New App Lets You Lease Used Cars

I always keep an eye out for any new services that can help you land a better car deal, save time, or avoid hassles. I'm very selective with the services I recommend and only do so after I get positive feedback from readers.

This week, I'm excited about a new service that just launched called Fair. The founder, Scott Painter, is the former founder of TrueCar (which is one of the services I currently recommend), so this is a huge positive right off the bat.

Fair (currently only available as an Apple iOS app) basically allows you to lease a late-model used car on a month-to-month basis, at a low price, with maintenance and basic warranty included. It almost sounds too good to be true, with some deals going for as little as $130 per month with $390 due at signing (not including taxes and fees which adds about $12 to the monthly payment).

At the time I was browsing their deals, they had 135 vehicles available to lease for under $200 per month. If you can handle higher payments, you can even lease a Porsche 911 for about $1,070 per month with $3,200 up front (remember, these are month-to-month leases that include maintenance and warranty).

But what I'm really excited about is the potential for this service to help those with poor credit who need reliable transportation. Typically, this type of person is taken advantage of by "Buy Here, Pay Here" used car lots that charge incredibly high interest rates on vehicles that are NOT reliable and often break down (it's really terrible how badly these people are taken advantage of). Fair.com says their approval process isn’t guided purely by credit score – they focus primarily on a customer’s ability to pay month-to-month. Again, this is very exciting and I think has great potential.

Fair is only available in California right now (southern CA to be exact), but they plan to expand soon. If you're in this region and are willing to try out their service, please report your feedback to me.

As I get feedback, I will keep you guys updated and let you know if this service truly lives up to its potential.