Leasing always stupid?

[Anonymous]

Is leasing always the dumber option? I just learned that my brother leases both his luxury cars bc he "likes new cars" and wants a new one very three years. They lease two Audis. I don't get why he wouldn't just buy two Audis and trade them in if desired, I'm pretty sure that would be a better deal financially. I don't think they are "big hat no cattle" people either--they legit have a lot of money and live well.

[Anonymous]

Leasing is more expensive in the long run, but that doesn't make it stupid. For example, someone might wisely lease if they know they will only need that model car for a short period.

If he knows he wants a new car every 2-3 years, leasing probably is more cost effective than buying. If nothing else, it saves him time and paperwork.

[Anonymous]

No, have a car with a $200 math lease that I got two years ago. Put money would have used for down payment in the stock market.

[Anonymous]

No. Sometimes the money is worth the convenience.

When my father stopped driving, but my mother had to keep driving for work, they leased their Cadillacs. My mother was a real estate agent and needed a nice car to drive clients to see homes (she often had older clients who would drive to her office and she would drive them around to visit listed houses to see them). My father had spent the 40 years taking care of the cars for the family and my mother had no knowledge of car care nor any desire to learn. The Cadillac leasing was perfect for them. Mom got a good car for work. Cadillac called or sent her a text message whenever she needed to bring the car in. She would drive to the dealership, the service team would unload whatever she would need from her car and put them in a loaner car that was very similar to her own car, and off she would go. Either that day or the next they would text/call her when any servicing was done on the car and she would go in and they would repeat the transfer and off she would go. Every two years, they would exchange the car for a new car. This worked well for them for quite a few years (over 10 years).

My parents have the money and always having new cars and not having to worry about car maintenance at all was well worth the money to them.

[Anonymous]

For people who like new cars every 3 years, it's absolutely cheaper to lease.

[Anonymous]

Two good reasons:
- You want a new car every 2-3 years.
- It's a company expense

[Anonymous]

Leased my EV because in three years the technology will be outdated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. Sometimes the money is worth the convenience.

When my father stopped driving, but my mother had to keep driving for work, they leased their Cadillacs. My mother was a real estate agent and needed a nice car to drive clients to see homes (she often had older clients who would drive to her office and she would drive them around to visit listed houses to see them). My father had spent the 40 years taking care of the cars for the family and my mother had no knowledge of car care nor any desire to learn. The Cadillac leasing was perfect for them. Mom got a good car for work. Cadillac called or sent her a text message whenever she needed to bring the car in. She would drive to the dealership, the service team would unload whatever she would need from her car and put them in a loaner car that was very similar to her own car, and off she would go. Either that day or the next they would text/call her when any servicing was done on the car and she would go in and they would repeat the transfer and off she would go. Every two years, they would exchange the car for a new car. This worked well for them for quite a few years (over 10 years).

My parents have the money and always having new cars and not having to worry about car maintenance at all was well worth the money to them.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……….no.
Realtors drive an inordinately large number of miles. There is no way any lease that allows 20,000 miles a year will be more affordable than buying. That’s the average miles driven by realtors, doesn’t even include her normal personal driving. So probably 80,000-100,000 miles in a typical three year lease. I have a hard time believing that was a wise move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Leased my EV because in three years the technology will be outdated.

+1 for us. We drove our EV very little, and so negotiated down on yearly miles. Was more than good with a 10,000 mile annual limit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. Sometimes the money is worth the convenience.

When my father stopped driving, but my mother had to keep driving for work, they leased their Cadillacs. My mother was a real estate agent and needed a nice car to drive clients to see homes (she often had older clients who would drive to her office and she would drive them around to visit listed houses to see them). My father had spent the 40 years taking care of the cars for the family and my mother had no knowledge of car care nor any desire to learn. The Cadillac leasing was perfect for them. Mom got a good car for work. Cadillac called or sent her a text message whenever she needed to bring the car in. She would drive to the dealership, the service team would unload whatever she would need from her car and put them in a loaner car that was very similar to her own car, and off she would go. Either that day or the next they would text/call her when any servicing was done on the car and she would go in and they would repeat the transfer and off she would go. Every two years, they would exchange the car for a new car. This worked well for them for quite a few years (over 10 years).

