What's your preference?
Or if you've done both what was the main factor in going one way or the other?
Or if you've done both what was the main factor in going one way or the other?
Vehicle Purchasing: Leasing vs Buying?
As someone who prefers to drive their cars into the ground - I think I am always going to be a "buy" person
I've only bought 1 car as an adult.. My truck is now 11 years old. Its fantastic not having a car payment. My next car I'll plan to save up a large down payment and maybe have a 3 year loan, again with the goal to run the car for 10-ish years.
Following as I am also curious. We have always bought as my wife used to drive her vehicle all over the city for work and I had a long commute. Neither is a factor any more so we are considering leasing next vehicles. Would love to hear pros/cons.
Depends on the situation- are you like my wife who wants a new car every couple years and can keep mileage under? We go lease, if you're like me who cares very little about what you drive and willing to drive all over the place to golf? I prefer to buy.
Depends on what you want out of a vehicle. I’ve bought previously but I think I’m going to move to leasing.
I’d rather just have a new car every couple of years and never have to worry about major car repairs due to the age of the vehicle. It’s seeming more and more that most vehicles are built with planned obsolescence in mind anyway
I’d rather just have a new car every couple of years and never have to worry about major car repairs due to the age of the vehicle. It’s seeming more and more that most vehicles are built with planned obsolescence in mind anyway
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I've been a leasee ever since somewhere around 1996 until just recently. Cheaper payments, no worries about service or warranty and the best part a new car every couple years. The worst part is you obviously never own anything but I personally enjoy it.
Normally I prefer to own. There are times that lease could work. I’m currently commuting every couple weeks to South Dakota for work. Company I work for leases 6 trucks for myself and other management and sales people. I was given to opportunity to pay a portion of lease and now use truck as my personal vehicle also. I pay. I thing but my small portion of lease and personal fuel. No mileage restrictions and no insurance or service items.
We always buy, and we always buy used. The last three times from dealers. Significant savings.
We now own both vehicles, a 2014 Chevy Equinox and a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee, outright.
We now own both vehicles, a 2014 Chevy Equinox and a 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee, outright.
I've done both, for trucks and more specifically work trucks I buy used, usually around 40-50k miles and drive to 250-300k or until they get T-boned by the bull semen truck (this actually happened).
I leased my last personal vehicle and that went great because I didn't drive it much and ended up way under on miles. Last I looked though leases had gotten significantly more expensive and were actually higher payments than buying. Could just have been the vehicles I was looking at or an anomaly but I wouldn't lease without a significantly lower payment.
Both can work though.
I leased my last personal vehicle and that went great because I didn't drive it much and ended up way under on miles. Last I looked though leases had gotten significantly more expensive and were actually higher payments than buying. Could just have been the vehicles I was looking at or an anomaly but I wouldn't lease without a significantly lower payment.
Both can work though.
Matthew
Well-known member
I prefer buying, outside sales guy and drive a good bit. We leased my wife's car since she was moving from a crossover to a sedan just in case she didn't like it.
I drive too many miles to lease. Did 30,000 last year in my Jeep.
I've done both, but as I now reach into those older years, leasing is looking better, drive it, keep the miles down, maintenance up and turn it in and get another. The key to leasing from what I have experienced, is its best to have a second vehicle to put the around town miles on ( as those little errands add up on mileage) , understand the Capitalized cost ( the value of the car before you lease it ( negotiate the price) , Insurance for a lease ( its going to be more) , Residual value (The expected value the car will have at the end of the lease) and the End of Lease Requirements, like dents, tire wear, over the mileage allocation ( you pay for that). If you drive a lot of miles, and the lease is the only car its not worth it unless you plan to buy the car at the end of the lease.
I drive too much for work to lease. We have one newer car that we drive all the time and a 2nd older car that rarely gets used.
We drive way too many miles for a lease to make sense so we buy.
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I've done both, but prefer to buy. After my first Tacoma and realizing how well they hold their value, I've been buying and always had a lot of equity, even when I traded at the two year mark. I've also put more miles on my Tacomas, so leasing wouldn't really work as well for me. I know plenty of people that lease a new vehicle every couple of years and it works great for them.
I lease now, I don't like to have to watch milage. So I will buy from now on.
I bought my first few, and then realized that I was wanting to sell them at around 5 years time, since I am not too car handy and cars start to need more maintenance post 3 years.. So I've been leasing ever since. And I do enjoy having a new car every few years.
