Leasing vs. Buying

[orikes]

Does anyone have much current experience with leasing a car over buying a car?

The car dealership I visited today offered me what looks like a good lease deal. I'm just not sure it's what I should do. On one hand, it puts the payment at something easily affordable, and I wouldn't have to worry about the car ever being out of warranty.

On the other hand, the car would technically not be mine and I'm not sure what constitutes normal wear and tear in regards to the lease deal.

I'm really torn on this one.

Comments

[wtsims.livejournal.com]

The only people I know who have leased cars explictly wanted to switch their car for a newer one on a regular basis (every 1-3 years regular). That's really what lease terms are best for, IMO. I personally feel about leasing a car the way I do about buying an apartment (in short, no thanks).

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

The car I currently have is 11 years old. Unfortunately, that's not what I wanted. I would have liked to have had it for maybe six, seven years and then trade it in for something else. But there was a long-term period of unemployment there and so on and so forth.

I do remember it was about at the three year point where I started becoming less enamored with my car as it started needing more work. So, I can see myself liking being able to rotate the car out and into something else.

Also, I'm realizing I'm not going to get the deal I want on the car I want. But, I could afford it if I leased.

[wtsims.livejournal.com]

Well... from your comments here you might actually be a good candidate for leasing. The maintenance should be included (but you still have to take the car in, so time on maintenance isn't any different) and the length of a lease seems to be an upside for you. On the downside, there's the mileage consideration, and the fact that if you want an entirely different car you won't get a trade-in value (if you want to purchase the leased vehicle you should get a decent price, though). Plus it's obvious you really like the car in question, which is an intangible benefit.

Two other things to consider:

1) Do you think you're going to be in a stable or improved financial situation over the length of the lease? If so, then when it's done, you'll basically be in the situation you're in now, no gain but no loss either, which is not a bad place to end up. Otherwise, it's a harder call. Leases are less investment over time but leave you carless at the end unless you're in a position to either lease again or buy used at that point. On the other hand, buying anything on payments that would extend at least the length of the lease would have the same issue if your finances suddenly took a turn for the worse.

2) Do you have a friend or family member who can look over the lease for you to try to spot anything that you might've missed? If someone else you trust thinks the deal seems square, and you like the deal, then it's a lot easier of a choice.

I mean, I don't really like the leasing option, just like I think a condo is a waste of money (if I buy a house, I want a HOUSE), but obviously there are a lot of people who disagree with me, so that's just opinion. If your opinion is you'd get what you want out of it, and particularly if you can find someone else to go over the lease terms and give a trusted opinion on the fairness of the terms, then try it. Just really be sure to keep track of that mileage; mileage overages can be PRICY.

[profbutters.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I'm kind of with Tina on this one. That's pretty much what leases are for. It depends also on--

1) how long do you keep cars?

2) how good are you at maintenance?

3) are you willing to keep meticulous records?

I keep cars until they're around ten years old and have about 150,000 miles on them, so leasing isn't for me.

Also. Also also also. Have you looked at pre-owned certified cars? That's what I always got until my last one, and I had a pretty good warranty deal with those (plus your warranty for the powertrain should be good until 7 years/70,000 miles. That's pretty standard.) And I think you can even get financing.

I like owning my own home, but I agree about leasing cars.

PB

[orikes13.livejournal.com]

My current car has been around for eleven years, but not by choice. There was a significant period of unemployment in the last few years, so.. I really didn't have much choice. I would have liked to have traded it in around the six year mark to get into something nicer. That wasn't in the cards.

I'm a little worried about the mileage limits. On one hand, I can see them being completely within spec because I'm not going to be going crazy driving all over the country with the way gas prices are. But at the same time, I do like going on trips. It's part of the reason I want this particular car. I've put 10k on my Neon in the past year and that's with two decent trips.

[goweli.livejournal.com]

Be careful if you're gonna take any long trips. I've heard there are some restrictions on mileage, that might be an issue.

[docnerd.livejournal.com]

I leased a car a couple of years ago. I was in a situation where I'd driven the wheels off my old one and it wasn't worth putting the $3K into it to get it driveable for another New England winter again. I couldn't afford to buy a car worth driving, so leasing was a better option for me.

So I'm driving an '07 Ion instead of a slightly less crappy car than the one I already had. You can choose how many miles you want to get, so if you're planning on taking trips, you can get more rather than less. And since the car is new, anything big that goes wrong will be under warranty, but the likelihood of something going wrong is pretty slim, because hey, the car's brand new!

If I could have afforded a decent car, I would have bought instead. But anything I could have afforded to purchase for the same price it cost me to lease would have needed some sort of repairs before now, so I still think I'm coming out ahead in that respect.

[thisnthat.livejournal.com]

You might try this Consumer Reports article for a little more info :)