Anonymous wrote:We do the same thing. It works for us. I'm always the one giving rides to people who have their cars stuck in the shop for one issue or another. They can sink their money into a depreciating asset if they want. Car payments are a line item in our budget, and we'd rather pay a fixed amount each month than end up with high car repair bills unexpectedly. It may not make sense to others but it makes sense to us.
The implication of this statement is that you will end up better off, financially, with a lease than by purchasing a new car. That is just not true. There are valid reasons to lease a car - you want a new car every year, you can write off the lease and its easier, you temporarily need low payments, etc. - but deluding yourself that it's a savvy financial move is not one of them. It is unequivocally more economical to keep a car for 8-10 years than it is to lease it.