I’m seriously considering leasing one of my next vehicles through my business rather than take the lease personally. To those in the industry, what’s the process to get this done?
Holder will likely be Ally or Chry Financial if this makes any difference.
Just get insurance quotes for commercial insurance before you sign that lease.
Yeah I hear ya. I already have owned vehicles under a policy and the rates can get scary…
I own my own business and i never put any leases under it.
You need to track miles and all that which is just a pain… My accountant told me its a big hassle and if you get audited can lead to some slippery situations.
Just my experience but im sure others on here go thru their business and can be more of help…
I currently have one lease under LLC. You will be required to co-sign in your personal name if the LLC/Corp does not have any or limited credit history. Otherwise, everything else is titled/registered and insured under LLC. The insurance rate is also higher than regualr…
Yes the higher insurance seems to be the caveat…
But insurance + lease + etc are all deductible from the business income, so it is not as bad …
Part of it depends on your insurance company. When I had Farmers I was able to add Business Use to my auto policy and add the company as an Additional Insured for like $60 a year. I can’t do that with Progressive so it is listed as Buisness Use but insured and registered in my name.
I had someone in FL do it. They leased a Sienna under business name and added to personal policy. month later insurance warned them to switch or else they would drop. Insurance went up by 110 per month for the remainder of the lease 
This is in Miami btw where we have the worst drivers and the worst insurance scams in the nation.
My last 2016 XC90 was leased under our corporation, we kept Progressive insurance on it with no problems. I had to be on the lease as a guarantor. This was in Miami FL.
You always have to be the guarantor as its your corporation. Thats for the bank. The insurancr carrier however is what makes it a pain.
This isn’t applicable to all cases. VW credit (and by extension Audit Financial) would accept business only leases/loans. The caveat was that you had to provide 2 years AUDITED financials for them to even consider it. Probably not all but some other lenders may offer the same thing. Whether Ally and Chrysler Financial do, is for someone else to determine. Anyway, the cost of audited financials (if they are not already being performed for other purposes) would probably make it cost prohibitive or wipe out any savings.
FWIW.
I’m not an accountant or expert in this, but my understanding is that miles you drive personally are not deductible, while miles you drive for business are deductible, regardless of how you want to set it up. I.e. it’s not like you can magically deduct everything because it is a ‘business’ vehicle when you are driving it 40-percent for personal use, as an example. Not sure if you were getting at that, but something to keep in mind/look into.
That is true - you must account for personal vs business use. But for example, you could always drive to Staples to buy a pen for for your business but happen to stop by at the restaurant and movie theater since it was on the way … And I believe if you happen to be talking to your wife (who generally could also be a director of said business) at said restaurant about business plans, that meal could also be tax deductible
The whole trip would be - business drove to Staples to buy a pen - 40 miles … restaurant - board meeting for strategy.
Businesses make so many trips to Staples and post office to buy stamps that their personal use is just incidental …
You my friend are wicked !
My business is tax exempt which has helped me save some $ on lease deals. Two different chevy dealers have given me tax exempt leases in my personal name, which has gone off very smoothly. With my latest toyota lease, the dealer said the only way they could do it is if the car was leased in the business name. I’m not seeing a real difference in leasing through the business except it has messed with my insurance. I have put in a bit of extra legwork to bring the premium down, but as it stands it is still about $15 more a month than if it were in my personal name.