Pre-pandemic leasing was pretty good, perhaps better than buying for a couple reasons. leasing was very competitive and dealers were playing games to lower the leasing payments - such as inflating the buyback price - what's the significance? On a lease you only pay the value between the price of the car and the buyback price - so by inflating the buyback price, the delta got smaller hence you are paying less than the true value of the car. Couple that with loyalty discounts/dealer discounts/manufacturer discounts, you can get a good price, plus maintenance/services were thrown in. Also, when it comes to taxes, on a lease you only pay taxes on the delta, not the whole car, so you save there as well.
Post pandemic, dealers/manufacturers stopped playing games and you are paying true leasing values, plus rates aren't so good now.
My lease is up in a couple months, and I may lease again just to ride out the next few years to see if the car market turns back to the way it was.
TIP - On leasing, try to avoid putting any money down (I never put money down). Yes, the monthly payments seem more, but that's because you didn't put money down. Take what you were planning to put down and put it in a back account. And draw down the difference each month from that account between what higher amount you are paying and the lower amount you would have paid had you put down money. 2 reasons for this. (1) dealers simply divide your downpayment over the length of the lease (you get no extra interest benefit). In your own bank, you get the interest on the amount you hold in there. (2) the big reason - If you every get into an accident, and the car is deemed totaled or beyond repair, per your lease agreement the remaining payments are paid by the insurance, and your lease automatically terminates. The insurance covers the balance you owe, regardless of making a downpayment or not. So if the money is in your bank, you keep it; if you used it as a downpayment, you lose it. {This assumes that you are able to set aside the downpayment money, and not spend it. I know several friends that make a downpayment to lower their monthly payments, because they know they can't trust themselves with the extra cash -- these are the same folks that hope for a large tax refund, instead of managing their tax payments so come April 15 they are close to $0. To me, a tax refund simply means I gave the government a free loan.
Confession -The above was told to me by a neighbor who is a car dealer.
Pre-pandemic leasing was pretty good, perhaps better than buying for a couple reasons. leasing was very competitive and dealers were playing games to lower the leasing payments - such as inflating the buyback price - what's the significance? On a lease you only pay the value between the price of the car and the buyback price - so by inflating the buyback price, the delta got smaller hence you are paying less than the true value of the car. Couple that with loyalty discounts/dealer discounts/manufacturer discounts, you can get a good price, plus maintenance/services were thrown in. Also, when it comes to taxes, on a lease you only pay taxes on the delta, not the whole car, so you save there as well.
Post pandemic, dealers/manufacturers stopped playing games and you are paying true leasing values, plus rates aren't so good now.
My lease is up in a couple months, and I may lease again just to ride out the next few years to see if the car market turns back to the way it was.
TIP - On leasing, try to avoid putting any money down (I never put money down). Yes, the monthly payments seem more, but that's because you didn't put money down. Take what you were planning to put down and put it in a back account. And draw down the difference each month from that account between what higher amount you are paying and the lower amount you would have paid had you put down money. 2 reasons for this. (1) dealers simply divide your downpayment over the length of the lease (you get no extra interest benefit). In your own bank, you get the interest on the amount you hold in there. (2) the big reason - If you every get into an accident, and the car is deemed totaled or beyond repair, per your lease agreement the remaining payments are paid by the insurance, and your lease automatically terminates. The insurance covers the balance you owe, regardless of making a downpayment or not. So if the money is in your bank, you keep it; if you used it as a downpayment, you lose it. {This assumes that you are able to set aside the downpayment money, and not spend it. I know several friends that make a downpayment to lower their monthly payments, because they know they can't trust themselves with the extra cash -- these are the same folks that hope for a large tax refund, instead of managing their tax payments so come April 15 they are close to $0. To me, a tax refund simply means I gave the government a free loan.
Confession -The above was told to me by a neighbor who is a car dealer.
I have leased my last 2 vehicles but I may need to buy my next one. I put on a lot of miles. My current lease mileage cap is 42,000 for a 3 year lease...I am at 42,000 miles and I have a year left in my lease 
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Lately I haven't kept my vehicles long enough to lease.
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I prefer leasing. I bought my first used car and it’s been quite a headeache. It’s also nice to be able to switch up every few years. I wouldn’t write off buying new though if I could afford a 50% down payment