Dude, i know you did…but do you really think that is representative for the car market? There are a few brands that you have better odds to pull this off with but you need some luck to do it.
Two questions related to lease vs own for knowledgeable folks on this forum.
1- If you leave don’t you have significantly higher car insurance costs, as i believe new cars(especially luxury) have higher insurance premiums.
2- For small damages (scratches, minor dents), i find that some of the folks would be fine to leave them like that if they own the car. For the leased car it is mandatory to have them repaired.
Are these 2 points also some of the negatives in deciding between lease vs own.
Thanks,
Trips
Are you asking if insurance rates are higher leasing a car vs financing the same car or if insurance rates are higher on a new car vs an older car?
The captive generally provides guidelines as to what is acceptable wear and tear at lease end. It is not mandatory to repair any of these, but if they exceed the wear and tear guidelines of the captive and you didn’t purchase extra coverage, yes, you’ll be paying for them.
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Leasing a new car every 24 or 36 months vs buying a car and keeping it for say 5-6 years. Just trying to gauge if people also consider how much more they are paying in insurance costs when it comes to buying vs leasing evaluation.
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You’re not comparing buying vs leasing, you’re comparing having a new car every 2-3 years vs 5-6 years. These are two different things.
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I don’t think it’s that unusual to come out way ahead financially by buying, maintaining and keeping a vehicle compared to serially leasing new ones.
We bought our 2008 RX350 about 5 years ago for around $18,000. It’s probably worth $12,000 if we did a private party sale. Perhaps a bit more.
That’s also ~$100 a month. We’ve put wiper blades on once and replaced one tire ($150 total – previous owner had TERRIBLE taste in tires).
Now it needs struts and a complete set of tires, which will run ~$2,200. $6,000 in depreciation + $2,350 in repairs/tires = $8,350 / 60 months = $139.17 / month. Plus maintenance.
The insurance rates on these older vehicles save more than the cost of maintenance compared to new.
EDIT: Oops, I forgot about the new battery. Add another $100.
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So wait, no new breaks in 5 years?
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No. We don’t put on a ton of miles.
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Are you driving 3,000 miles a year on that Lexus?
3-5,000 a year, depending on the year.
There isn’t a leasing programs to offer you that:)
Need to wait a year or two for majors to start offering 5k leases to compare:)
If we drove 2x the miles that we actually put on each of our cars, our costs likely wouldn’t double, but let’s double them anyway and then compare them to 10k leases.
That would give us a budget of $200/month for a series of Prius leases, or <$300/month for an eternal string of new RX350s.
You cannot compare with folks budgeting and buying used cars and keeping them forever just to get from point A to B.
I like the fast and loose math here 
The best part is “likely” with used cars. Maybe my alternator won’t give out, maybe it will. May be starter won’t maybe will. 5 years and double mileage you get to 50k driven in addition to what was already on the odo at the time of purchase.
Yes, you may be lucky to have a car that would last till 200k without major issues. Or maybe you won’t
I personally rather not have to bet on whether I get to work today or not or my wife gets stuck with kids somewhere. It still may happen - lemons still exist - but my perception is it’s less likely to happen with a new car.
There are other advantages to leasing, but cost - for us - isn’t one of them. Q.E.D.
Everything in life is a trade-off. In exchange for dramatically lower ownership costs I accept some potential inconvenience. And I’m not buying/holding Range Rovers or Maseratis. Or BMWs.
If your wife is going to get stuck somewhere in a vehicle it’s most likely going to be a dead battery or a flat tire, and that’s why the good lord gave us mobile phones and roadside assistance.
This is exactly why the ‘used car’ rationale is completely dependent on A) the vehicle in question and B) the person in question.
The cost of operating a used CL600 by a person who has no mechanical ability is completely different than the cost of owning a used Accord by someone who has a garage full of tools (
)
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Dont forget the dash cracking issue that will eventually effect all those dashboards if you missed replacing it on the recall years back. And the fact that it has a 2GR-FE engine. Which is notorious for getting timing cover leaks over time. And they cost 2k to fix because a engine drop is needed.
Owning a older car is a ticking time bomb, period. Especially with all the tech getting added in these days. Not even Toyota/Lexus is immune from this. How do I know about the oil leak above? Because I had it happen. If everything goes just right, buying and owning 10 years is clearly the best financial option. But things rarely go just right. And sometimes decisions arent made just based on the money difference alone.
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I understand and acknowledge the trade-offs, but keep some perspective.
A $2,000 repair is the equivalent of just four $500 lease payments.
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Any real used car owner would fix a slow oil leak by investing in cardboard to park on top of.
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