My parents have the money and always having new cars and not having to worry about car maintenance at all was well worth the money to them.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……….no.
Realtors drive an inordinately large number of miles. There is no way any lease that allows 20,000 miles a year will be more affordable than buying. That’s the average miles driven by realtors, doesn’t even include her normal personal driving. So probably 80,000-100,000 miles in a typical three year lease. I have a hard time believing that was a wise move.

My mother is 88 and has been a realtor for 40 years. She is currently part-time, but when they converted to leasing, she had stopped driving the horrifically large number of miles which she had done earlier in her career. For the latter part of her career, she has doing investment property sales for non-local clients, most of whom did not come to town, so she doesn't do that much driving. She finds properties in good safe rental areas and helps them purchase the properties. She also maintains a rental property management team and helps them manage their rentals. She's decided to retire in the next few years and most of her clients want her to sell their units before she retires. She she's planning to sell approximately 10 listings per year for the next four years and then retire. For investment sales, not buyer-occupied sales and for listings, she doesn't have to do a whole lot of driving. She does the majority of her work from her house and has for the last 15 years or so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. Sometimes the money is worth the convenience.

When my father stopped driving, but my mother had to keep driving for work, they leased their Cadillacs. My mother was a real estate agent and needed a nice car to drive clients to see homes (she often had older clients who would drive to her office and she would drive them around to visit listed houses to see them). My father had spent the 40 years taking care of the cars for the family and my mother had no knowledge of car care nor any desire to learn. The Cadillac leasing was perfect for them. Mom got a good car for work. Cadillac called or sent her a text message whenever she needed to bring the car in. She would drive to the dealership, the service team would unload whatever she would need from her car and put them in a loaner car that was very similar to her own car, and off she would go. Either that day or the next they would text/call her when any servicing was done on the car and she would go in and they would repeat the transfer and off she would go. Every two years, they would exchange the car for a new car. This worked well for them for quite a few years (over 10 years).

My parents have the money and always having new cars and not having to worry about car maintenance at all was well worth the money to them.

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh……….no.
Realtors drive an inordinately large number of miles. There is no way any lease that allows 20,000 miles a year will be more affordable than buying. That’s the average miles driven by realtors, doesn’t even include her normal personal driving. So probably 80,000-100,000 miles in a typical three year lease. I have a hard time believing that was a wise move.

My mother is 88 and has been a realtor for 40 years. She is currently part-time, but when they converted to leasing, she had stopped driving the horrifically large number of miles which she had done earlier in her career. For the latter part of her career, she has doing investment property sales for non-local clients, most of whom did not come to town, so she doesn't do that much driving. She finds properties in good safe rental areas and helps them purchase the properties. She also maintains a rental property management team and helps them manage their rentals. She's decided to retire in the next few years and most of her clients want her to sell their units before she retires. She she's planning to sell approximately 10 listings per year for the next four years and then retire. For investment sales, not buyer-occupied sales and for listings, she doesn't have to do a whole lot of driving. She does the majority of her work from her house and has for the last 15 years or so.

TLDR should have stopped after the first two sentences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Leasing is more expensive in the long run, but that doesn't make it stupid. For example, someone might wisely lease if they know they will only need that model car for a short period.

If he knows he wants a new car every 2-3 years, leasing probably is more cost effective than buying. If nothing else, it saves him time and paperwork.

We leased a minivan because we knew we didn't need room for three carseats and all that stroller/luggage space for long.

[Anonymous]

I have a friend that leases, but it's because she wants to always keep a newer model car. Seems like a waste to me but hey, she can afford it and it's not my business.

[Anonymous]

Some people who lease for a career sometimes write off in their taxes the costs of a lease.