Question

The Riteway Ad Agency provides cars for its sales staff. In the past, the company has always purchased its cars from a dealer and then sold the cars after three years of use. The company’s present fleet of cars is three years old and will be sold very shortly. To provide a replacement fleet, the company is considering two alternatives:

Purchase alternative:

The company can purchase the cars, as in the past, and sell the cars after three years of use. Ten cars will be needed, which can be purchased at a discounted price of $20,000 each. If this alternative is accepted, the following costs will be incurred on the fleet as a whole:

Annual cost of servicing, taxes, and licensing	$	5,300
Repairs, first year	$	3,200
Repairs, second year	$	5,700
Repairs, third year	$	7,700

At the end of three years, the fleet could be sold for one-half of the original purchase price.

Lease alternative:

The company can lease the cars under a three-year lease contract. The lease cost would be $72,000 per year (the first payment due at the end of Year 1). As part of this lease cost, the owner would provide all servicing and repairs, license the cars, and pay all the taxes. Riteway would be required to make a $16,000 security deposit at the beginning of the lease period, which would be refunded when the cars were returned to the owner at the end of the lease contract.

Riteway Ad Agency’s required rate of return is 16%.

Click here to view Exhibit 13B-1 and Exhibit 13B-2, to determine the appropriate discount factor(s) using tables.

Required:    

1. What is the net present value of the cash flows associated with the purchase alternative?

2. What is the net present value of the cash flows associated with the lease alternative?

3. Which alternative should the company accept?

Answer 1

Ans:

Particulars	Now	Year 1	Year 2	Year 3
1.Purchase Alternative
Purchase of Cars	-200,000
Annual Servicing Cost		-5300	-5300	-5300
Repair		-3200	-5700	-7700
Resale Value of Cars				100,000
Total Cash Outflows	-200,000	-8500	-11000	87,000
Discount [email protected]	1	0.862	0.743	0.641
Present Value	-200,000	-7327	-8173	55,767
Net Present Value of Outflows	-159,733
2.Lease Alternative
Security Deposits	-16,000
Annual Lease Payments		-72,000	-72,000	-72,000
Refund of Security Deposits				16000
Total Cash Outflows	-16,000	-72,000	-72,000	-56,000
Discount [email protected]	1	0.862	0.743	0.641
Present Value	-16,000	-62064	-53496	-35,896
Net Present Value	-167,456
3.It is better to Purchase the cars rather than Leasing as the present value of cash outflows is more in Lease alternative compared to Purchase alternative

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