Why would I pay off my mortgage and student loans at 3% interest before leasing?
I agree with the credit card part, but buying used carries a lot of maintenance risk. One bad repair and you’ve basically paid a year of your lease. And for 95% of the population maxing out 401k isn’t possible before paying for transportation costs.
A $300/mo car lease for a $50k earner makes more sense then buying used in most scenarios. Especially if you want a fixed cost budget
This is simply not true. Spending 4k/yr on 50k pretax might be some of the worst advice. Some of you guys think cars are regularly eating up engines and transmissions at 38k miles just out of warranty. Buy a used optima with a 100k warranty for 10k and drive it for 5 years. Trying to justify a 300/mo lease is pure fantasy if you’re thinking just economics
There’s actually numbers you can look up and compare. I think these numbers are extremely conservative but even if you subtract fuel and insurance for ease of comparison you’re looking at only $358/mo including all maintenance, taxes, and fees on a very nice newer model Honda and extremely conservative numbers. Tough to find any lease to beat these numbers. Of course you’ll save on insurance too
Again, not a numbers guy, but, in your example, doesn’t the cost per month equal $629? So, in that case, wouldn’t it actually make more sense to lease for $300/mo?
I edited to make the numbers clearer. If you remove fuel and insurance it’s 358/mo all taxes, fees, maintenance, depreciation, etc included. Pretty tough to find any lease that can match that when you include everything and my experience is these numbers are very conservative (high estimates for maintenance repairs).
Also this is for a very nice Honda accord only 3 years old. Buy one 6 years old (still a nice car) and the cost drops to $279 all included except fuel and insurance but now you’d really be saving on insurance
But people are getting Accord LXs (not sure how that compares to the Sport since I’m too lazy to look it up) for $100 less per month…
Assuming the 4-cyl Sport is close to a base model, I don’t think $360/mo is difficult to beat at all for a mainstream mid-size sedan. I was getting quotes for a 2019 Camry LE (4-cyl) for ~$320/mo (incl tax) last year without trying too hard, and Camrys don’t have a rep of leasing very well. We’ve seen in the $200s/mo for Optimas and Sonatas fairly recently here, I think. And aren’t several posters writing about just under $400/mo for a base BMW 330i?
I think you’re right that when you get an amazing deal you can get close. These numbers I posted include all taxes, fees, maintenance, tires, brakes, etc. Leases quoted here usually don’t include that and they have origination and disposal fees as well. Plus higher insurance.
If you can find a good deal on a lease you can probably score a great deal on a used car (saving a couple grand). The numbers I posted are simply averages. I know people that drive accords for 7 years with nothing more than oil changes and maybe a timing belt
I drove a used car for over 275k miles and had very low maintenance costs over that period. My Mercedes lease required 2 services, tires, and brakes in 3 years and none of that was included in the lease
right, you just crapped at me for driving a Kia.
I said I don’t think Chevrolet is marketing the corvette to Kia drivers. That’s a fact
IMO purchasing only makes better financial sense if you intend to keep the car 8-10+ years. I personally have never had a car longer than 4 years and have made the mistake of buying new and financing only to get bored and trade the car in after a year. It’s a horrible financial mistake that most people do without thinking over and over again. For most of us, leasing is a much better financial decision.
I guess you’re right, I never received anything from Chevy advertising the Vette 
The point I’m trying to make is that $350/mo for a base Camcord is not an amazing deal. $350/mo is amazing for a BMW. It seems pretty standard for a base Camcord.
IMHO, you were lucky with your used car and unlucky w/ your MB. The point that other posters are trying to make is that, w/ a leased car, you have defined and fairly predictable expenses. With a used car, it’s a total crap shoot (although you obviously can move things more in your favor w/ a used car from a reliable brand and if you can do basic maintenance yourself).
So you can be out of debt before you die.
Then you can average one “bad repair” a year and break even, which is an unlikely frequency for a “bad repair” if you’ve purchased a vehicle with a strong history of reliability.
This is because of all of the money that they waste on everything else, like new phones, trips to Disney World, tattoos, NFL jerseys, surgery for 12-year-old cats, etc. And buying (or leasing) too much car.
It doesn’t make more sense for most scenarios if people buy reasonable cars with good long-term reliability.
A fixed budget comes at a cost. Like getting a pony for Christmas.
I got my 2017 volt for $279/mo with absolutely zero out of pocket(thanks to this site) .I fill up my gas tank once every two months. To me leasing is a no brainer if you can be under $300/mo. Even if over a ten year period you spend $2,000 more leasing over buying that is not enough money for me to deal with the unknowns that exists with owning a car that is several years old.
The math works in buying favor for most cars…the exception being low end evs in states with big post sale rebates…CA, CO…
I recently put MBI coverage (“extended warranty”) on my 2011 INFINITI. I bought the “Easy Street” coverage shown here: https://www.penfed.org/auto/extended-warranty
I bought this from PenFed for $1,495, but not before checking with my INFINITI dealer, who reported positive experiences with the company that underwrites the coverage (Route 66).
The plan covers 5 more years/100,000 total vehicle miles (car had 74,000 when I added the coverage), and it’s comprehensive (main exemption is the navigation system, which was optional coverage that I declined).
So I’m covered against most repairs for 5 years on a 9-year-old car for $24.92 a month.
Unlike the original plan I bought from INFINITI when the vehicle was new, this coverage has no deductible.
I lease cars in the 35-40k range. I figure it costs me about $1000 per year more to drive a new car.
Never having to go to a mechanic again, combined with safety features and tech make it a slam dunk.
And of course I get the new car smell.
depending on the deal you’re getting, that smell is either farts or plastics 
The repair costs on my 9-year-old used car are comparable to sales tax on a $300/month lease payment.
Plus I’m not making the lease payment.
And I’m paying insurance on a 9-year-old car.
And I have a fixed-cost budget.
My insurance actually went up on my last car in the final year I had it (7th yr)…
