I am looking for some general advice and maybe some specific. I have a family member who has a daughter that needs a car for about a year. They are in high school and will not need it when they go to college next fall if the car gets purchased now it will likely just sit around and not be used after next fall. What do you guys recommend as the most pragmatic way to handle this? Is it to buy a used car? Are there one year leases? I looked around for one year leases, and I just found some etrons and Porsches. neither of those I think would make sense for a first time driver, I looked at some deals for two-year leases, and I think I just found blazers.
Do you guys have any suggestions for a one year lease or some thing cheap to buy that is easier to resell or something else altogether. The budget is Less than 28,000 But ideally much less than that as it might be a throwaway car. Also, it should be a safe car. Thanks!
Iâd just spend $20k on a decent reliable used Honda or Toyota, let her drive it for a year, then turn around and sell it for $19k when she goes to college.
Yea. I would consider that but the family that would own this would likely just let it sit and so leasing is preferable. That said which Honda or Toyota would you recommend?
Owning it would create a lot more impetus to sell it, rather than let it sit knowing the clock on the lease will eventually run out.
Itâs never been easier to sell a car â private parties are happy to finally find a fairly priced car or just sell it to Car_max/vana/shop. It literally cannot get any easier than that.
But honestly trying to help someone this impractical sounds like a nightmare. BTDT
From a pure dollars and cents perspective they could buy one of the used Hondas or Toyotas mentioned above, let it sit for 2 or 3 years after she goes to college, wake up one day and sell it, and still come out ahead compared to leasing.
Outside of some niche cases one year leases are not really a thing (some EVâs, some CPO Porsches, a Frontier every now and then, etc).
Since it is a âdaughter of a friendâ the best recommendation that I can give is go to SwapALease, get a 12-13month car in your state (So no shipping charges) and ride it out and return.
Find a 2002-2006 Camry or Lexus ES300/330, preferably the 4 cyl camry (timing chain) vs V6 (timing belt). You should be able to get a 100k miles for $4-7k. It will still sell around that much a year later.
Thanks for all the advice guys. I think going with a slightly used corolla might be the way to go. That way she doesnt need to deal with the initial depreciation hit, but still have some kind of warranty. Then after next year, just drop it off to carmax or GMTV, etc.
What would you recommend for the SUV equivalent of the corolla? the HRV? and whatâs a COOL looking version of this corolla SUV? lol. teens.
Yea, I think that would get shot down in the ânot coolâ enough bucket. Maybe if that were 10 years newer, it would be ok. I just looked at some of the HRVâs from 2021, and even those are going for 22k, when the 2025âs are 30k (MSRP) new. thatâs nuts how well they hold the value over 4 years.
Lol tell your kid about the Kia Boys and how a Soul cannot be insured.
IMO at this point if you ignore the cool factor but want her in something newer/more reliable I think the Corolla sedan route makes sense. Autolenders seems to undercut CarMax by about $1k. Their Warranty seems pretty good too. But Iâm not from the East Coast so I donât know how slimey Autolenders is.
I think youâre now realizing that sub 3yr old used Toyotas and Hondas sound good in theory but thereâs never enough discount for them to make sense over a discounted brand new one.
I donât know what Ahmed says, my wife & sister in law had that car for years. When we sold it earlier this year, that camry only needs regular maintenance & alternator replacement. It was still using the original compressor & radiator. Drive like a boat but cheap to maintain & reliable.
Itâs really not my choice. If it were my kid, I would probably get them into a honda HRV, or maybe even a car, and if they want cool, I would dress it up with a cheap wrap, some upgrades wheels, etc.
Iâm just helping out a family member, and iâm at their mercy on what they think is âcoolâ. apparently, they have an aversion to corollas (dont know why). and they thought the HRV was ânot coolâ.
I mean a 1 year porsche macan lease for 500$ a month might be worth it for them, but that would ruin the kid for a while because she certainly will not be getting one of those after the bank of mom and dad are gone after college.
B/c they are like the most cars on the planet. Which is why for busy, âregularâ adults w/ a relatively limited budget, they are great. But for a young adultâŚ
Surprised they donât think a HR-V is kind of cool.
But agree that a new base Corolla/Civic/etc. that is inexpensive to maintain and historically has high resale value is a good idea.
