Do you lease or buy?

[Pam]

I am in the early stages of thinking about trading my car in. I probably won't buy anything for a couple of months but am considering another Honda CRV or possibly a Toyota RAV-4. Although hubby and I only ever buy our cars, we recognize that many people nowadays prefer to lease. In my office alone, I am the only one who does not lease my car. What about you? Buy or lease?

[shais_mom]

I bought my car ($500 left to pay on it!)
I was going to trade a few years ago for a Honda Element but the LEASE was going to be over $500 a month. And buying it was going to be like $450.
:eek:
I chose to keep my Alero (thank God) at $306 a month!

In my case leasing - like renting didn't make sense.
when I was moving to this area back in 1999 - the cheapest (creepiest) apartment rent was $320 a month. I found a teeny tiny little house to buy and my house payment is
.
.
.
$200.00 a month!!!

[davidpizzica]

I bought my car ($500 left to pay on it!)
I was going to trade a few years ago for a Honda Element but the LEASE was going to be over $500 a month. And buying it was going to be like $450.
:eek:
I chose to keep my Alero (thank God) at $306 a month!

In my case leasing - like renting didn't make sense.
when I was moving to this area back in 1999 - the cheapest (creepiest) apartment rent was $320 a month. I found a teeny tiny little house to buy and my house payment is
.
.
.
$200.00 a month!!!
I lease my 2006 chevy cobalt at $118 a month. That'd pretty cheap, and I have a sporty car that's easy on gas!

[Cataholic]

PCB and I were having this discussion a couple of weeks ago. Like Shaismom, I think leasing is alot like renting....and, I prefer to have equity (if one has equity in vehicles..he he he).

[Cookiebaker]

I work for a company that leases equipment to customers. So, I am very aware of the ins and outs of leasing, and exactly where the $$$ goes. I think it is safe to say that I personally will never lease anything. I WILL say that in certain situations, leasing is perfect. But, for the everyday customer, the company that you are leasing from is making a LOT of $$$$. (And from the selling perspective, I love leases!!)

[joycenalex]

a cars' purpose is to get you safely and efficiently from point a to point b. it does not/should not define your self, self esteem or value as a human. very talented advertising and advertisers try to convince millions of us otherwise. leasing a car is bad debt in that it brings you nothing of long term value, when you turn the car back into the dealer, you have nothing but memories. when you sell your bought for car, you only have memories too. leasing a car may let you get something fancier then you can ( realistically) afford. i'll never lease a car, i can buy, drive and own a car for many many years, and when that car is paid off, those monthly payments go nicely in to my 401K or something of value for my house.

[Cincy'sMom]

We bought (or are still buying) our van, however I am leasing my truck.

When I graduated from college in '99, I bought a '93 Ford Ranger. Two years later, we put a new engine in it. Then it was the water pump. Then it was.... you get the picture. I decided I didn't want to go through that again, that I would rather get brand new and have it under warranty. Leasing the truck was a good option for me at the time. The payment was better then buying, I am way under my limit on miles, and don't have to worry about expensive repairs.

I have 14 months lef ton my 36 month lease, and I am already trying to decide what to do. I love my truck, but I also love the idea of another brand new vechile. If I don't lease another, I will buy the truck I currently have. I know its history, I know it is low miles, and I can probablly afford used easier then buying new.

[Glacier]

I bought my truck. We looked at leasing but the mileage was fairly restrictive. The price if you were over the mileage at the end of the lease was insane. I have to drive alot. One trip to see my family is over 6000km. My weekly running to work and back is close to 400km.

[Edwina's Secretary]

I buy. Leasing is very popular here in SoCal.....explains all the Mercedes, MBW's, Lexus, Hummers, etc.

I spoke last week with a woman I worked with in Chicago. She leased (so she could drive a really hot car.... :rolleyes: ) Her lease expired AND she lost her job. Now she has no wheels and no job to use on an application to either buy or lease.

My car is paid for. It will have 100,000 miles on it any day now. But at the end of my payments....I had something to show for it and something to get me around.

