Anonymous wrote:Sounds like buying is better than leasing for you. Leasing requires a down payment, usually $3,000 or more and then you would be without a car in a few years when you turn it back in.

A lot more people are keeping their cars longer and repairing things they wouldn't have before because buying a car (new or used) is so expensive right now. There is talk that repossessions are increasing so maybe used car prices will come down in a few months, but who knows.

You don't need to put any money down at all on a lease. In fact, it's never a good idea to put money down when leasing. All of the advertisements you see for leases that say "$3,000 down and $400 per month" are written that way to just keep the monthly payment down in the ad, but you can (and should) put $0 down on a lease. Obviously, the less you put down upfront, the more your monthly payment will be.

Leases generally tend to have smaller monthly payments than purchasing a car and financing it, so that's an advantage in terms of cash flow. That said, you never pay off a lease like you do a loan, so if you lease you will constantly have to make monthly payments (because when your 3 year lease is over, you need to lease another car and start making payments on it), rather than being able to own your car in year 6 outright and to drive it as long as you wish without needing to make any monthly payments.

If you plan to drive your car for a long time, you should definitely buy it. If you want some short term cash flow relief with lower monthly payments for the next 3 years to buy yourself some more time on when/if you will buy that "forever car", you could lease a car now for the next 3 years and then decide what/whether to buy.

Sounds like buying is better than leasing for you. Leasing requires a down payment, usually $3,000 or more and then you would be without a car in a few years when you turn it back in.

A lot more people are keeping their cars longer and repairing things they wouldn't have before because buying a car (new or used) is so expensive right now. There is talk that repossessions are increasing so maybe used car prices will come down in a few months, but who knows.

Our old car looks like it's going to give out soon enough; shop is calling for another expensive repair that we don't think is worth it, given what we spent on it (used).

Neither my spouse nor I are into cars, nor do we use it that much, but we still need one nonetheless. What's considered the best way to finance a car? Always thought paying cash was the way to go - spouse bought the current car I think for just $5000, but this time I think we need to spend more than that to not get a total junker, especially now that we have a child. We only have about $40K in combined discretionary savings though (this is not talking 401k or college), and def do not want to spend a huge chunk of it on a car. Unless it's possible to get an OK car for $10K? Is it? Are auto loans vs leasing better? Thoughts?