We owned a car 11years, cost came out to $218 a month, wife needed a dependable car to go on a 300 mile road trip to see her ailing mother, $200 a month lease, no repairs to worry about as warranty applies, no brakes, no tires no maintenance cost as free oil changes, was a good deal to me, we now own 2 cars so I cannot give you a clear answer, just food for thought.
Zip Car isnât a bad way to go for now, you may end up deciding to find something more like what they offer.
Hello Everyone,
I would like to resuscitate this thread with some updates:
- I tried a couple of cars with ZipCar and really enjoyed driving the newer Honda Civic. I took it out for day trips and spent a good 10 hours per day driving it on a variety of roads.
- With ZipCar, a daylong trip on a weekend costs ~150. We can hit $500 in a month with couple of day trips and some grocery store trips.
- If itâs going to cost $300-$500 per month with ZipCar, I am tempted to lease/own a car as it gives us more bang for buck in terms of drive time.
Some considerations:
-
Although we are able to spend $15k+ (a target figure) on a used Civic that is 2-3 years old and has been driven around 20k miles, we are reluctant to do so because the car is a want, not a need for us. As an ardent follower of the FIRE (Financial Independence;Retire Early) community, I cannot help but think that the money will be much better utilized in an index fund. As a result, I am trying to figure out if leasing makes more sense.
-
We may or may not reside in the country after the next 2-3 years as we are foreign nationals. As a result, it is hard for me to say for sure that we will own the car for long term and that will reduce our TCO.
Questions:
- Am I thinking about this desire logically?
- Should we lease a car or continue using ZipCar? If the former, it is possible to keep the all inclusive price to under $300?
- Should we buy the car outright if we can get it for around $15k? And then sell it in 2-3 years when weâre ready to leave or need/want a new car?
Thank you for all your inputs!
My wife leases a 2019 hyundai elantra that she got in June 2019 for $291 per month on a 3 year, 10,000 mile per year lease. I put $3k into the deal up front to keep the payment down. MSRP on the car was about $21k.
Got it. Does she plan to buy the car after the lease is up? How does the decision to buy or not buy affect the price/cost?
The lease price is not based on if the persons plans to turn it in or purchase it . But if you need to leave the country before lease term is up it will be really expensive to terminate a lease.
If it was me I would find something cheap and hope it lasts for a year or so and do it again if it does die . Of course this is a lousy time to be buying a vehicle .
We get a new one every 3 years. The purchase option is not a factor iâve ever considered. The dealer and finance company set that price, and like everything else, itâs negotiable, to a point.
Leasing is the most expensive way to own a car.
Buying a 3 to 4 year old car and keeping it a long time is the cheapest. Selling it in 2,3 or years is the next cheapest.
This is true in a normal car market. This is not a normal car market. This is a crazy market. Best to wait and buy later.
Got it. What do you think is a reasonable time to wait before buying a car given the current market?
No one knows the answer to that question . Pick a couple types of vehicles and see what the prices are now and check to see if the price goes down a month later Keep doing that and then you will know when the market changes for the better.
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To me it seems like your Zipcar costs more than just a regular rental car. It doesnât make sense.
In this market, a Civic with your criteria would be probably closer to $20K.
Sometimes, on a lease, they inflate the residual value to get you a lower payment. Buying those cars at the end of the lease would usually not make sense.
Otherwise, you have used an expensive financing way yo buy a car through leasing.
A couple of years back, as I checked ZipCar pricing, I had the same question popping up.
Nowadays, from what Iâve seen, the rental prices soared, but I did not do a new cross-check myself.
Original @kurious idea was to own the car for 5 years and his ongoing expense allocation was at 6 grand a year, so the idea of leasing a new car was also the first thing popping up for me - the initial âdownpaymentâ and ongoing payments were totally in-line with his goals and budgets⊠minus all the âentertainmentâ of dealing with the failing 14-years-old car 
I do agree with @Mustangman that leasing is the most expensive way of owning a car, yet itâs the most trouble-free option too, and my impression is that this factor is top on the list for the OP.
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It would seem that way⊠but I remember this comment⊠way back whenâŠ
Which is counter to the âspend more money on the trouble-free solutionâ that leasing would be.
I donât think anybody can guess when the used-car crazy pricing will settle down. Given the OPs other comments about moving out of country in a few years and not really needing a car, seems like leasing would lock them into a contract that would not fit their lifestyle.
As Foriegn Nationals will they be able to lease a vehicle ? Also the full coverage insurance might be really expensive .
As the one who used to be in these shoes, I would say that at least some time back, US companies did not care for any of these potential âqualifiersâ as long as it was a hard cash or promise to pay on the table.
Well, he did not provide much specifics, as if that means 3+ years, the lease option would still be âusableâ.
Somehow he spoke about plans for 5 years, so I was under impression he is not to depart any time soon.
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