Thread: More car talk: Lease or buy

My experiences tell me it's better to buy, because they end up raping you when the lease is up for every little ding, scratch and interior stain.

There are a lot of factors involved. The biggest is, how many miles do you drive in a given year? How often do you turn vehicles over? How good is your credit?

My best friend leases a new vehicle every 3 years. He's had minor dings or scratches on every vehicle and was never charged a cent. I don't believe this to be a factor at all.

If you put more than 15k miles a year forget leasing. If you like to get out of a car in less than 3 years forget leasing.

I personally like buying, but I keep my cars for 5+ years. I also drive 20k+ a year.

There are advantages for both.

if you can afford to eat the down payment it seems like the smartbuy is a good way to get a new car every couple of years. the final baloon payment is almost a guarantee that most people will turn the car in after the term length has expired. if you can write off your car payment then leasing is definetly the way to go but you still have to eat the down payment.

I get tired of cars very easily and get a new one every 2-3 years so I rarely buy them. plus I could never drive a car that wasn't covered under a full warranty. for me it's easier to turn a lease in when the warranty is up which is usually around the same time as the alloted mileage allowance covered by the bumber to bumber warranty. right now I have one leased auto and one I bought out right from the dealer.

Unless it is being paid for by the company you work for then definitely buy.
You could be making your payments every month but if you don't have the 5 grand to throw into it at the end of a lease you lose it all.

Lease if you can write it off.

If not, what's the point?


The point for people I know, was that they could not afford to buy the car they wanted, yet they still wanted to display the image of driving a nice and/or new car.


Many people I know who lease are shallow and phony.

Image.....

I've done both. My philosophy is to buy items that appreciate, such as realestate, and lease or rent those that depreciate. However, with auto leasing, there are criteria that don't fit a lot of lifestyles, mainly the annual mileage allowance. I'm like LAM, I like a new car every 3-4 years and it's better to have a new car that's under warranty. I recently purchased a new car rather than leasing because the financing package couldn't be beat. I have purchased cars using my line of equity from my house. The interest rate is lower, generally, and the interest is tax deductible.
One of the problems with buying is, unless you have a substantial down payment, you're immediately upside down with it. This is a problem unless you plan to keep it for 10 years.

What kind of car are we talking about?

My answer is the same, which is: depends on your situation.

Pros to buying: Don't have to worry about condition, Can drive as much as you want, have equity - looks good on credit rating.

Cons to buying: Payments are higher (typically), harder to turn over every 2-3 years, depreciation, no warranty after time, tax writeoffs aren't as high.

Pros to leasing: Lower payments, get a new car every 3 years, always under warranty, can write it off.

Cons to leasing: You don't own anything. Down payment = money gone (although with most you can put 0 down but then payment is much higher). Can only drive a certain amount. Can get dinged when returning.

I bought only because I got such a good deal and had a massive down payment that was free through points and rebates. Now I'm planning on driving it into the ground so that I get maximum value.