vehicle leasing - pros and cons?

[rondog]

I love my Silverado, it's loyal as a hound dog. But it's 16 y.o. and has a lotta miles, and is only 2wd. I'd love to get a new truck, but don't want huge payments. I prefer to own my vehicles rather than "rent" them, but now I'm wondering about leasing a new truck in order to get my old ass into something nice for once. Never had a new vehicle in my life, and I could damn sure go for 4wd.

So, looking for pros/cons about leasing from those who do it/have done it. Is it really cheaper? Etc.

[Great-Kazoo]

You never stay within the miles specified in the contract.

It's like a rental you hope to return ,with the exterior looking as good as it was when you picked it up.

[rondog]

Hey Jim! I missed out on the Get Well threads, good luck to ya and I hope you're feeling better!

Mileage might not be an issue for me, I'm not much of a high mileage driver anymore.

[HoneyBadger]

Leasing is a really shitty financial decision. I can't think of any good reasons to lease a vehicle. You pay a monthly payment to drive a vehicle that you aren't building equity in. You're just throwing the money away. Car dealerships wouldn't always advertise leases so hard if they didn't make most of their profit margin from them.

If you'd prefer to own your vehicle, then maybe you should pay cash for it, instead of having to budget several hundred dollars a month for the next several years toward an asset that loses value faster than a burning match. If you can't pay cash for it, then maybe you shouldn't buy it. I'm sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear, but living in perpetual debt is a really miserable existence. Please don't hate me.

[Bailey Guns]

I agree leasing is a bad way to go. You still have monthly payments nearly as high as a purchase and nothing but an empty garage to show for it at the end of the lease term. I also agree with HB ^^ about how those monthly payments can drag you down. I'm back to having a payment after years of not having one and it sucks. I could do a lot with that money...like put it towards paying off my house early.

Unfortunately, I was born with the "New Truck Gene" and mother nature is a wicked witch to fight. Seriously...I'm like an addict.

[Dave_L]

I usually never leased for the reasons above. It just seemed like a bad thing. However, we did just lease the wifes car about a year ago. Here is why:

-She had a lemon of a Subaru (motor rebuilt at 20k miles and new short block recommended 10k miles later. Good Subaru 2.5i oil burning). Subaru wasn't making life easy and we wanted out of it. She had 4 years left on her loan. The lease is 3 years and will eat up her negative equity in the time. Wife like to swap cars (on top of getting bad cars) so she had some negative equity built up.

-This gives her 3 years to try the car. If she loves it, we'll buy it out. If it's a lemon, we give it back with a smile.

-The payment went down for her and she got a fully loaded Hyundai Santa fe. Buying limited the type of car due to trade in, negative equity, etc.

I'd still say that leasing is bad most of the time. It's good for eating up negative equity and avoiding negative equity if you swap cars a lot. Otherwise, I say buy.

[10x]

Leasing is a bad deal, as others said. If you keep a vehicle for a lot of years, you are much better off buying. Many new car dealers have low or no interest loans.

[kwando]

If you want lower payments it's best to just buy a 2-3 year old vehicle that has already depreciated.

When leading you can choose to purchase the vehicle after the lease, they the residual value. So if you've gone over your mileage it won't be an issue.

[ruthabagah]

Pros: You always drive a new car/truck, you don't have to deal with much maintenance / warranty issues, you have payments yes, but they are always the same without repair expenses, you don't have to deal with selling/trading the car.

Cons: You will always have payments, You need to watch how many miles you put on your car, you need to keep it in excellent condition, you cannot customize it, you don't own anything when you are done paying.

[UncleDave]

The only financially sound reason to lease is if you are running that lease through a business that needs the tax right off. That was the original reason for leases. For a private individuals it is a horrid move as you are flushing the money. Buy a 2 year old certified preowned and you will be much better off. This is coming futon someone who was in the business for nearly 20 years and my father was for 45 years. I literally grew up in a dealership.