High Mileage Lease - Does it make Sense?

Ask the Hackrs
1

Hi Guys,

I drive about 22k miles a year, does it make sense for me to lease a car with a higher mileage allowance? I’m thinking it then kills the lease.

If so, please advise a car to lease.

Thanks!!!

2

It only make sense for a vehicles with hot lease deals if you plan to keep the vehicle after the lease terms finish. Some vendors have more incentive (i.e lease cash) for lease compared with purchase. Such an incentive can cover lease acquisition fee and interest. Therefore you will take advantage of lease benefits while you are planning to purchase at the end of the day.

If you plan to return the car you will be in a big trouble specially if you lease a luxury car. They charge you 25cent per extra mile that is about $5250 for a three year lease if you sign for 15k and drive 22k miles per year.

If you plan to trade in the car then you will play with some risk since it is hard to predict market value of the car three years down the road and more likely you will wind up with negative equity in the trade in.

So short answer is yes it make sense only for those hot lease deals posted here if you plan too keep the car after lease terms finish.

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3

Does not make sense to lease. Look at purchase and negotiate a great deal.

4

Cars depreciation much faster at higher milage. Find a crazy deal and just buy the milage you will be much better off at end of lease.

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5

This is good advice but you have to do your homework ahead of time and know your options to buy those miles. I know Bmw discounts the miles if you buy them before lease turn in (3 months at least I think). It also makes more sense for expensive cars. If you have an 80k car and pay .25 per mile over that’s a much smaller percentage than if you have a 25k car and pay the same .25 per mile. Buy or lease either way you are hurting the value of your car after 3 years. You just need to figure out which way hurts you less.

6

Don’t forget warranty coverage and maintenance costs which can vary widely across brands.

The longest bumper-to-bumper warranty I know of is Hyundai and Kia (5yr/60k). I don’t know of any that would cover you until the 66k you intend to drive.

You can buy additional coverage, and the more expensive the car the more expensive that’s likely to be (generally speaking). Or put the money aside and pay out of pocket as necessary.

Some CPO programs are unlimited mileage (Mercedes until the car is 5 yrs old and Infiniti until 6), that might be another option.

7

Thanks for the advice, much appreciated.

8

i’d get a 15k mi lease which are still reasonable to do and get a beater car on the side. If you purchase a new one and put that many miles on it you are just throwing money away because you will depreciate that car so fast.

9

By the milage I do many 18k to 20k leases. Why buy a beater and pay insurance if you can drive the new car.

10

anything above 15000 mi on a lease gets exponentially more expensive. You can get a beater and pay very little for insurance and its still worth it over purchasing a new vehicle and taking the depreciation hit.