Are you able to take leasing over a longer period than your work permit or this is one of the drawbacks in not having PR ?

Paul, I don't think so. One of my Bro in law's is a car salesman and he has told me that getting a lease / finance for a period longer than a WP is difficult if not impossible. (He works at a Daimler Chrysler dealer). Makes sense I suppose.

One option if you want to lease would be to take over an existing lease with a shorter term. Check out www.leasebusters.com which facilitates these deals. You can search by car type and/or lease period.

AX

Thanks Alan, I thought not but then I thought 'well the car is their's anyway so what does it matter'. Looks like if I want to gas up before my wife gets here, I will save and/or take a short term lease and settle after the 2 years with the house money.

Paul.

I leased for 30months when I arrived, Im pretty sure my WP was for only a year. Did have to leave a large security deposit with them though., and they did want some sort of letter from my employer.

Use it as a positive thing. Lease a monster F250 truck for 12 months. Get it out of your system and lease/buy something sensible from then on!

My current WP is for a year too, but with a copy of a letter from my employer stating that I have a full-time permanent position I was able to lease a Honda over 36 months - this is in August last year. I put in a reasonable downpayment, which I guess served pretty much the same purpose as Iain's security deposit.

Thanks all. I will do that. Already have the 'letter' in my possession and I will have around $5000 to put down after a month there so I will approach a few dealers and see what happens. Already been in touch with a couple and sorted quotes for insurance.

Absolutely you can - my WP is for 3yrs and in the past 6mths (after being here for a year) I've leased a Mazda 3 and Ford F150. The lease agreements for both extend beyond my WP expiry.

As a matter of fact, Ford didn't even ask about residency status. They just used my driving licence as proof of address, and that was it. Mazda took a photocopy of my passport and WP.

Along the same lines, I took out a 5yr interest free loan with John Deere for farm machinery within a few months of arrival - just needed to provide a photocopy of my passport and proof of address.

I've not found that having a WP has been any disadvantage in terms of making financial arrangements.

Edited to add that I've never been asked for a down payment, security deposit or employment details (I'm self-employed) either.

Thanks Rich

^ What he said... I've had two lease cars, one from Daimler Chrysler and one from GM...

DC were problematic, and initially wouldn't give a lease longer than the WP so I had to get a letter from work.

My new car is leased for 3 or maybe 4 years. I could have done zero down, and the lease length far exceeds my visa term...

I think DC are missing a trick here....

Maybe the rules are different in NB but from Ford and Mazda I'm still getting "only as long as your WP"

Paul,

We leased a new Nissan Murano when we first arrived. Our work permits were issued for 24 months, the same period as the lease. This was a $40k car with a $7k deposit. Credit check took about 10 mins to approve. We had to provide proof of salary and a copy of the work permit. We even offered a copy of our Equifax credit report from the UK which they declined. Hope this helps?

SAW 04

I think it depends on the original car manufacturer. I guess that they have different policies...

Yes, I have a 2 year permit and a 3 year lease on my F150.

Strange that the guy at Ford said no and even said that as Mazda is part of Ford, they wouldn't do it either.

I can see an argument brewing....having said that I don't want the Ford, just the Mazda or Toyota ( I was using him as ammunition )....I will just have to wait and see.

Paul