If you are celebrating a wedding (the lucky ones among you will know this from your own experience), you pay a flat rate for each wedding guest. A restaurateur who’s been running his business successfully for a number of years makes sure this fee more than covers what the guests actually consume.

Because a restaurateur knows from long years of service that the mix of people at wedding celebrations is by and large always fairly similar: The first group overindulges, come hell or high water. Then there is the second group, the average eaters, who actually only consume what the average person might expect. But the restaurateur makes real money with the third group. These guests eat and drink significantly less than the others because the members of this group show up late, have to leave early, aren’t hungry, or are on a diet. Of course, the flat rate is more oriented toward the first group. Otherwise, the financial risk is too high. So the restaurateur makes a nice profit from the other guests.

We are all probably aware of the story thus far. And now imagine this: At the end of the celebration, everything having gone well and the budget only slightly exceeded, a surprise guest shows up: an appraiser with a magnifying glass who examines the parquet floor and furnishings. After a thorough examination, he presents the wedding couple with another bill—among other things for soiling the tablecloths and the wear and tear on the parquet floor caused by conga lines straying beyond the dance floor.

Closed-end full-service leases are structured precisely according to this concept. Usually, the flat rates are calculated on the basis of the “extra consumption” drivers of the fleet. Otherwise, the financial risk is too high. As with our wedding, this does not necessarily reflect reality. The rule is, of course, “normal drivers”; that’s why we call them that. These normal drivers need fewer tires and repairs. This is why companies paying the lump sum from Day 1 are paying more overall. And at the end of this lease, the appraiser shows up with his magnifying glass—not just figuratively, but literally. Using scientific methods, he finds even the smallest scratch. Conclusion: When signing a closed-end full-service lease contract (with lots of fine print), there is often anger and frustration (and juicy extra payments) when the bill comes.

What is OK for our wedding couple should not be accepted by lessees who are professional fleet managers. Why don’t fleet managers change lessors when they are dissatisfied? Most see no alternative to the contracts and start the frustrating game from scratch with the next lease. It doesn’t have to be that way. There IS an alternative to closed-end leases. In the US, for example, another system dominates: the Open-End Lease, where you can use vehicles flexibly, and the sales proceeds, after paying the remaining debt, belong to you.

So, the problem in the German leasing market isn’t a lack of alternative leasing products. There are many varieties available. The problem is that only few of us know the consequences of the details of the contract, or that there are alternative forms of leasing at all.

So that you can better decide what is right for you as a lessee, we have produced a series of explanatory videos that explain the most important problems with classic leases and present alternative solutions. Just take a look.