Reply to leasing vs buying

Forum Index » Cars and Transportation

Reply to "leasing vs buying"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Someone explain to me why buying is better than leasing a car -- here are some numbers:
I have owned a minivan for the last three years.  Bought it used for $26k plus $2k in taxes
It is now worth about $10k (dealer estimate aligns more or less with KBB)
That means it cost me $18k to have that car for three years, plus the cost of new tires, brake pads, and other maintenance.  So, cost of well over $6k per year to drive a used minivan.  
Now I'm looking for a different car -- a three-row SUV (because even though I have lots of kids I'm a little cooler now than I was three years ago).  A new Honda Pilot costs ~$38k.  A new Ford Explorer costs ~$32k.  BUT, I can lease a Ford Explorer for about $270/month plus taxes. and $3500 down  That means my 3-year cost to own would be somewhere around $15500 ($300/month plus $3500), less than the $18+ I just spent on three years of a beater minivan.  Everyone always says buying is better than leasing, but I'm not seeing it this time.  Thoughts?   I obviously would have the $10k from my minivan trade-in and probably another $5k to put on the down payment on something new, and then would finance the rest.  I have excellent credit. [/quote]

If you only needed a vehicle for exactly three years, maybe a lease would be better.  Comparing buying to leasing is about the life cycle of a car.  ie is it cheaper to buy a car and own it for 10-12 years or is it cheaper to lease for 10-12 years.  Strictly based on what is cheaper, buying is absolutely better.

I'm also confused about how a USED vehicle could depreciate 16k in 3 years!  My Toyota RAV4 is 11 years old and I bought it new.  It has depreciated 16k in 11 years.  During this 11 years I've paid maintenance type repairs and about $600 in "broken" stuff.  I've been car payment free for 8 years, and I still have an asset still worth roughly 8k.  Had I leased all this time I would have paid a TON more over the past 11 years.
[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics