One Car Company Will Let You Share a Lease With Friends

What if you could share your car payment with friends? Everyone chipping in a hundred bucks or so could take care of the monthly payment.  But who gets the car?

Ford is testing out a new "lease sharing" program in Texas, and one of the test markets is Austin.  They've got plans to expand it beyond that if all goes well, and it's a ground-breaking idea in the car business.  The new program lets friends and family members share the car lease, with between three and six people signing on.  But is this a good idea?

You may get along with your peeps now and maybe each person gets the car on a certain day of the week, but what if plans change?  College students might work out their schedules in August and the car-sharing works fine, and then someone drops a class or the semester changes, or someone has a hot date and needs the wheels at a different time and things get dicey.

Paying for a car usually lets you control the use, but this tosses that out the window.  Is saving money on the car payment worth the sacrifice?  You might be paying a two-thirds less, but you also only have a car for one-third of your life.

Interesting idea, this lease-sharing.  Would it work for you?