Essay 1: Should You Lease or Finance a Car? max of 5% • The early deadline is optional. If you would like feedback and an opportunity to revise your essay before the final deadline, submit your draft by the early deadline.
Essay 1: Should You Lease or Finance a Car? max of 5%
• The early deadline is optional. If you would like feedback and an opportunity to revise your essay before the final deadline, submit your draft by the early deadline.
• You must submit your final draft by the final deadline
Requirements and Grading for the essay (this one essay) o Minimum length: 1,250 words (all the words used are included in the count) o Format: APA style o Use your own words.
o The essay is worth 5% of total score; 60% of the essay score comes from content and 40% from writing.
Should You Lease or Finance a Car?
You need a vehicle and are considering two options:
1. Finance the purchase with an auto loan and own the vehicle after completing the payments.
2. Lease the vehicle for a fixed period and return or purchase it at the end of the lease.
Using your hypothetical (don't use your real financial situation!) consumer profile and a type of vehicle you would like to consider, write an argumentative essay recommending whether the consumer should lease or finance the vehicle. You can make up hypothetical input numbers, such as the MSRP, residual value, loan or lease interest, etc, I'm looking at the students understanding the calculations and choices here and not at specific numbers.
For a loan, specify whether to use a fixed-rate amortization formula or a calculator. For a lease, provide or require assumptions such as capitalized cost, residual value, term, and money factor. A simplified lease estimate is:
monthly payment ≈ (capitalized cost − residual value) ÷ term + (capitalized cost + residual value) × money factor, before taxes and fees.
Use the same vehicle and disclose the loan term, lease term, down payment or amount due at signing, interest assumptions, mileage allowance, and taxes or fees they include. Compare total costs over a stated period as well as monthly payments.
Your essay must present a clear thesis, consider advantages and disadvantages of both choices, respond to a counterargument, and explain why your recommendation fits your specific needs. This is primarily a writing assignment. Use a small number of financial figures as evidence, but focus on explaining their meaning.
Questions students should address
Students should incorporate these issues into a connected essay rather than answer them as a list:
• Calculate the monthly payments under both the lease and purchase scenario, given the same potential vehicle you consider
• Discuss issues such as:
• How much money is required at signing?
• What do you receive at the end of each option?
• How do mileage limits affect the decision?
• Who bears the risk of depreciation?
• Why is the lease payment often lower than the loan payment?
• How important is the ability to sell or modify the vehicle?
• What happens if you need to end the agreement early?
• How do maintenance, warranty coverage, and repair risks differ?
• Do you prefer short-term flexibility or long-term ownership?
• Would repeated leasing prevent you from ever having a period without car payments?
Rubric | Essay value: 5% of course grade | Content: 60 points | Writing: 40 points
Score the essay out of 100. For each criterion, use the performance descriptions to assign a score within that criterion’s point value. Strong = 90–100% of criterion points; Competent = 75– 89%; Developing = 50–74%; Limited = 1–49%; Missing = 0. The essay score converts to the course grade as follows: essay points ÷ 100 × 5 percentage points.
Content 60 Points
Criterion
Pts
Strong 90–100%
Competent 75–89%
Developing 50–74%
Limited 1–49%
Thesis and consumer profile
12
Clear, debatable recommendation; specific hypothetical profile; explains how needs drive the choice.
Recommendation and profile are clear; most needs connect to the choice.
Thesis or profile is general; links
between needs and recommendation are thin.
Recommendation is unclear, unsupported, or lacks a usable hypothetical profile.
Payment calculations and assumptions
16
Both payments are calculated consistently for the same vehicle; assumptions and method are clear; work is understandable.
Both calculations are mostly sound; assumptions are stated, with minor gaps or errors.
One calculation or key assumption is missing, or errors weaken the comparison.
Calculations are missing or substantially incorrect; assumptions cannot be followed.
Comparison of tradeoffs
18
Explains signing costs, end-of-term outcome, mileage, depreciation, maintenance/repairs, flexibility, early exit, and recurring payments; ties tradeoffs to the profile.
Covers most required issues and connects several to the profile; analysis is generally sound.
Several issues are omitted or treated as a list; limited connection to the profile.
Little meaningful comparison; major required issues are absent or misunderstood.
Counterargument and response
8
Fairly presents a strong case for the other option and answers it with relevant reasoning or evidence.
Presents a reasonable opposing view and responds, though one part is underdeveloped.
Opposing view or response is vague, brief, or weakly connected to the thesis.
Counterargument is missing or not meaningfully answered.
Financial figures as evidence
6
Uses a small number of relevant figures and clearly explains what they show about the decision.
Figures are relevant and mostly explained, with some interpretation.
Figures are included but their meaning or relevance is unclear.
Figures are absent, confusing, or not connected to the argument.
Writing 40 Points
Criterion
Pts
Strong 90–100%
Competent 75–89%
Developing 50–74%
Limited 1–49%
Organization and argument flow
10
Introduction, body, and conclusion form a logical progression; conclusion follows from the argument.
Overall structure is clear; minor sequencing issues do not disrupt the argument.
Organization is uneven; some ideas appear out of order or the conclusion is weak.
Structure makes the argument difficult to follow.
Paragraph development and transitions
8
Paragraphs develop focused ideas with useful transitions that show how points relate.
Most paragraphs are focused and developed; transitions usually help.
Some paragraphs are
underdeveloped or contain multiple unrelated ideas; transitions are sparse.
Paragraphing and transitions make relationships among ideas hard to follow.
Clarity and academic style
8
Writing is clear, concise, and appropriate for an academic argumentative essay.
Generally clear and appropriate; occasional wordiness or awkward phrasing.
Frequent unclear or awkward phrasing distracts from the argument.
Style or clarity problems regularly prevent understanding.
Grammar and mechanics
6
Sentence grammar, punctuation, and spelling are controlled; errors are rare.
Some errors, but meaning remains clear.
Frequent errors sometimes interfere with meaning.
Persistent errors substantially impede understanding.
APA, length, and presentation
8
Meets the 1,250-word minimum and all APA/presentation requirements specified for the assignment.
Meets length; minor APA or presentation errors.
Below minimum or has repeated APA/presentation issues.
Far below minimum or
APA/presentation is substantially incomplete.
