Um... what's the purpose of buying a car anyway? As soon as you drive a brand new car out of the dealership's parking lot, it loses a few grand off its price tag....
Your right, but I always hold on to the car longer (ten years) that's why I buy Toyota, pay off a 5 year note in 3 years and go 7 years without payments. Maintenance on a Toyota is minimal money wise. If I had my own business and could write it off, leasing would be a no brainer for me, personally I would rather not have a $350 dollar a month payment for the next 20 years. JMO
Yea, if you could right it off as a business expense that'd work. Come to think of it, if I ONLY use the car for work, could that be considered a business expense? Then I could keep the Mustang AND write off the leased vehicle. Also, can anyone explain to me why I would lease over buying? If you lease, you have nothing towards your next car. I can see leasing being the way to go if you want to regularly have a new car but otherwise, isn't it more money in the long run to lease?
You would have to be a business owner or independent contractor where you would get a 1099 form for your services, only way to write off the lease. Pretty simple with leases, if a car is selling for $30,000 and you take out a 3 year lease, you will pay for the depreciation of that $30,000 over 3 years. Let's say it's $15,000 divide that by 36 and you get a rough estimate of your monthly payments. some car manufacturers have specials like no money down, no first month payment. You also have a limit on miles per year or total miles you can put on the car, or you will pay dearly for any excess miles on the car. Turn the car in after 3 years make sure you stay under the agreed upon miles and you should be ok, you are responsible for the car just like if you have financed it. Sign the dotted line and get another car for three years with agreed upon miles that you won't go over and do it again for 3 years, and repeat it again in 3 years. Get the drift. Don't want to make it too simplistic, just a general guideline for leases. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong.
You can get no money down on pretty much any car. Never go for their specials or whatever good looking lease offers they have out there. The way you do it is you negotiate the price of the car, just like you would if you were buying. If they ask you whether you want to buy or lease, you tell them you haven't decided yet. If they ask you if you have a trade-in, never tell them you have one. If you lease, never put any money down and try to put the taxes into the lease as well. So, your first payment would be only for the first month + DMV paperwork. The way they determine lease payments is very simple. They take the car's price (the one you negotiated), residual value (predetermined by the lease's length and miles per year) and money factor (the lending bank's interest rate), enter it into their software, click a button.... done. So, the only way to lower your payments is to bring down the car's price. It's the same thing when you're financing. So, never go for their "how much do you want to pay per month" BS. Also, when you return a leased car, you have to pay the "return fee." As for lease vs. buy, it depends on quite a few things. If you can write it off, then definitely lease. If you live in a big city, like NYC, it's also preferable to lease. These roads are absolutely horrendous and once your car is out of warranty, bad and expensive things might start happening. All my relatives in the tri-state area and neighbors are leasing. If you drive more than 12,000 miles per year, then it's definitely a buy. Some manufacturers have 15,000 miles/year deals, but not many.
I think the thing that throws me off the most is how short it is to own the car. I drive 14.4miles per day for work unless I go home for lunch then it's 28.8 which is under 7,500 miles for work for a year (holidays, vacation days, sick days, etc.). Plus if we are leasing a SUV, we'd be using my wife's Cruze for lengthy day trips to save on gas. But to only have the car for 3 years and trade it for a new one only to trade that in 3 years? I feel like that's a horrible investment over time.
I agree with Petrozza, I would never put ANY money down on a lease. I just got my wife an X1 BMW loaded (premium package, lighting package, driver's assist, nav) for 0 down. 425/month for 10k / 36 month lease. The best strategy is to buy cars 3-4 years old which are freshly out of the largest depreciation years.
Buying a car is not an investment, unless it's one of those cars that we're not discussing in this thread.
I agree with the last paragraph, however, many people don't take care of their cars for the first 3 years of the lease they have, because they know they are going to get rid of it in 3 years, so they beat the crap out of the cars. So the old strategy of getting a good used car that has depreciated appropriately is very hard to use unless you read up on the carfax and see the maintenance history.
Totally agree. If you know that it's a former lease, stay away. Formerly leased cars are usually sold as "certified."
I'm going to pick up this baby today.... 2016 Nissan Altima SL - I got 72 Months 0% finance from Meadowlands Nissan.
*** Important note **** ------- lets say you 1) put money down on a lease or 2) trade-in your old owned car ---- both with the intention of lowering the monthly lease payment. If the car is stolen a week after you leave the dealership, ---- you dont get any of those 2 items back. You're 100% SOL. Same thing if you get into an accident & the car is totalled.
It's actually a bit more complicated than that. You need the following information when calculating a lease: MSRP (sticker) Price Invoice Price (or agreed price of the car) Money Factor (interest rate) Residual Value (depreciation) Net Capitalized Cost (what the lease payments are calculated from) When talking about a lease...NEVER tell them what you "want to pay a month". Always negotiate the price of the car first. This is the most critical part.
Just my current one. Bought it brand new back in 2004 and never had any problems. Still runs strong to this day and the resell on these vehicles are great if well kept. Can't go wrong with Yotas.
