I think I want to lease a car...

I have pretty severe car ocd. I'd like a nice hatch right now because I'm young and dumb, I'd sort of like having a nice sporty coupe, maybe in a few years I'll meet a girl with a good smile and nice eyes and might want a stupid baby. I can't really imagine buying a car and thinking well that's it. I'm not a mechanic so I can't hang with 130k mile cars. Buying annd trading cars into a dealership is expensive with admin fees etc. Also not stressing about is X car gonna be reliable forever will be nice. I only drive 7-8k miles a year so 10k lease looks good right about now. Also it's like 200-300 a month for a lease, that's way within my means.

Ocd or add?

Do it. But check tax implications first. In my state, leasing is stupid expensive from a sales tax standpoint. Any lease.. pay full sales tax.

I leased my '02 Honda Civic and ended up getting married, moving closer to my wife's work and having to commute more. I ended up over my mileage after 4 years so we just ended up buying the car at the end of the lease. I don't like to think how much that Civic cost me over 7 years of ownership but let's just say I could've had a nice Type R something or even the MINI Cooper that took me another 5 years after this to get. Lease works for some but for me I don't think I would do it again. I'm pretty sure I won't own another new car again, 2 kids will do that to your car budget. I'm no mechanic either but I've done head gaskets on Honda's, brakes, belts, suspension and basic stuff but I've got friends who are (race) mechanics, which definitely helps. There's plenty of used cars out there that you can get financing for and will probably be better equipped than a cheap leased vehicle. Right now I'm looking for a 2008 Honda Accord Coupe V6, 6 speed because the kids are getting too big to fit in the back of the Mini. I understand how you feel, I have the same problem and working for a used car dealer part time isn't helping. I just felt locked in for 4 years with a lease and though the Civic was a great car, it was tough for me to stay with one vehicle for so long. Just my 2 cents, good luck.

OHSCrifle wrote: Do it. But check tax implications first. In my state, leasing is stupid expensive from a sales tax standpoint. Any lease.. pay full sales tax.

Yea, I wondered how that works. I think the monthly cost they tell you has sales tax in it?

Leased cars can sometimes have insanely expensive insurance, too. Make sure to get a quote before you commit.

I leased the Leaf for two years. It was great, expensive, frustrating at times, but super easy. If you can commit to the payment and can negotiate good terms (price down, monthly payment, disposition fee etc), and can pay the higher insurance and taxes, it can work.

Everybody I've even known personally has gotten hosed with leases. You're probably still better off buying two really cheap cars (redundancy) and paying someone else to work on them. This assumes you don't NEED to drive a brand new car.

If you're over 25 and shop around, you can probably get a monthly rent-a-car for the same price as a lease, once you factor in taxes, down payment, etc.

We've not been hosed on any of the leases we've gotten. Neither the taxes nor the insurance.

I got my recent car as a lease as I wasn't sure I would like it. I'm glad I got it, as I don't want to keep this car terribly long. Buying it would end up being a PITA to deal with the paperwork. As I see it, the lease costs a more than buying- sure. But I'm happy to pay to not deal with selling the car.

It would be nice to find a month long rental of a good car that costs less than $300/mo. Not some POS rent a wreck. Anyone can get a used car.

FWIW, our leases have no down payment.

I have leased several vehicles, with some of the manufacturers, you virtually have to do nothing other then fill it up with gas. Great vehicle if you do not have the desire, time, or space to work on a vehicle. I had a Kia where I only paid $6k for 3 years, and did nothing but changed the oil twice a year and gassed it up. Luckily the vehicle had accrued value and I was able to add that to the next vehicle with $0 down. I don't drive many miles per year, so 12k miles is plenty for me. I know many of the people on the site like to work on cars, but PA inspection is a PITA and usually requires things to be replaced every year on a used vehicle.

I had one of my employees in a monthly 'standard car' class rental for $400/mo.

Edit: my perspective on used cars may be skewed because I don't live in a rust-belt state and there are no inspections. Everybody rides!

My sister-in-law ended up paying about $40k for a 2000 Eclipse Spyder that she leased. Because sad choices.

Tyler H wrote: I had one of my employees in a monthly 'standard car' class rental for $400/mo. Edit: my perspective on used cars may be skewed because I don't live in a rust-belt state and there are no inspections. Everybody rides! My sister-in-law ended up paying about $40k for a 2000 Eclipse Spyder that she leased. Because sad choices.

Ok.

Well, I think the most we ever paid was just under $300/mo for a totally loaded Edge (sticker price was well north of $40k- but it was the tow package we wanted).

Now we are under $200/mo.

I'm trying to figure out what kind of lease is $40k of payments. We've been leasing for about 15 years- one vehicle or another. $40k over that time frame would be $222/mo. For 15 solid years. How could you pay that much in a normal lease time frame?

Right now, $400/mo will get you a luxury car. Not a standard car- it's easy to get a Fusion that is loaded for less than $300.

There's a place around here that's leasing Kia Optimas (I think...?) at $250 a month, lease one, get one free.

alfadriver wrote: I'm trying to figure out what kind of lease is $40k of payments. We've been leasing for about 15 years- one vehicle or another. $40k over that time frame would be $222/mo. For 15 solid years. How could you pay that much in a normal lease time frame?

