Let me make myself perfectly clear, it’s my opinion that it’s CHEAPER to lease a brand new Civic than it is to buy and own a 10 year old beater/klunker…
After 6 years, you’ll have spent a grand total of $11,000 on lease payments.
With a junker, after 6 years, you’ll have spent say $4000 to buy the beater, which leaves you with $7000 in repairs to break even. In my experience, you’ll spend more than $7000 in 6 years on a used beater car (which averages out to $1200/year) That is very realistic, and heck, in some years, you’ll exceed $2500 easy.
So, you’ll pay MORE to own and drive a junker than you would to drive 2 brand new cars for 3 years each.
Leasing is no longer "for people who like to buy new cars every few years"
Leasing is for ANY people who simply want to spend as little as possible on car expenses.
My apologies if I’ve drawn the wrong conclusion. I assume you are asking which of the two deals are easier/less costly to get out of should you become unable to drive. Close reading of the contract is always important, more so in your situation. In general: A lender isn’t interested in the car, just the unpaid loan balance and penalties if any. To pay off the loan you would have to sell the car and supply any shortfall from you own funds. A lessor will want the car back plus, possibly substantial, early termination fees. For your situation you will have to calculate the difference between the car’s estimated resale value and the loan balance then weigh that against the lease termination fees. It’s possible the lease will be a better choice.
Sorry…but for the life of me I can’t think of ONE pro…Well at least not for the owner. Leasing has nothing but down-side. I’ve never leased and never will.
Mike, take a look at my posts.
The PRO for leasing is that it’s cheaper. ($100-$150/mo, and nothing else)
Less than the cost of 2 repairs of a jalopy.
Paying for repairs on a jalopy is a very very expensive habit!
For people who want the cheapest cost per mile, leasing is now a no-brainer.
The PRO for leasing is that it’s cheaper. ($100-$150/mo, and nothing else)
Less than the cost of 2 repairs of a jalopy.
You’re comparing a Lease of a NEW vehicle to that of buying an OLD car. Well in that extremely limited view…yes the lease MAY be cheaper.
But when comparing the lease of a NEW vehicle to buying a NEW vehicle…sorry…but it’s a LOT cheaper to buy then to lease.
Sorry…but leasing is just way too expensive. I buy new or one year old…then keep for 300k miles…For the past 20 years I’ve been buying cash. But for the sake of argument…let’s say I took out a loan for 5 years. I’m making payments for 5 years that’s $100 MORE then if I leased…but after 5 years I’m no longer making payments…So the next 5 years I’m driving a vehicle with ZERO payments. For a lease…I know of no vehicle you can lease for 5 years. It’s usually 2 or 3 years. So after those 2 or 3 years you have to get another vehicle. And keep doing that as long as you keep driving. After 10 years your payout will be almost twice my payout. Sorry…but it doesn’t add up.
If I intended to keep a like new car I would look at leasing as an option. Leasing takes away a great many ifs and maybes and may be as economical as trading every 2 years. But I don’t know. And either of those choices is more costly than keeping a reliable, well maintained vehicle until it becomes too costly then replacing it. I prefer to keep my old trucks. The combined annual fixed cost is less than $600 and they each cost about 25c per mile to drive. But that’s my preference. To each his own.
…So the next 5 years I’m driving a vehicle with ZERO payments.
Wrong, while your results may vary, most people driving a 5-10 year old car with 75k-150k in those years will be EASILY averaging over $1000/year in maint. and repairs.
So, yes, while there is no payment, you are now spending bigger money on repairs.
For the same money, you could keep driving a car that is never over 3 years/45k miles,
and never spend a dime on repairs. Driving a 5-10 year old car is a very expensive habit.
Much cheaper to lease that make your mechanic wealthy.
Oh, and bad tranny in that time frame?
BOOM, that’s 3 YEARS of lease payments in 1 shot.
Wrong, while your results may vary, most people driving a 5-10 year old car with 75k-150k in those years will be EASILY averaging over $1000/year in maint. and repairs.
