I picked up a 99 NQR for $34,500 taxes and fees included. I put about 4k down, and pay 675/mo. It is a diesel, with Automatic Transmission. The NQR is a heavier chassis than the NPR, and the diesel option adds some to the cost too. I don't lease, because the competitive commercial vehicle leases don't work for us, and we don't qualify as a full fledged commercial fleet yet (I guess you need 10+ same brand trucks for the Ford Fleet program). Anyway, I wouldn't want to be responsible for the trucks after we use up the lease allowance for time and mileage.
I have better luck buying them on financing. My company has enough credit to buy them without a personal guarantee, and we get an ok commercial interest rate (11% or so). I keep the depreciation per year about equal to what I pay out in principal on the loan. The interest is a 100% expense. Then at the end of the loan the truck is worth more than my book residual value. I plan to keep vehicle for at least 7 years, and find that this works ok for my business plan, because we maintain our trucks, and the repair costs between 4-7 years are not excessive.
Furthermore, we put some vehicles on light duty after 5 years, and maybe we'll keep them for 10 years for plowing, running around, etc. I think that you should consider what your long term plans are. That is, the 35k amortized over 5 years provides what you need for cash flow. The actual useful life, over maybe 7-10 years will provide you with the operating cost of the truck over its life so you can factor this into your cost of doing business. I think that from a cash flow point of view, a regular monthly payment is no big deal if things are good for your business, but ownership of the vehicle with no payments, light repairs, lower taxes, and knowledge of the complete vehicle history from the first mile is valuable too.
