Vehicle registration (Aurora: apartment, lease, credit card)

[LHS79]

Originally Posted by mateo384

What’s the point of having a nice car in Colorado if you have to pay an xtra 700+ per year to have it? I’m on a 3 year lease of a brand new Challenger in Florida.

It’s almkst as if they want you driving a lemon.

What are you going to own after the lease is up?

At least with a car payment you have an asset at the end of the payments (probably not worth much but still....)

I've never understood financing "depreciating assets"!

[BarryK123]

In my opinion, leasing only makes sense if it's a business deduction.

[Quietude]

Originally Posted by BarryK123

In my opinion, leasing only makes sense if it's a business deduction.

It's never been any other way. Leasing to individuals became common only as a lower-tier purchasing option, with ridiculously unfair terms for most buyers and double-dipping profit for the sellers.

Anyone considering a vehicle lease needs to seriously consider their financial situation or their motives. (And then walk away.)

[mateo384]

from my point of view, if you can afford $300 a month or so, you can drive a brand new car every 3 years for the rest of your life.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by mateo384

from my point of view, if you can afford $300 a month or so, you can drive a brand new car every 3 years for the rest of your life.

Looking at a 4Runner on Toyota’s website right now. For a base model it’s $3299 due at signing and $329 a month for 36 months. All in cost is $15,143 for 3 years plus you are limited to 12,000 miles a year.

I paid $25,000 cash for a two year old 4Runner in 2006 and have averaged about 13,000 miles a year on it. It’s still worth about $7,000.

If I valued driving new vehicles more I would buy a 2016 4Runner that I just found on cars.com that is Certified Pre Owned and has 27,000 miles on it for $34K.

Looking on cars.com I am finding 2013 4Runners of the same trim package with 60-70K miles going for around $28,000. My cost of ownership for 3 years would be $6K compared to your $15,000. Plus if I decide to keep it a few extra years, the cost of ownership just keeps going down.

[Quietude]

Originally Posted by mateo384

from my point of view, if you can afford $300 a month or so, you can drive a brand new car every 3 years for the rest of your life.

If that's your goal, net cost and percentage of your income completely left aside.

Besides, it's usually about $3-5000 to drive off the lot, plus all purchase fees like registration, plus maintaining a high level of insurance (maybe higher than you might on an owned vehicle)... all for having to take meticulous care of it and limit your mileage lest you get dinged for overage and wear fees at turn-in.

Do ALL the math before you call it a good deal, new car smell or no. Yeah, leases are sort of cheap on a monthly basis... and that's pretty much the last good thing you can say about them.


ETA: Gotta say that thinking "always driving a new car" is a plus sets off all my consumer-issues alarms.

[mateo384]

the "due at signing" and monthly premiums are negotiable, obviously. So is the mileage.

I dunno, i'm under the mileage allowance, and I drove to MI during Irma and back. So i never have to worry about that. With my old car, seems I was getting it fixed and spending $300-500 on something all the damn time. That stuff adds up, especially since the car wasn't worth it. With a leased car, my worry and stress is basically over. The odds of it breaking down are so slim. I don't even have to get my oil changed for like 7 months at a time. And then I can just walk away from it and get a newer version, to my specific specs if i want, or get something else. When I traded in my car that I spent all my money on i got $500 cuz it was a piece of crap anyways.

I guess i'm just one of those people where leases makes sense.

[Quietude]

Originally Posted by mateo384

the "due at signing" and monthly premiums are negotiable, obviously. So is the mileage.

Not in any meaningful way. You can get lower driveaway, for a more restrictive lease or other fees.* You can get more mileage, if you pay more. Once you understand how leases really work - and generate profits like a busted slot machine - you'll understand how poor a choice they are for nearly all individuals.

The choice is not between a POS that eats your wallet alive and a lease that does the same, just more stealthily. A loan on a CPO vehicle in your range should have about the same costs, but with eventual retention of the asset and accumulated value. And if you just don't drive much - under 10k a year - your maintenance and repair costs should be proportionally low.

I have honestly never seen an individual for whom a lease was a good financial option. As said above, they are a business tool, since nearly the whole cost of the vehicle can be written off in the short term, without depreciation, resale, etc. Individuals don't get any of that benefit.


*ETA: The other reason for bargain leases is to move models that aren't selling. Which probably aren't selling for a reason. So a new car that's ugly, inconvenient or unreliable still isn't much of a bargain.

[twowilldo]

Originally Posted by SkyDog77

Currently driving a 14 year old Toyota with 180,000 miles on it because I just don’t really care about cars like I used to.

Yeah, we don't feel the same way we used to about cars either. (Spouse is a mechanic so I guess that helps.)

Our newest vehicle is my 2008 FJ, then we have two 1996 Fords (pickup and a Bronco) on the other end.

I guess at some point those older ones will need to be replaced. Don't want to think about dealing with that when the time comes.

[SkyDog77]

Originally Posted by twowilldo

Yeah, we don't feel the same way we used to about cars either. (Spouse is a mechanic so I guess that helps.)

Our newest vehicle is my 2008 FJ, then we have two 1996 Fords (pickup and a Bronco) on the other end.

I guess at some point those older ones will need to be replaced. Don't want to think about dealing with that when the time comes.

My wife has our fancy vehicle, a 2013 Land Cruiser. We use it for towing our camper in the summer. My 4Runner is the beater. I will probably drive it until I blows up.