Wondering if people here with more knowledge can help me out. I am currently leasing 3 cars. Enjoy driving all 3 of them but now I am looking to finance a bigger car (odyssey etc) or a smaller car (altima etc) for the frequent loner trips an hour away or so.
Could need a bigger car for the growing family for trips we make together to relatives out of state and I could put extra miles on the smaller car when going out of state for business purposes.
Are there any cars you would recommend that would be good to finance at this time? Till end of May?
I know certain manufacturers like Honda are better to purchase so looking for that type of guidance if people have went out and purchased certain cars in those categories (bigger minivan and smaller sedan) recently?
is Turo cheap at all since they are renting out very used cars? I’d rather rent a van for a weekend once in a while, than have one all the time in my driveway or worse, daily drive it empty.
So I know that everyone has individual/unique circumstances, so what I am about to say may or may not apply to you. I joined this site after having had 2 leases, a Hyundai Sante Fe for my wife (we got taken to the cleaners on price for that one). Then a Hyundai genesis for me (we did a LOT better.
In the end after looking around a LOT, I decided to BUY a Honda clarity plug in hybrid. Why??
Well, I get free electric charging at work. I get the So Cal car pool sticker for $20, and we get $9,500 in rebates which I have now already received. That brought the price of the touring model down from it’s $36,000 to an effective $26,500.
I think for that money, I have a lot of car. Also, the car does around 46 miles per charge… less if you really put your foot down doing a lot of highway driving, but for me, I get to go from work to my home and back again (approx 40 miles round trip) completely free for my 4 trips a week. This means that almost all of my driving is free. It has worked out that in 6 months of driving, including longer trips to San Diego etc, I am averaging over 190 MPG after having done 5,800 miles.
So for me, it has worked out great, but my situation and yours may be different.
One final thing to think of… I got a $1,500 discount on my purchase… the car had been out for a week at that time… as time goes on I am sure dealers would do better deals. Also, I chose to finance the complete amount… because Honda finance were doing 5 yrs at 1.89%. I could have used funds I had for $9,500 worth of a deposit to reduce my payment (knowing I would get that money back when my rebates come), but at that rate, I was happy to finance the lot. I can make more than 1.9% return on my money elsewhere, so anytime I can borrow money at that rate I will, because I can have it work for me.
Hope that all makes sense and helps.
All the best,
Alan
Handful of vehicles do rise to the top when considering Purchasing over leasing. Honda Pilot would be at the top of that list in my opinion. 4-Runner, CRV, Wrangler, odyssey, and Highlander not far behind. All of which typically don’t lease well, but have outstanding, top of the range resale value. Perfect formula for Purchasing over leasing. Though the debate could be made for leasing a similar class vehicle that does lease well, and the numbers would work out surprisingly similar, (or much better), depending on miles.
you also have to consider how long you are willing to stay with the car.
I personally also consider financing at 0 apr sometimes, considering my job is close and I put on 3.5k miles per year. That means after 20 years my car will only have 70k miles…if I am willing to stay with a car that long it would make most sense for me to buy a new car at 0 apr.
I would literally have almost 0 maintenance except for oil change, after 20 years.
I have worked out the numbers many times.
Even keeping the vehicle for 10 years versus a lease, I would still save me 70 dollars a month from the monthly lease, not including any equity the vehicle will have after 10 years.
Honestly having trouble deciding for myself. with equity counted, you could basically drive a brand new vehicle for $150 more per month every 2-3 years, compared to a 10 year old vehicle, for that 10 year period
I think it depends on the type of vehicle and the deal they are offering. If you live in a state like CA, one big thing to watch out for is that they don’t give you sales tax credit when you trade in a car. If you tend to flip cars before 5 years, it might work against you due to it. On the other hand, you have companies like Mercedes that does $995 acquisition and $595 disposal fee. That’s like a mandatory $1600 down the drain on the lease total cost. I think you have to run the numbers to see which one makes sense. If I am buying a Toyota or Honda van, I would say just buy it as nothing can beat them as a family hauler. You will put 150K miles on it and drive it into the ground, the next family will buy it for $5K and put another 100K after they bring it back to life.
40K amortized over 10 years, that’s only like $4K a year.
2017 prius prime if you can find one and qualify for $5k customer cash + fed $4.5 + state + discount + other rebate. Probably will be around $15k after all discount on a $27k msrp Not bad for a phev.
Parts wear out, based on age too. I wouldn’t trust a 20 year old suspension to be nearly as good as a new one. Local miles are also harder on a car than highway. I wouldn’t bet on this being a reality. Tires, belts, hoses, fuel/air filters…the list goes on.
Don’t forget about the rest of the fluids in the car too. You surely aren’t getting 20 years out of any of them. Remind me to never buy a used car off of you.
You are absolutely right about all those things. however expensive repairs should not occur for a long time. suspension would probably be the most expensive based on time/mileage, since environmental conditions will affect it, despite it being low mileage or not (especially in NE).
I believe suburban and tahoe has 0% for 72 months going on right now, Yukon and Yukon XL are discounted heavily, at least in Houston area. Ram 1500 is another good option if you like truck. Almost all non-luxury sedans are OK to great on financing. For example, Fusion Hybrid has 0% for 72 months, if you don’t mind the trunk is smaller than non-hybrid sedans.
