Before you buy your next car...

agh1889

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Sat down with a good friend of mine who works in the new car sales business, he walked me through how not to get burn when signing a lease.

 

einehund

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Seriously, what is the purpose of leasing? Is it the cheaper way to look like you have more money than you do? Because that sounds dumb.
 

DAVESVT2000

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Seriously, what is the purpose of leasing?

My girl had three Ford Focus’ in a row, all 5 sp sticks.

she wanted to move up to a Ford Escape, but wasn’t sure if she would like it, first suv, automatic transmission, etc.

So we decided to lease it, two years, zero down, $330/month.

if she didn’t like it, no big deal, get her back into a car when the lease was up.

well, she fell in love with it. Then she saw the Lincoln version the MKC, so when the lease ended earlier this summer, we turned it in, and bought a 2019 MKC, and she couldn’t be happier.

so for us a lease was more of an experiment if you will, no obligation, no maintenance, not owning a depreciating asset.
 

CobraBob

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There was a time when leasing a car was a good option. I remember one of the first leases I had, my buy-out was two grand lower than the resale value of the vehicle. So I bought it, sold it, and made just under $2K profit. My down payment was near zero on those early leases. Leases have changed over the years and IMO they're no longer financially a good deal. There are probably exceptions, but it's too easy to get screwed by the dealership. I learned that the hard way. Many leases now require a hefty down payment, in excess of $5K. In large part to try to make the monthly payment look more appealing. JMO.

One thing I hate about a 3-4 year lease is that you're locked in (obligated) for that term, less any months a dealer will buy at the end of the term towards a new vehicle. If you find you don't like the vehicle after, say, a year, you're stuck until the end of the term. A dealer usually won't buy back more than 2-3 months of the lease if you want to exit early.
 

johnkn

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so for us a lease was more of an experiment if you will, no obligation, no maintenance, not owning a depreciating asset.

'No obligation and you are not owning a depreciating asset'??????

Are you suggesting you could simply walk away from the lease at any time w/o penalty?

You were financially obligated under the terms of the lease, and while you did't own a depreciating asset you were paying for the depreciating asset.
 

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