[PinkSunshine]

I buy as well. I've bought 2 cars thus far and am almost paid off on my third one :eek: (At the ripe young age of 24). Leasing isn't worth it IMO. Mileage sucks and in the end you have nothing to show for your 3 years of payments.... At least when my car is paid off (in 4 months) I can go trade it in and get $$$ back for it because I own it.....

[Roxyluvsme13]

I don't do either :p.
(sorry for being pointless!)

[lizbud]

I've always bought my cars. My kids used to lease cars just to try out
different models, but have also switched over to buying.

[Laura's Babies]

I have always thought renting anything was money down the drain. I would never lease a car and house payments are cheaper than rent. My car is 10 years old and it has been paid for, for the last 5 of those years. Due to how I work, there are only about 55,000 miles on it so I figure it should last me awhile. Since I have had it, I have had to buy 2 batteries and had to replace the tires about 3 times due to them dry rotting from sitting every other month.

[Lady's Human]

With leasing, much depends on your intentions at the end of the lease and how the figures work out. We leased my wife's last car, and the effective interest rate at the end of the lease (after lease buyout, not before) was something like 4 1/4%, which was a better finance rate than we could have gotten at the time.

[Jessika]

Oops. Voted lease but meant buy!

Well, we got a loan from the bank for a used car anyway, but when its done its OURS, 100%.

[lute]

buy. i bought my car at a yard sale of all places for $3,000. it's a silver '93 Lincoln Contnental. it's a nice forst car, but definatly want to sell it and buy a pick up truck or something i can keep more than one dog crate in.

[chrangharris]

We buy and only what we can afford with cash! We have two cars both totally paid for. We have a nest egg going for our next car- which will also be with cash :D :D

[Rachel]

We buy and only what we can afford with cash! We have two cars both totally paid for. We have a nest egg going for our next car- which will also be with cash :D :D

I just have to give you an *Atta Girl* for that. :)


Pam, in addition to the reasons others have already stated, the thought of reading and deciphering a *lease agreement* is enough to nix that idea. For me buying is the only way to go.

[Aspen and Misty]

We buy and only what we can afford with cash! We have two cars both totally paid for. We have a nest egg going for our next car- which will also be with cash :D :D

The same goes for our family. We bought one care with a loan and never again. Our second car was payed for in cash and we are currently buying our third car and it to will be paid with in cash.

Ashley

[zippy-kat]

Buy.

The first two were actually bought for me (#1 a clunker, #2 a HS Grad gift). The third was sort of a half-and-half deal, dad bought it to replace #2 and also as an early college graduation gift but I had to take over payments upon graduation/FT employment. Last year, I bought #4 and I couldn't be happier with it! :D I traded up 4 years and only increased my payments by about $30.

[smokey the elder]

I drive almost 400 miles (640 or so km) per week, so I'd get burned by the mileage. I'm in the buy new or lightly used, drive it until it falls apart (well over 100 k miles) school.

[Maya & Inka's mommy]

I voted "buy", but in fact it is both.

My car: we bought it new, 6 years ago now.
My hubby's car: is leased by the firm where he works. He gets a new one every 4 years.

[captain]

I Voted "lease" - for my car.

Here is Australia, you can Salary Sacrifice on your salary PRE-TAX if you lease a vehicle, plus I do huge mileage everyday, so I took out a lease that allows that.

My lease is up next year, and I have elected a lump sum payment at the end - which is so small, that I know if I wanted to sell it, I would make almost triple what I paid.

Plus, it has been great for me with Tyres, Petrol (what, with the price going up here all the time, and all the incidentals)

However, all previous cars, and my husbands business cars have been bought.

I can see the benefits from both sides :D

[pnance]

I voted buy. Mileage alone would kill me, I dirve 80 miles a day just to work, besides I'd rather have something to show for the money I've paid at when I'm done. My mom has leased her last couple of cars and 8 year later, she's still paying the last one off, since she decided on a lump sum payment to buy it after the lease ran out.

[ramanth]

I drive a lot so I buy. :)

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

I work for a company that leases equipment to customers. So, I am very aware of the ins and outs of leasing, and exactly where the $$$ goes. I think it is safe to say that I personally will never lease anything. I WILL say that in certain situations, leasing is perfect. But, for the everyday customer, the company that you are leasing from is making a LOT of $$$$. (And from the selling perspective, I love leases!!)

