For the cosmetic damages a teen may do to the car, i think you're better off buying than having to fix it all when the lease ends.

Don't do this- I speak from experience as my parents did the exact same thing (leased a brand new Honda Civic) when I turned 16. I wanted an old Mercedes, which I thought was cool AF and could afford with the $4k I had saved from some very generous "grandma birthday money" and a job working in the kitchen at a ski resort, but the thought of me driving a car older than myself with no airbags and that had to be plugged in during the winter to keep the engine warm (diesel, in the snowbelt) drove my mom to a breaking point where she insisted on leasing a new civic, having me contribute my aforementioned savings, and having my parents pay the balance. All in, it was about $9-10k, if I recall correctly. And woo, I got a new car so yeah, I was on board with this plan.

Teenagers tend to have really, really bad perception and parking skills, as they've never driven before. Definitely scraped those bumpers, not to mention ate lots of fast food in the car, spilled plenty of sugary drinks, and lets just say "lit up a bunch of greenery". I went to college with a year left on the lease, and it was driven by my little sister who had the same penchant for Phish, frappucinos and midnight taco bell. And when the lease ran out, they were still "down a car" so considering the condition it was in and how much they'd get dinged by the dealer for that, wound up buying out the lease. All in all, it was a $18k car.

...for the $10k cost of the lease, just buy something like this instead, and let them take it with them to college...

https://www.autotrader.com/cars-for-sale/vehicledetails.xhtml?listingId=524168069&zip=20011&referrer=%2Fcars-for-sale%2Fsearchresults.xhtml%3Fzip%3D20011%26listingTypes%3DUSED%26startYear%3D2014%26sortBy%3DderivedpriceASC%26incremental%3Dall%26firstRecord%3D0%26marketExtension%3Don%26endYear%3D2019%26makeCodeList%3DHONDA%26searchRadius%3D50&listingTypes=USED&startYear=2014&numRecords=25&firstRecord=0&endYear=2019&makeCodeList=HONDA&searchRadius=50&makeCode1=HONDA&modelCode1=FIT&clickType=listing

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are shopping for used cars for teenage driver and anything decent with no mileage going to cost $15-20k.

I then saw an ad for a new Honda Civic lease. You can get the basic level Honda Civic for $2,999 down and monthly payments of $189.
A 36 month lease will end up costing $9,803.

Anyone done this?
What is the downside, other than giving a new driver a brand new car.
Maintenance will be a minimum, comes with a warranty.

Most rental car places won't rent to someone under 25. Are you sure leases don't have a similar age restriction?

Also, we bought an almost new CPO Kia Soul for our DD for way less than $15k. Recently. In the DC area. It can be done.

The teen wouldn’t be able to lease it on their own, the parents would have to sign the lease.

I would definitely think carefully about the damage issue. A new driver will be prone to scrapes and dents, and while you might not feel the need to fix every marks on your teen’s car if it’s purely cosmetic damage, the dealership will charge you a premium for any body work they have to do to repair damage they deem to be more than ordinary wear and tear.