Lease vs Buy?

LauraR326 · June 2012

In the car post below I noticed a couple of people saying they lease their cars. Is it a regional thing? I only ask because I've never actually met anyone that leases their cars(before this board), so it's not normal down here. What are the terms and conditions? Why do you choose to lease instead of actually purchasing the car?

jchasmc09 · June 2012

DH and I have never leased a car, but my BIL does and so do a few people I work with. When we bought our car last summer we had this discussion with several people.

It seems to me that the benefits of leasing are (usually)

-Lower monthly payments so you can afford a nicer car than you could actually buy outright

-The option to trade up when your lease is done, (generally few years)

-Less upfront costs like a large down payment

-Perks that come with a brand new car (less maintenance/ repairs, etc...)

That being said, there are some drawbacks such as:

-Having mileage restrictions (if you go over they charge you extra)

-You still have responsibilities for repairs, and you don't even own the vehicle

-You always have a car payment

-It is really hard to terminate a lease

Personally, I would never lease a car. DH and I are a "one car family" so we drive too many miles to be covered under a lease. Also the idea of never actually being able to pay anything off and always having a payment is not very appealing to us. Also, we want to be able to use our car how we want to, (e.g. take the dog with us, get it muddy, etc...) and not have to worry about keeping it nice. <--We do take good care of our car and clean it regularly, but we just like to have the freedom "just in case." We are the kind of people who will buy one car and stick with it for a long time, so we never really feel the need to trade in and/or move on to something new. It works for some people, but not for us.

LauraR326 · June 2012

Ahhh, that makes sense! Thanks!!

krissyrose210 · June 2012

We lease. I love leasing. We don't drive a ton and we have 2 cars to rotate if we g above our miles. I have the awful habit of getting sick of cars. It is the one thing I like to buy new (I am such a bargain hunter otherwise). Usually after 3ish years I am ready for a new car. I like the option of being able to get a new one. Matt's car is bought and mine is leased.

misskris927 · June 2012

The post above is pretty accurate on the leasing part- give or take a few statements. But that's also because every dealership is different and offers different options for leasing.

With that being said, this is the first time I ever leased a car. The reason we did so was bc DH owns his and he felt it would be better for me to lease. Essentially I'll be getting a brand new car every 3 years- yes having a payment every month gets old, but I don't have to pay to fix things on my car (only oil changes). So that's a lot of money saved right there. Plus the value of a car decreases so in the end, if I owned a car for a long time, I'd barely make any money on it if I tried to sell it or trade it in. Regarding the miles on a lease- I had 30,000 miles for my 3 year lease and I'm currently at 23,000 right now. No where near the amount I have, and that's with driving to and from Maine numerous times as well.

For us it makes sense to own one car and lease the other. I think the comfort of knowing that I'll be able to drive something new every 3 years is very appealing.

yvdukana · June 2012

We've never leased and own all 4 cars outright. I've also never had a car payment as I prefer to pay cash, which meant I had to save up for a long time to be able to buy my car. My mom is currently leasing her car, it's the first time she's ever done it, and she is so paranoid about it. Seriously, she is constantly worried about keeping it nice or messing it up and getting "dinged" when she the lease is up. While all our cars are now over 5 years old, they still have low mileage, except the 15 year old Firebird, and I'm not tired of my car yet, especially since I know that it will be a while before we get something else, at least another 2 years or so. We tend to keep our cars 10+ years, and both our families always tended to do the same.

Johlise · June 2012

Not sure about leasing.. all the in's and out's of leasing that is. I do know enough that I would never lease because it just seems like it would be a waste of money since you don't even own the car. At least if you buy the car it's yours once it's paid off.

Lease vs Buy?

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