I don't work for a leasing company, but what's stated above has been my feelings about leasing for a long time. In my opinion, for the normal average driver, leasing is NOT a good idea and I think I would have a hard time justifying leasing under ANY conditions.

Also, Terry and I ONLY buy used vehicles. The people who buy a new vehicle every two years are really throwing their money away because of the big depreciation hit cars take in the first few years. So what we do is let them pay the high new price - or better yet, we let them lease it - then two years later after they've either traded it in on a new one or their lease has ended, Terry and I come along and buy a perfectly good, practically brand new car for about 1/2 the price. Like Changharris, buying this way also makes it easier for us to pay cash, making the purchase even easier to swallow, and allowing us to spend the money which would have been spent on interest on something WE want......like a nice big motorhome. ;) :rolleyes: :D

In my opinion, cars are only an expense. They are a necessary evil, but are a depreciating asset so the least spent on them the better. :)

[Lizzie]

I bought a new car through my credit union and a year later took out a home equity loan with the same bank, paying off the car loan. So the car was all mine only a year after starting to make payments, the amount I still owed on the car became tax deductible and the car is equity. I think you would have to shop around very carefully and do a lot of of research to lease a car in a way that was more financially sound than buying one.

[Logan]

I am certain that you and Wade already know the answer to this question, Pam, but I had to throw in my vote. BUY and if you can keep from financing anything, that is the way to go!!!

I leased once, but it was a mistake. I was putting so many miles on the car, I ended up buying another one so I could park the leased one!

Logan

[Edwina's Secretary]

On this theme....I am very excited. Today my odometer will turn over to 100,000 (it is at 99,997 right now.) I have never kept a car that long!

[Pam]

I am really so surprised at the way the poll is going in this thread. At work I feel like the odd man out, being the only one who doesn't lease. Here I feel like *one of the gang* for the most part. :cool:

[moosmom]

I buy only because I keep my cars until they don't run anymore. (anywhere from 6-10 years). Besides, I was told that leasing is good for people who don't drive alot.

[anna_66]

At the moment we are doing both.

We have a lease on the Durango and are buying the van (which I think must have been a lease it was so well taken care of).

In my personal opinion leasing is good if you don't have a long lease and don't have to drive a lot.
Case in point...
Our last lease was a Dodge Intrepid. We only had a 3 yr lease on it and were allowed 12,000 miles/yr. At the end of the 3 years it only had 26,000 miles so it was way below the mile limit. So because there wasn't a lot of miles on it we didn't have to replace the tires and there was no damage or motor problems so at the end we didn't owe anything when we turned it back in.

Now with the Durango we went a little crazy (pretty much a top of the line Durango) so we could have a vehicle we both could agree on and could afford, so it's a 5 yr lease with 12,000 miles/yr also. Not very smart on our part as the payments are more and for longer. If we would have tried to buy it at the time we started our lease it would have costed us almost twice as much in monthly payments as we are paying now. I know the tires will need replaced for sure which will cost quite a bit and who knows what else we will have to have done in the next year and a half.

I can't say I regret leasing, I like having a new car that I don't have to worry about (besides car values decrease sooo much) but if I did it again, it would only be for a max of 3 years.

[mruffruff]

I've never leased. I can't see paying for something that will never be yours at the end of the contract.

I bought my used '96 Toyota pickup 8 years ago. I paid cash, but I could have financed it for three years at a reasonable payment. That still would give me 5 years of use for NO payments.

The only repairs I've made have been a new battery (this month) and a set of tires last year, as well as semi-regular oil changes. I did have it repainted, but that wasn't necessary. The southern sun had faded the finish.

[cyber-sibes]

i've done both. When it got too expensive to fix my old van, I rented a van for three years. I got in during a special and it was MUCH cheaper than buying, and the maintenance was covered. It actually worked out pretty well for my situation. When the lease was up, I bought a great used vehicle & got many years of service, then gave it to my son. I'm buying another used vehicle now, I don't like how high my payments are, but I like my car.