You blow the hell out of your mileage allotment, eat the penalties, then get stuck having to buy the car for way more than it's worth.

I'm not saying that leases can't work. You're more pragmatic than the average lessee.

MOST people buy cars based on the monthly payment they can afford. Sad choices.

I really enjoyed leasing my Volt, and I see a Leaf lease mentioned above. My only surprise in the experience was having to buy a more expensive insurance policy. It was a two year lease on a car with a two year inspection sticker and an oil sensor that worked out to a about a two year oil change interval. I put gas and electricity in, and drove, and that's about it. Mileage even worked out perfectly. I would have escaped mileage charges, but when I tried to return a day early, I learned that the dealer changed to closing on Labor Day (I started the lease on Labor Day), so I was over by 6 miles because I had to make a second trip on the actual last day of the lease.

But, and this is a big but:

Electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) cars are getting several thousand in federal tax credits, that, in the case of leasing, go to the lease company, and reduces your payments. I leased a roughly $40k car for something like $1500 down and $270/mo for 24 months and 12k miles a year. I leased a $40k car for approximately $20k car money.

If you're not going PHEV or EV, the math is very different. Looking at (maybe just dreaming about) a $60k non-hybrid Mercedes recently, I could not find a single scenario where leasing looked better than buying.

In reply to alfadriver:

Oh, I've seen it happen. Note he said, "Because sad choices". I used to work with a guy who kept trading in cars he had negative equity in, which of course got rolled into the next car payment. After doing that three times, he got married and ended up leasing a Hyundai Accent at over $500/mo for 5 freaking years to finally get out from under the debt. And he blew through the max mileage in two years so the car essentially sat for three years while he made payments on it to finish the lease. Like he said: sad choices...

I like the idea of leasing a new car... but I drive 30K+/yr so I would still need a second car to drive at least half the time.

People here seem to have had wildly different experiences on the insurance side of things, which makes me wonder; a 20-something person living in the city may be paying substantially more for insurance on a leased vehicle than a 40-something person living in the suburbs.

One of the local Honda dealers was trying ultra hard to sell me on a lease, but between the mileage I drive and the fact that I was able to get on the road (car+TTLD) under private party book value from a dealer in the SUV-laden suburbs, on a car with ironclad depreciation resistance no less, made buying instead of leasing a no-brainer. My payment is about equal to the lease, my insurance is cheaper, and I'm paying to own the damn thing.

I leased a total of nine cars over the years. I never had any problems. On the ninth one on a two year lease I decided to buy it. Market value was $9K,lease residual $7K. Ran that car for nearly eight years. The biggest problem now is allowable mileage.

Funny I was,just thinking about doing a lease after reading about the silly cheap prices on Jettas. I am getting tired of my old cars and want something cheap and new for the winters in Maryland as I always need to be at work. I can cut down on miles bt supplementing with a used sports car (NC miata?). Or do I just buy two used cars... decisions.

Out of curiosity I checked local lease deals. Supposedly I can get get into a '15 Mazda 3 Sedan for $1,995 down and $149 per month for 36 or 39 months, don't recall which at the moment. I looked into it a bit further but was unable to spec out a manual transmission...that's a deal breaker.

pointofdeparture wrote: People here seem to have had wildly different experiences on the insurance side of things, which makes me wonder; a 20-something person living in the city may be paying substantially more for insurance on a leased vehicle than a 40-something person living in the suburbs.

Yup, the insurance on my leased $37k '13 Volt was LESS than the insurance on my bought $17k '06 Mustang. If you're coming out of a $500 beater, yes, the newer car will cost more to insure, but for most people, a leased car won't cost any more to insure than a standard purchased car. Our leased '14 MINI is pretty cheap to insure.

Looks like I can lease a Fiesta with a manual transmission for around $200/month, up to 19,500 miles/year...that is tempting.

I can get a 2015 Accord Coupe for $209 a month with two grand or so down. That would be nice. Miles match up well. Still think I want a C30 though.

It has gotten to the point where a fleet comprised of project cars is exhausting and no longer fun. I'm actually seriously considering talking to a stealership about a trade(s) in lieu of money down. Then I'd have an appliance...somehow that is more appealing than it ever has been in the past. (Currently have the Mark VII dash torn apart trying to chase down a magical battery draining Gnome.)

Chris_V wrote:

pointofdeparture wrote: People here seem to have had wildly different experiences on the insurance side of things, which makes me wonder; a 20-something person living in the city may be paying substantially more for insurance on a leased vehicle than a 40-something person living in the suburbs.

Yup, the insurance on my leased $37k '13 Volt was LESS than the insurance on my bought $17k '06 Mustang. If you're coming out of a $500 beater, yes, the newer car will cost more to insure, but for most people, a leased car won't cost any more to insure than a standard purchased car. Our leased '14 MINI is pretty cheap to insure.

While not a lease, the insurance on my '14 T&C is only $60-more annually than it was on my '07 Accent - for a vehicle that's worth over 4x as much, and with the exact same coverage.