And you WON’T have any maintenance for your leased vehicle??? How do you do that??
So, yes, while there is no payment, you are now spending bigger money on repairs.
Sure…but to what extent?? Beyond normal maintenance my average maintenance for all the vehicles I’ve owned in the past 20+ years my yearly maintenance costs have been less then 2 of your lease payments. My wifes 1996 Accord I spent a total of $4 in repairs for the 280k miles we owned it. So where is the expensive habit.
Much cheaper to lease that make your mechanic wealthy.
Then I suggest you either get a new mechanic or buy more reliable vehicles. Your experience obviously doesn’t even come close to mine.
I’ve decided not to try to debate with UsedEconobox2UsedBMW, but I will point out to the OP that this is the only poster in the whole thread taking this point of view, for what that’s worth.
Leasing has other major disadvantages besides costing more in the long run,
If you end up with a “lemon” you cannot trade it or sell it…you have to live with it.
If you find the car isn’t meeting your needs the way you thought t would, you’re STUCK WITH IT.
I bought a new Corolla in '05 and it ended up killing my bad back…thank God I didn’t lease it! I ended up trading it after only two months.
If you back into the mailbox and decide it isn’t worth fixing, you’ll PAY THROUGH THE NOSE when you turn the car in. You have no choice but to get it fixed…professionally…whether you want to or not.
Don’t even THINK about taking that great new job 40 miles away…the commute will bankript you, what with the mileage limitations.
And, of course, when the lease expires they’ll come and take your car and you’ll have NOTHING. NADA. Zippo. No equity, no say in the matter, no car. Nothing at all. If you love the car you will, of course, be able to purchase ita at a premium price.
Leasing is only for businesses. The illusion that because the monthly lease amount is cheaper it’ll save you money is just that: an illusion. For my car payments I received equity, and eventually a fully paid-for car. All mine. With as many miles as I wanted to put on it. And I’ll have it for years to come, payment free. I can paint it a different color if I want, I can change the audio system, I can live with the dent in the roof. I can neglect it if I choose. I own it. You cannot get to that point with a lease. Ever.
If you’re paying $1,000 a year to repair and maintain a car with only 75,000 miles on the odometer, you should think about getting a more reliable and economical vehicle, unless this is some kind of luxury vehicle and you don’t mind paying that much.
Your individual experiences to not constitute a consensus. You seem to pay more than the average driver. Maybe you’ve just had bad luck?
MB hit the nail on the head. My car has been paid for since 2006, and my maintenance and repair costs have been quite reasonable, even with 220,000 miles on the odometer. Lease your vehicles, and you will make payments as long as you drive. Buy a reliable car and keep it for a long time, and you will enjoy many years of not having to make monthly payments.
Leased cars are not meant to be completely maintenance free, either. True, some people do lease a car and drive it 30,000 miles, then turn it in having never spent a dime on it other than for gasoline, still with the factory oil and oil filter on the engine, front tires bald, and rear tires cupped beyond recognition due to lack of rotations, maybe drop by Autozone on the way to the leasing agency to clear the check engine light, and get away with it, but that is not an ethical thing to do and is not the way a lease is intended to work. You’re supposed to properly maintain the car and make necessary repairs and perform necessary maintenance as it comes up. I guess there’s not really anything to stop one from doing the former, though, except maybe your conscience. I could never do this myself. I care too much about the machine and do not want to bring on bad “carma” from creating a neglected, sludged-up nightmare for someone in the market for a used three year old low mileage car.
$1200 a year after 70k miles is pretty conservative. Almost every repair costs $500-$600 after all is said and done (O2 sensors, Evap cannister, rotors/pads, etc) And, 2 repairs a year is pretty much standard in my experience.
Sorry Used, but I get many years out of my vehicles after they’re paid for before I begin to get to that level of repairs. My current vehicle at 180,000 miles doesn’t even approach that amount. As a matter of fact, if I eliminate things that I would have had to do on a lease anyway, such as brakes and tires, it’s almost nothing. Heck, my ol’ '89 Toyota pickup didn;t even come close to that number even after 17 years and 338,000 miles!
