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[Tommie Hu$tle]

Wow, I thought I'd come in here and see something about cars. My mistake, that being said the only benefit to leasing is if you like to upgrade your car and drive less than 12k per year (which pretty much means you walk everywhere you go in this world). It is the milage that will kill most people.

I would never lease basically becasue I'm a driver I love being on the road and I love driving that is what a car is for, the stress of having to worry about every trip I make so that I don't go over my miles isn't worth the hassle for me.

 

[DarienA]

...this thread is f*cked.

 

[Mashing]

What about for people like me who have a very small commute to work, don't drive much, but DON'T want to get a new car every few years. Which option is best then?

 

[DarienA]

What about for people like me who have a very small commute to work, don't drive much, but DON'T want to get a new car every few years. Which option is best then?

Well if you don't want to get a new car every few years, then leasing doesn't seem like an option, i fyou commute is small and you don't plan to drive much then I'd suggest financing, and finance something gas thrify... a Civic, a Corolla, etc...

 

[heavy liquid]

What about for people like me who have a very small commute to work, don't drive much, but DON'T want to get a new car every few years. Which option is best then?

Definitely finance. You'll have your car paid off in 3-5 years, and it'll last you many years after that if you're not putting too many miles on it. Buying something gas thrifty like Darien suggested is a great idea, too.

 

[DonasaurusRex]

Lease if: you plan on sticking with that one car company, must have the latest version of a car, and as said before can keep your car in top condition inside and out.

Finance if: You want to own the car eventually or basically everyone else, best case scenario by the time you pay off your car keep saving the car payments up till you are ready for trade in, hopefully you can have most of your new car paid in full walk off the lot with damn title in your hand fuck a bank.

 

[Tarazet]

Also, financing your car works out saving you a lot of money in the long run, but only if you plan to keep your car for a long time. I don't remember the figures, but it's VERY substantial, even after factoring in things like repairs and upkeep.

Yes, driving your car until the wheels fall off is the best thing overall. But if you start noticing that you consistently get sick of your car around the 3-year mark and want to trade it in towards a new one, that's a sign you should consider leasing.

 

[chaostrophy]

Neither: pay cash. Save up what you can then buy whatever car you can afford with it. IMO going into debt makes sense for an education or a home, not for a car or anything else. Monthly payments suck, and interest is throwing money away.

 

[DarienA]

Neither: pay cash. Save up what you can then buy whatever car you can afford with it. IMO going into debt makes sense for an education or a home, not for a car or anything else. Monthly payments suck, and interest is throwing money away.

The pay for everything in cash folks always make me chuckle...

It really does depend on your own cash flow(income, etc...). However if you aren't interested in something brand new there are definitely reliable late model imports that you can purchase straight out for cash...

 

[Fatghost]

An investor will also be paying $200k more to buy the same house two years after he/she had the chance. Hopefully, he/she was able to double his money during that time. If not, then the investor "lost" money.

Yes. Which is why owning a house is a more conservative strategy than investing, and flipping houses is an even more aggressive strategy because it combines the riskiest positions of the other two.

In general terms, over the long run, equity markets as a whole out perform real estate markets as a whole. But on an individual level, the equity markets are likely to be a riskier and more aggressive option. It's up to the individual investor to decide which course to take.

 

[Phoenix]

Neither: pay cash. Save up what you can then buy whatever car you can afford with it. IMO going into debt makes sense for an education or a home, not for a car or anything else. Monthly payments suck, and interest is throwing money away.

If you can get around long enough to save up to pay cash for a car, you'd be retarded beyond reason to spend it on an investment that depreciates almost 20% of its value as soon as you drive it off the lot. A car is a horrible investment to spend actual cash on. If you get a car with a 1.9 or even 5% finance, you can invest cold hard cash into things that will give you a bigger return than that rather easily. Hell many stupidly low yield bonds will give you a higer rate of return.

This is one of the reasons why putting a lot of money down into a car REALLY doesn't make a lot of sense.

 

[Wellington]

Neither: pay cash. Save up what you can then buy whatever car you can afford with it. IMO going into debt makes sense for an education or a home, not for a car or anything else. Monthly payments suck, and interest is throwing money away.

Well, you can build up some good credit by paying off the car loan.

 

[iapetus]

If you can get around long enough to save up to pay cash for a car, you'd be retarded beyond reason to spend it on an investment that depreciates almost 20% of its value as soon as you drive it off the lot.

So buy used. If you pick carefully, you can end up with something that's done its huge early depreciating and is still fairly new and driveable.

 

[Phoenix]

So buy used. If you pick carefully, you can end up with something that's done its huge early depreciating and is still fairly new and driveable.

Still doesn't change that you can make more money from investing the cash than you will from financing. If you're sitting on a large sum of cash, for the love of God invest it! Don't spend it on something with a 0% return!

 

[DonasaurusRex]

..well something like a car he's getting away without any kind of strings attached which I think is good. Obviously if you are gonna walk up to a dealership with money hats ..the purchase isnt going to break you atleast it shouldnt, if it does you dont need to be buying it. Besides if someones serious about investing , they will be paying for thier car with dividends from those investments hopefully .

 

[Fatghost]

they will be paying for thier car with dividends from those investments hopefully .

Not such a good idea, after all you want your investment to compound

 

[Drensch]

I was originally leasing my Maxima, it's not that hard to keep your car clean. I had the option of trading it in or buying it out - I liked it, wanted to keep it some more and bought it out. It's stupid to pay nearly twice for a finance + bank fees, when you can pay far less if you lease and keep your car clean.

Plus you get a far better car than you could have bought.

I used to have a negative attitude about leasing, but I think it is the shit now.

The bad about leasing:
You have to treat your car well.
You have a mileage limit.
You don't own it.

Good:
You only pay for what you use.
You don't get screwed on depriciation.
Maitenance is cheaper on a younger car.
You can get a better car.



If you treat your stuff like shit, why buy it? That to me is a crap argument. Anything worth putting cash into is worth taking care of, moreso if you're keeping it.

Mileage limits are pretty good, plus you can get larger mileage leases if necessary. A typical lease gets you 12-15k a year, which is plenty.

The ownership issue is fairly moot as well. A lease isn't a rip beacuse you don't keep it. You're not paying for the car, you pay for the use of it. When you have "used up" a lease car, you get a brand new one and do the same. With a purchase you have to keep the car you have used. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it will run you more in maitenance.

In my case, I was able to get a far better car, treated it great, and eventually bought it. And I will end up paying far less with a lease purchase than I did with a straight buy, and I was able to spread that price over a larger time. Had I bought my car I would have paid 400 or so a month. I leased for 5 yrs and bought which will take an additional 2 yrs. My lease+ buy cost me an average of just under 240 a month. I saved about 7g. And you should also factor that I was able to spread that smaller payment over a far larger time period, whereas with the purchase I would have had to pay far more in a more compressed period, and get screwed with depriciation.

Never put money down. It does you no good. The money can be put in a place to earn you more than your interest rate oon your car. It probably won't reduce your overall price all that much. I have friends who sell cars. They never buy, and never put money down.

 

[Drensch]

What about for people like me who have a very small commute to work, don't drive much, but DON'T want to get a new car every few years. Which option is best then?

The new Business Week has a nice article on scooters for people like you. It'd be nice for a small commute and cheap on gas.