Luxury Car Lease (to buy, price, used car)

[boyd888]

Originally Posted by stan4

If your car is under mileage and has no obvious scars, you just turn it in and either get another lease or shell out a ~$200 disposal fee and move on with your life.

Yes, but you could be giving thousands away by just turning it in especially on a car that was leased for 36K miles that only has 14K on it. You have to least see what it's worth vs. the residual value.

What Is Lease Equity And How Can I Use It?

[rome99]

Originally Posted by stan4

The point of leasing was to keep a new, maintenance-free, under-warranty new car with all the latest features, etc.

That's the exact same reason I opt in for lease. Thanks.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by rome99

. If I return the car can they come up with any hidden charges?

That's something you should have asked before you signed for the lease.

Things like whether or not you need to put new tires on the car, the state of the interior and exterior, if you have to keep a maintenance log, etc.

Do you have an agent? My agent just takes the car away to a shop where "his boys" clean up any scuffs, nicks, stains (my cars rarely have any of these things) before returning it to the bank people and I've never spent a cent on 'fees' or 'charges.'

Call your agent now.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by boyd888

Yes, but you could be giving thousands away by just turning it in especially on a car that was leased for 36K miles that only has 14K on it. You have to least see what it's worth vs. the residual value.

What Is Lease Equity And How Can I Use It?

If you're dealing with honest people, they'll let you know near the end of your term if you have equity in the car. In fact, in those cases, they'll try to get you out early before they owe you money.
But yes, I agree...you need to do the research yourself.

I have come out ahead or out early myself.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by Eagle4Life

What don't I understand?

Well, for one thing, how to make this work financially in your favor.

[sonnymarkjiz]

If you bought and financed the car, you would've ended up paying almost 65K on the car anyway with interest.

What car is it, OP? I'm curious...

[FCNova]

Originally Posted by stan4

Well, for one thing, how to make this work financially in your favor.

The benefits of leasing are non-financial. As you noted earlier you always have a fairly new car with updated features and in-warranty so no dealing with repairs yourself. You will always come out ahead financially by buying and holding a long time, and even farther ahead if you buy with cash.

You can cite anecdotal evidence in your favor(I leased and my buddy bought a lemon so I came out ahead financially), but I think you know it's generally much cheaper to hold the same car for a very long time.

I'm not knocking leasing in any way though, life is about being happy and if always having a newer car makes someone happy then they should do it. We have to spend our money on something.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by FCNova

The benefits of leasing are non-financial. As you noted earlier you always have a fairly new car with updated features and in-warranty so no dealing with repairs yourself. You will always come out ahead financially by buying and holding a long time, and even farther ahead if you buy with cash.

You can cite anecdotal evidence in your favor(I leased and my buddy bought a lemon so I came out ahead financially), but I think you know it's generally much cheaper to hold the same car for a very long time.

I'm not knocking leasing in any way though, life is about being happy and if always having a newer car makes someone happy then they should do it. We have to spend our money on something.

I can cite anecdotal evidence in my favor, but it was never about luck or a necessary one-off.
It's about thinking and experience.

Also, with leases so hugely subsidized these days, you can take the price of a new car and split the cost over 10 years and then compare to leasing the same car with a new model every 38 months.
It's almost a wash. Especially if you finance, but even then not necessarily, as people with good credit can get leases with MF of 0.9%.

[FCNova]

Originally Posted by stan4

I can cite anecdotal evidence in my favor, but it was never about luck or a necessary one-off.
It's about thinking and experience.

Also, with leases so hugely subsidized these days, you can take the price of a new car and split the cost over 10 years and then compare to leasing the same car with a new model every 38 months.
It's almost a wash. Especially if you finance, but even then not necessarily, as people with good credit can get leases with MF of 0.9%.

I don't think it would be a wash financially if you looked at 2 scenarios over a 10 year period. One person buying and keeping the same car and another continually leasing. There is also the fact that at the end of that period the buyer owns an asset. Sure a 10 year old car isn't worth a lot but I did sell my 10 year old Altima to Carmax for $6k so they're worth something.

[stan4]

Originally Posted by FCNova

I don't think it would be a wash financially if you looked at 2 scenarios over a 10 year period. One person buying and keeping the same car and another continually leasing. There is also the fact that at the end of that period the buyer owns an asset. Sure a 10 year old car isn't worth a lot but I did sell my 10 year old Altima to Carmax for $6k so they're worth something.

I did the calculation once with a Ford Explorer.
I did my own and I also did a 2017.
Factoring cost to own (maintenance and repairs - then subtracting what it was worth at the end of 10 years), the difference in price between a lease (39 month) and buying the car was less than $100 a month with the 2017 and just a couple of bucks with my 2002.

I will say that THIS is where buying an in-demand, reliable car with high resale value makes a difference.

But like I said before, either choice can put you ahead if you're savvy with it.