If you include tires, brakes, and oil changes, and if I’d tried to keep it like new those last years of its life, THAN I might have approached $1200 a year!
What kind of vehicle are you driving that requires “huge” repair bills and has stuff break so often? My car has 220,000 miles on the odometer, and my repair bills have been quite reasonable. I’ve averaged less than $200/year for repairs.
I hope you aren’t including the cost of maintenance in your comparison. A vehicle needs to be maintained whether it’s owned or leased.
Seriously, you must make a commission every time someone leases a car. Otherwise, I don’t know how to explain your blatant disregard for reality.
There are a lot of IF’s if you don’t drive more than 12,000 miles a year, if you keep the car in PERFECT shape. Trust me what most people consider normal wear and tear and what car companies consider normal wear and tear are completely different… It’s easy to rack up $2,000 to $3,000 in excessive wear and tear on a car.
But I went to Honda.com checked out their leases, no $99 a month lease on the civic the best deal was $169.00 per month for 36 months. $1,999.00 total due at signing.or $220.00 per month for 35 months. Assuming you kept both until the end of the lease, in the first case you’ll have spent a total of $8083 or 2694 a year or 2640 a year in the second case. The MSRP price is right around 17,000 or 4,250 a year or 355 a month assuming I pay it off in 4 years or 5667 a year or 472 a month if I pay it off in 3. Now if you assume I’d have the same repair bills as you would after all they are the same car and if we assume the 2012 will keep it value at the same rate as a 2009 we can expect our 2012 to be worth about 13,300 so I spent 3,700 to drive my car for 3 year or 1,240 a year. even if I’m off on the value by 3,300 it would still only cost me 2,333 a year.
Math!
Trust me in almost all cases it better to buy then lease.
First off Used…just because that’s YOUR experience…doesn’t mean it’s everyone elses experience. If you really are experiencing that kind of repairs…then I suggest you start buying another brand of vehicle.
You also mentioned things like O2 sensors…and calipers. I’ve yet to replace an O2 sensor. Again…get another vehicle.
Now for the Math lesson…Lets use your numbers…If what you say is correct (which it isn’t)…then just based on your numbers you’ve proven that leasing is more expensive then buying. There’s no way you can lease a car for less then $1200/yr. If there is… please let all of us know…This is the best secret around.
I will go ahead and give my testimony of driving old beaters and repair costs for them. I currently have two vehicles that count as old beaters: a 1995 Ford Windstar I paid $500 for two years ago and a 1998 Ford F-150 I paid $900 for two months ago. Granted, both vehicles were mechanical repairables as I call them. They needed work, which is why the owners were selling them dirt cheap. If I were to have a repair shop do the work I have done to both vehicles, I would probably have about $1500-2000 into the van for the last two years, all repairs combined, and probably around $1000 into the truck. There are also no repairs needed in the foreseeable future for either vehicle, and it’s been a long time since I have done anything with the van outside of an oil change. Keep in mind, also, that those figures include wear items like tires and brakes. Both my vehicles have had a new set of tires installed since I have bought them, which is in itself a pretty big ticket item. Basically, for the money tied up in either one of my junk beaters, assuming repair shop prices for the repairs I have done, you almost have the down payment necessary to secure a lease. From what I have seen, most leases require a down payment of between $1k-3k up front. I also save a lot of money every month on insurance. I pay a whopping $46 a month to insure both my vehicles. I would consider my cost of ownership for both my junk beaters to be pretty low, even to think about having a repair shop do the work I have done on them. The truck would have hit me hard up front ($1900 up front in repairs and purchase price), but so does the down payment on a lease, and I get to keep the truck and even have the title for it. I think I will keep my junk beaters rather than lease a car. Besides, who wants to worry about getting charged $1500 for door dings when you turn it in at the end of the lease?