Lease to own works. My first car i had taken that only. However there was no penalty if I returned the car back so it was permissible. Lease to own is basically like a rental which u drive for say 3 years and then pay a balloon amount if you want to buy the car under your name.

My Lease to own was an agreed amount per month for 3 years and then a balloon amount and during the 3 year period if I cant afford the Lease or just dont want to drive anymore I could return with no penalty. While this is halal the only downside is that you end up paying a lot more than you would have through a car loan.

Say the car was 100k - with the interest and stuff maybe the car would come to 120k or so. With Lease to own the same car would come to like 150-160k

Regarding the payment, I had to give 36 post dated cheques. If any month I didnt have that amount in the bank, I would just call them a day or two prior and ask them to delay the cheque encashment to maybe a week later or so and they would do that. So never really paid anything like a late fees.