Anonymous wrote:My Toyota has 1yr left on the loan. I have a no interest loan and put $0 down. I owe $7,000 and the blue book value is $13,000. I have had no repairs outside of regular maintenance and am still on the original tires. Also, Toyota is well known to make cars that don't have a lot of problems. I kept my last car 12 years. I would like to keep this car a long time too. Possibly give it to my kids when they start driving and I'll get a new one then. I wouldn't want to give them a new car when they first start driving after all.

I think every car thread that goes on long enough will have a Japanese econobox driver come in and tell everyone how much smarter they are for buying a Toyota/Subaru/Honda even if it has nothing to do with the topic at hand. Nothing in Toyota’s current lineup is attractive or fun to drive compared to European vehicles.

My Toyota has 1yr left on the loan. I have a no interest loan and put $0 down. I owe $7,000 and the blue book value is $13,000. I have had no repairs outside of regular maintenance and am still on the original tires. Also, Toyota is well known to make cars that don't have a lot of problems. I kept my last car 12 years. I would like to keep this car a long time too. Possibly give it to my kids when they start driving and I'll get a new one then. I wouldn't want to give them a new car when they first start driving after all.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Not the PP but don't talk with certainty about stuff you have no idea about. Only an idiot would buy a depreciating German vehicle that costs a fortune to fix outside of warranty. Every auto lease agreement has a payoff amount which is between you and the manufacturer's financing arm. If halfway through the lease you liked the car so much you wanted to own it forever you could write a check to the bank and get the title, the originating dealer no longer has anything to do with it. OP would be taking a bath whether he buys the A4 and sells after 24 months or leases and then 24 months in decides he wants out. The dealer likely blew OP off as the type of person who leases an A4 for $399/month is not going to have $12k lying around to upgrade to a more expensive vehicle.

don't disagree that yes it would take an idiot to buy a brand new "insert any vehicle name here" especial something from Europe.

but it takes just as big of an idiot to rent a vehicle and make payments and not have anything to show for it at the end of the rental agreement (thats what a lease is is more or less, a fancy long term rental agreement)

once you start leasing, its really hard to get off the train. since at the end of the lease term you either turn the vehicle in and start a another lease, or buy out the lease (at usually higher than value of the vehicle.) now if you are in a sales type job where were are required by your job to have a car that is no more than 3 years old and youa re getting stipends, then by all means, lease.

Buying or renting/leasing comes down to the economics of the specific deal. The terms make them good or bad neither is inherently good or bad. I have done both depending on what is being offered.

The way I look at it....I tend to keep my cars for about 5 years give or take (I can keep them till the wheels fall off but I don't like to deal with the hastle).

If I buy a car for $100 ... in five years I usually am able to sell it for $40. Therefore I'm using 60/5= $12 worth of the car every year (i.e. depreciation). There is more maintenance out of pocket in owning but lets ignore for now.

I will consider a lease deal where the all in lease payment (with all fees) implies using paying less than $12 in depreciation every year. You don't always come by them but some times you do and when you do that is a better deal than buying. There are entire blogs dedicated to people trying to find these deals.

Anonymous wrote:

Not the PP but don't talk with certainty about stuff you have no idea about. Only an idiot would buy a depreciating German vehicle that costs a fortune to fix outside of warranty. Every auto lease agreement has a payoff amount which is between you and the manufacturer's financing arm. If halfway through the lease you liked the car so much you wanted to own it forever you could write a check to the bank and get the title, the originating dealer no longer has anything to do with it. OP would be taking a bath whether he buys the A4 and sells after 24 months or leases and then 24 months in decides he wants out. The dealer likely blew OP off as the type of person who leases an A4 for $399/month is not going to have $12k lying around to upgrade to a more expensive vehicle.

don't disagree that yes it would take an idiot to buy a brand new "insert any vehicle name here" especial something from Europe.

but it takes just as big of an idiot to rent a vehicle and make payments and not have anything to show for it at the end of the rental agreement (thats what a lease is is more or less, a fancy long term rental agreement)

once you start leasing, its really hard to get off the train. since at the end of the lease term you either turn the vehicle in and start a another lease, or buy out the lease (at usually higher than value of the vehicle.) now if you are in a sales type job where were are required by your job to have a car that is no more than 3 years old and youa re getting stipends, then by all means, lease.

