Why would it be better to lease a car rather than buy one? Arent you screwed either way?!!?

Answer 1

If you plan on keeping the car for 3 years or less, it may be better to lease. If you want to keep the car for as long as possible, it is better to buy it. Good Luck ! :)

Answer 2

There are two types of leasing and with the first type you actually rent the car for a given term and in the second case you actually buy it with leasing terms. When you lease you are renting a car so if you want to rent a car for 24 to 36 months and then give it back and start over then leasing is for you. The bigger your down payment the smaller your monthly payment but the residual value of the car at the end of the term does not change. A vehicle retains a certain percentage of it's value at the end of the term, i.e a 2007 Grand Caravan will retain around 54% of it's value at the end of a two year term, 46% at the end of three years, etc. If you put a lot of money down that money is just gone and you don't get it back.
If you use a Chrysler Gold Key Plus or a GM Smart Buy then the title is actually in your name and you have more options at the end of the term. You can sell it yourself, you can trade it, you can keep it, or you can give it back. Usually this plan gives you cheaper payments and the miles won't matter unless you give it back. Standard leases ar 15,000 miles so if you go over and then you will have to pay around 15 to 20 cents a mile when you give the car back on either type of lease. You can pay for the miles up front but then you are better off buying so if you drive a lot of miles buy the car. When you use the Gold Key Plus or the Smartbuy you actually just extend the time on the lease if you keep it at the end of term. If you pay 400.00 a month and you owe 15,000.00 just do the math by dividing 15,000 by 400 to see how many months you will extend the loan past the original lease. If you don't put a lot of money down and you use a plus or smartbuy and you want to trade every two or three years then that might be the way to go. Alway have the dealer check the buy against the lease apples to apples to see which would be best and don't pay extra money to lease anything because that money just goes in someones pocket and not in your car.

Answer 3

It’s all a numbers game. The best way to which is best for your situation is to calculate the total annual cost of both the lease and purchase and compare the two numbers. Since operating expenses such as gas and maintenance will be the same, you need to calculate the total cost of ownership by estimating depreciation ( is useful for this) and interest expenses over the total life of the vehicle and divide that by the number of years of ownership. Next for the lease, estimate the total number of miles in excess of the annual allowance (usually about 12,000 or so), and add this into the total annual lease payments. Generally, you are better off buying if you can keep a car for a longer time, want a car the has a relatively high resale value, or drive many miles per year. One possible long term suggestion: after the car is paid off continue to deposit an amount equal to the car payment in an interest bearing account and you will be better positioned to pay cash for the next one and save the considerable interest costs. Since owning a car is almost always an expense rather than an investment, so you just need to get the lowest long term cost of the various options. Good luck.

Answer 4

unless you are leasing for a business it is a bad idea. You pay for everything then at the end of the lease you give the car back and the lease company turns around and sells the car for an additional profit and you are left with nothing. leases are for businesses as they are a tax write off. For the individual...unless you are indepently wealthy it's a bad investment...or should I say it's not an investment. In most cases you are responsible for insurance...maintenance and everything that comes with just owning a car. Plus you have an up front fee which in most cases is expensive. Just use that money for a down payment and own the car that's the best idea.

Answer 5

Never lease a car.... you are basically renting a car by contract... and when there's contracts, they don't usually benefit the consumer. Buy a good used car and you have an investment as well as good transport. It will always cost you money to own a car, but at least you can get some kind of return when you sell something you own rather then end a contract with something you don't.

A bus pass is always an option! Best to you!!

Answer 6

If you lease a car its better if you only keep it for 3 yrs or less but there is a lot of extra spending like every year you have be under 15,000 miles and if you pay a car you can keep in in the long run

Answer 7

It's only better for the car companies. They get to charge you all this money on the lease and when it's over, they still own (and can sell) the car. It's like they have their cake and eat it too.
It's supposedly good for large companies who own a lot of cars, because of maintenance and depreciation, but I don't see how.

Answer 8

Renting anything long term is never a good idea. The longer you'll be using it, the more renting costs vs owning. If that weren't the case, no one would rent to you. That's because somebody has to buy the item (car, house, etc) and that person or company is going to want to make a profit from renting it to you.