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 $15,000 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	$	5,500
Repairs, first year	$	3,400
Repairs, second year	$	5,900
Repairs, third year	$	7,900

  

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 $74,000 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 $17,000 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 18%.

Click here to view Exhibit 11B-1 and Exhibit 11B-2, to determine the appropriate discount factor(s) using tables.

    

Required:

1.

Use the total-cost approach to determine the present value of the cash flows associated with each alternative. (Any cash outflows should be indicated by a minus sign. Use the appropriate table to determine the discount factor(s).)

	Now	1 Year	2 Year	3 Year
Purchase Alternative:
Purchase of Cars
Annual Servicing Cost
Repair
Resale of Cars
Total Cash Flows
Discount Factor
Presen t Values
Net Present Value
Lease Alternative:
Security Deposit
Annual Lease Payment
Refund od deposit
Total Cash Flows
Discount Factor
Present Value
Net Present Value

      

2.

Which alternative should the company accept?

	Lease alternative
	Purchase alternative

Answer 1

2. Net present value in favor of purchasing the cars $39,314 ($167,523 - $128,209)