Anonymous wrote:Why lease?

I like driving and want a safe, modern, good-looking car to transport my DW and children in.

Some people like to spend money on cars and others will splurge on vacations/clothes/boats/wine/golf. If cars were bought only with regards to how economical they are to operate then everyone would buy a Toyota Prius and drive it until the wheels fall off.

Why lease?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You would have to take the same loss if you owned it.

nope. If you own a vehicle you own a vehicle. when you sell/trade it you are selling/trading it for what its worth or for what you can get for it. yes when you buy a new vehicle you take a hit on the depreciation as soon as you drive it off the lot, but its property that you own and property that you have control over.

when you are trying to get out of lease really early, you have no leverage, even going back to the dealer, the paperwork is completely on the side of the dealer and their lawyers. there is no upside.

at the end of a lease you owe nothing, but you don't own anything either. you have nothing to show for your years of payments. might as well just rent a car from enterprise...

Not the PP but don't talk with certainty about stuff you have no idea about. Only an idiot would buy a depreciating German vehicle that costs a fortune to fix outside of warranty. Every auto lease agreement has a payoff amount which is between you and the manufacturer's financing arm. If halfway through the lease you liked the car so much you wanted to own it forever you could write a check to the bank and get the title, the originating dealer no longer has anything to do with it. OP would be taking a bath whether he buys the A4 and sells after 24 months or leases and then 24 months in decides he wants out. The dealer likely blew OP off as the type of person who leases an A4 for $399/month is not going to have $12k lying around to upgrade to a more expensive vehicle.

There are companies that you can "sell" your lease to. Basically someone takes over your payments. I'd expect to lose at least $5k.

Anonymous wrote:You would have to take the same loss if you owned it.

nope. If you own a vehicle you own a vehicle. when you sell/trade it you are selling/trading it for what its worth or for what you can get for it. yes when you buy a new vehicle you take a hit on the depreciation as soon as you drive it off the lot, but its property that you own and property that you have control over.

when you are trying to get out of lease really early, you have no leverage, even going back to the dealer, the paperwork is completely on the side of the dealer and their lawyers. there is no upside.

at the end of a lease you owe nothing, but you don't own anything either. you have nothing to show for your years of payments. might as well just rent a car from enterprise...

You would have to take the same loss if you owned it.

perfect example of why owning a car is better. you have the ability to sell and move on...

doen't mean that you won't be upside down on the vehicle. but when you own it you have something tangible to get rid of.

Thanks so much, I guess I'll keep the car.

Anonymous wrote:I have an Audi A4 but with two kids it's kind of tight. 24/42 months on my lease are done...what would be the consequence of trading in my A4 for a larger Audi? They were being stupid at the dealership and wouldn't give me an answer.

Unless you absolutely have to - don't do it. You would have to buy out the lease. What that effectively means it pay for Audi for the current residual value of the lease. This is likely pretty inflated and you will lose money on it.

For example, if you bought the car (for lease purposes at 40K). The residual value at lease end in four years is determined to be $25K...the current residual value is probably smack in the middle - $32.5K. This is what Audi will expect you to pay to get out of the lease. If you sold the car to a dealer they might only be willing to give you mid to high 20s for it. If you are willing to eat the difference then go for it. Otherwise wait it out and see if in the final year of the lease you can trade out early. Car companies will often do 6 months or so if you stay with them but 2 years is not tenable.

It's going to be expensive, if you're only a hair over halfway through the lease you're pretty underwater.

Take it to Carmax and get an offer. Your VW credit payoff amount minus Carmax's offer is roughly what you're going to have to come up with out of pocket.

I have an Audi A4 but with two kids it's kind of tight. 24/42 months on my lease are done...what would be the consequence of trading in my A4 for a larger Audi? They were being stupid at the dealership and wouldn't give me an answer.