Advice for a Texas to Louisiana courier

I live in Houston, Texas and I have a courier job taking medication to Jennings, Louisiana 3-4 times a week and other smaller jobs mostly around the Houston area. 5440-6960 miles a month. I was wondering if leasing is a viable option for me. I’ll have 5000 to spend by mid October. If more info is needed for advice just let me know. I just need a car that’s good on gas, has good leg room since I’m tall and is comfortable since I spend 6 hours a day driving sometimes more.
Or should I just buy a cash car and call it a day?

Leasing doesn’t work when you drive 80k miles a year.

You’d be putting a ton of money for maintenance into something that you don’t actually own. and then at the lease end you would have to pay an absurd amount in overage charges (tens of thousands of dollars) or just buy the car outright. In which case you should buy it at the beginning.

Purchasing a reliable car with a long warranty is probably your best bet. Or look into other options for your courier trips, such as Amtrack or car rental and lease a car to use in town.

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Leasing won’t work at 70K miles/year. Best to pay cash on an inexpensive, reliable, efficient, and comfy car and drive it to the ground.

Perhaps you can find a Camry for under $20K out-the-door.

Buy a diesel with 6500 GVW, register in the name of a business or dba and depreciate it as a business expense. Diesel truck can get 30 mpg and depreciated at 25% a year. Eg Purchase Ram 1500 ecodiesel for 35000 (20% off MSRP). Take 8k depreciation every year for cost of truck against business income. Consult tax preparer/accountant for more details.

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Can’t he do the standard mileage deduction? I think it’s 54 cents a mile this year. If he does 70,000 miles a year, that’s a $37,800 deduction, right?

Correct Michael. Depends on setup of business. If he wants complete arms length transaction, he can go with option 1. Otherwise standard mileage. There are pros and cons to either. Dont forget in business owned truck he can deduct every single expense incurred for truck such as gas, maintenance, taxes, dealer fees etc etc

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Tesla with free supercharging would be great for this! :grin:

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