies know as much that residual values
on their vehicles are greater than their market value and as such are
always on the look out for offers. You can knock down on the price of your
leased vehicle with some smooth negotiating tactics. Put forward a price
that is below your actual target and negotiate hard until you wind up near
that figure.

Well, no quite! When you lease a car, you’re only using the car over a
specified period of time with the option of buying the car. The residual
value represents the “loan balance” at the end of the lease. If you add it
to the capitalized cost and divide by two, you’ll get the average
capitalized cost outstanding over the lease term. Let us suppose you’re
leasing a car with a capitalized cost of $25,000 and a residual value of
$15,000. You average balance over the lease term, irrespective of how long
it is, is $20,000 – the sum of the two divided by two -.

Using this sum works because the money factor is the annual interest rate
devided by 24, rather than 12. Continuing with our example and assuming an
interest rate of 6% APR:

$30,000 X (6 per cent / 24) = $75
(Capitalized cost + residual value) X (interest rate / 24) = Monthly

finance charge
This finance charge is added to the depreciation charge to calculate the
monthly payments on your lease.

Benefit Number 1: Keeping up with the latest trends

Leasing is sometimes more of a personal and lifestyle choice than a financial one. Many people are not comfortable with the idea of owning a vehicle over a long period of time. They’d rather keep up with the latest trends of the industry and drive the latest models every two to three years.

Leasing a car gives you the convenience of having the latest technology and safety innovation, such as an electronic stability system, DVD entertainment systems and advanced stereo equipment. If you are willing to forego ownership for the latest set of wheels, than leasing is your best option.

Benefit Number 2: Purchasing Flexibility

Leasing also offers purchasing flexibility: it allows you to defer the purchasing decision while using the car. You don’t have to haggle with your mechanic over repair expenses, deal with hefty maintenance bills or worry about a depreciating asset. Provided you can keep the vehicle in good condition and stay within the contracted mileage allowance, you’re effectively getting a test drive for the length of your lease. At the end of your lease, you can purchase the vehicle or simply turn in the keys and walk away. No questions asked.

Benefit Number 3: Cash Flow

Leasing offers many short-term benefits. It reduces your initial cash outlay as you do not have to pay the large down payment required for car ownership. You only pay for the depreciation on the car – only the part you will use during your lease, not the entire vehicle. This results in lower monthly payments and frees even more cash. This cash can be put to use more intelligently elsewhere than the questionable investment of owning a depreciating asset. If you are self-employed or use your car for your job, then you can write off your leasing payment as a business expense.

Benefit Number 4: Negotiating Leverage

Although it may seem a little unorthodox in this industry, almost everything about leasing is negotiable. If you know all the fees involved, you can lower your monthly payments, negotiate the purchase price of the vehicle at the end of the lease and contract additional miles on top of your mileage limit. You can also do some shopping around and compare deals from different auto-insurers to get the cheapest GAP insurance for your lease.

When you lease, the vehicle that you will drive belongs to the leasing company. They want to make sure that their investment is covered in the event the vehicle gets damaged, totalled or stolen. They typically want to get covered for the difference between what your auto-insurer pays and your outstanding leasing obligations at the time of the accident or damage. This is called GAP, short for Guaranteed Auto Protection, and is usually included in the leasing contract.

If your leasing company is called BMW Financial Services, ChryslerFinancial or any other finance division of an automaker, then chances are your GAP insurance will be offered by the same lease company.

You are under no obligation to accept GAP insurance included as part of your lease agreement. Why pay an insurance premium if you could get the same coverage for a lower price?

Invest some time shopping by comparing quotes from other insurance companies, including your existing one. Ask for discounts that you already qualify for and adjust your coverage accordingly.