Question of the day: Lease a Car or Buy a Car?
 

which do you like/prefer? Lease a car or buy a car?

We're in the black on our leased GS300 and I can't decide whether we should snatch it for cheap or trade-in for something new

My accountant says to go ahead and buy. No advantages to the lease.

Some great deals out there on both sides. Want a brand new 2011 for a few years under warranty the entire time? I say lease if there is a smoking deal. Want to make the best decision $ wise? Pay cash for something slightly used for a great price at auction and sell it in 1-2 years for right around what you paid at the auction. :2 cents:

I believe most leased cars are only kept for about a year or two. I always buy 2 year old cars with a nice chunk down.

depends if your a person who likes a new car frequently. I leased a wrangler once and then the lease was up I was sad. so I bought a replacement. it ended up only costing a few thousand more to get a new one. now I'm glad to not have a payment anymore. and I still love my jeep. but thats me a jeep there really isnt much reason for a new one if its working.

Keep in mind a car is never an investment its an expense.if you have money and want a nice new car then lease

If your accountant is saying there are no advantages to a lease, you need a new accountant.

buy buy buy :)

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depends on your biz situation and tax exposer... I pefer a lease. I like new cars and new cars every few years. I would buy a classic car or a new car I wanted to keep'

the cts I just leased car is not an investment... I am leasing for 2 years under my biz and renting other cars as needed for work stuff.

if the c7 comes out with a small motor I will buy the cts, if the new vette has a big ass motor I will dump the cts and pick up a vette.

Buy a car for cash and drive it until it is done. Why get a car on a fleece? There are great deals out there now on lease returns which still carry the balance of the warranty with really good extended warranties available.

In addition to my hot rod drivers I do have a newer USA car, an HHR, which I bought for cash from lease return for one-half of new price.

Listen to Sally!

Buy what appreiciates, lease what doesn't = LEASE!!!

Only downfalls to the lease are:

1) You don't own anything after a few years
2) You go over the miles = big bucks

Advantages:
1) Payment will be less
2) New car ever 3 years!!!!

NOTE: If you go over, you can always negotiate your way out of it if you lease another vehicle from the same company (or you can buy it after the lease is up). I just got done with a lease and I was 15,000 miles over. Turns out the buy back price was about $6000 less that what they were selling for used so the dealer "bought" it from me and I got a new Honda Pilot.

Both are good.

Ask yourself : How long do you plan to keep the car? If you plan to keep it for only 2-3 years, then leasing is better. I've leased and purchased 12 cars so far and I know what I like.

If you want to lease the car, first, negotiate your very best price you can, THEN tell them you want to lease it. Try to get the highest residual buy-back price you can while putting down the minimum payment while at the same time, making sure that your monthly payments will be as low as possible or whatever you can afford.

Respect the terms of the lease. They may limit you to 20,000 miles a year or something like that. That is perfectly fine.

2 years later tell the dealer you want to end your lease. Assuming you have no serious damage to the car and that you are under the milage limit, ask them what they will pay you to end the lease. Yes, "What They Will Pay you". Under the terms of the lease they don't have to pay you anything, but if your car has less wear and tear than the contract allows, your car is worth more than the residual buy-back.

If they offer nothing, thats fine too. Ask them what it will cost to buy the car back. Take that number, and add 10 to 15% to it, and then put your car up FOR SALE at that new price. If it is spring time, add an extra 2-3% to it. You will EASILY Sell your car for MORE than you owe.

On the day of the sale, take your customer to the dealer to close the sale there. Your dealer will take care of the paperwork and properly and legally transfer ownership to the new car owner. If you are planning to lease a new car, you can take the profit from the sale and apply it towards the deposit on the new car and save taxes at the same time.

Leasing is good if you know how to take full advantage of the system and not get screwed.

Good luck!

Thanks Man!

Positive rep!

LOL!

I always prefer to lease, as I get bored with a car after a few years. To those wondering about the financial advantages:
http://www.ehow.com/about_5184675_ca...dvantages.html

buy a bicycle

Leased mine with intent of buying it at the end worked well for me

Agree on that..

I buy my daily driver if I know I will be putting 15k plus a year on it.
I lease my sports cars with an option to buy. TBH, I have never bought a car I leased. There are just too many new gadgets on the new model 2-4 years later that it's equivalent to using a PC from 3-4 years ago. It's just obsolete.
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I think it's only advantageous if you lease in your business. The main advantage is you are not locked into anything too long, you build credit etc. I have only bought 2 new cars. I have leased 4. I like a lease better. Especially a lease on a bmw. You are covered very well. The peace of mind alone is worth it.
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DIE! DIE you spoilt . fucking . brat!

:thumbsup:thumbsup:thumbsup

I brought at £21,000 car for £12,000. Was 3 months old ex rental from a company that does 3 month rental plans. Decent saving and I got what I wanted with 33 months left on the warranty!

it depends.
If you make good steady money and dont mind wasting a bit to have a new car every couple of years, then Lease.
If you're money is not that great, your best bet is to buy, and keep the car for 5 to 10 years, at which point you can sell it for a few bucks.

I like having a new car every 2 years so I always leased for pure ease, they collect and deliver and hey presto a new car.. having worked it out on a few different models of cars over the years it usually worked out around 10% dearer to lease, but easy with services thrown in etc. So it was more expensive but less hassle.

And if your really clued up to what will hold its value you can make some good money on the lease residual values and buy the car from them to sell privately, I made £3k on a mini cooper when the new one first appeared and £4k on an audi tt!

Yeah I agree with him!

Bingo! Leasing is just a waste of Money so is Buying new.

I always get a used car and pay cash for it

What's included in the lease? I've had some real bargains in the past where it was car&servicing&insurance and all I had to do was put petrol in and drive it, with the lease costing less than I would have had to pay for just the insurance alone if I had bought the same car with cash.

If you can write the payment off as a business expense then lease. If not, don't.

buy - you are limited by the money that you can afford to spend

lease - you can get a newer and better car

there are pros and cons with each one of them...

Corporate? Lease.

Personal? Buy.

Best way is to buy a few year old used car, you pay half price for practically a new car...

unless you buy some american POS there's no way any car will be worth half after few years...

I've been leasing with Nissan since 2001 and I love it. I've been through 2 Xterras and now I have a Murano.

If you like the idea of having a new car every 3 years, then you should lease. What advantages are there to owning a car, other than being able to say it's yours? There's no benefit to owning a product that depreciates as soon as you take it home. But at least your credit will get some good marks if you buy through financing.

A house is different. Most markets will allow you to make your money back and then some -- but a car is throwing money away right off the bat.

My father-in-law bought one of those Mercedes convertibles for like $90k a few years back. He just traded it in on a $45,000 BMW, and still had to shell out a few thousand. I just don't see the beauty in that deal.

So your advice is to throw money away? That's kind of what you just said.

Anyway, leasing payments are not that much more(if at all) than buying.

BMW has some sweet lease deals right now dollar for dollar.

Think about the cash flows. Make some cash flow statements. You can decide whether to make a leasing decision or buying decision. You can choose different payment terms for different purposes. If you don't have enough money to buy it for the whole price, you could be approved for a loan.

Maintenance cost can be a factor too.

With a BMW/Mini, the car is covered for pretty much everything for the first 36,000 miles. They'll change your fucking wiper blades. That's tough to beat.

if it is not a corporate car then buying is better.