Is it reasonable to buy a lease for cash?

I have cash for it and don’t want to pay implied interest. Don’t want to keep the car more than 3 years or pay for whole car. Are there ways to calculate the price? Does it also depend on credit rating?

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Many banks offer one-pay leases that typically reduce the MF (interest) you would pay. But you still pay some interest.

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You are better off buying a used vehicle for cash if saving interest is your goal.

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Find a lease with zero MF (well technically.00001)

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If you don’t pay interest on the lease, the GM may call you to resign and threaten to have you arrested. :slightly_smiling_face:

Seriously, there are ways to reduce it, but you can’t eliminate it. They are going to charge you for the use of the funds/asset.

I am not concerned about absolutely not paying any interest. It is just I have plenty of cash, but my credit isn’t all that good. So it doesn’t make sense to pay thousands in interest. I will probably just put a lot down (due at signing), but I am considering a prepaid lease or buying the car for cash.

I’m not sure what you mean by “a lot,” but, in the unlikely event you total the car, you will lose your down payment.

I recall, and my memory may be fuzzy here, leasing a Prius about 10-15 years ago in LA…the total rent (or interest) for the three year lease was something crazy like $14.00. It may have been $140, but either way…free money essentially.

My interest on my December 2026 Tesla 3 lease is only about 1.75% which is nice…but doesn’t make me whole from the massive depreciation on my 2022 Tesla purchase!

Approval terms for leases can be stricter than for auto loans, so depending on the type and number of credit issues, lease approval could be a major obstacle (even for a single-payment lease – you’re still in possession of their asset, which is the entire car).

Note that some brands have looser credit requirements than others, with the MF often tracking the risk level.

If you choose not to / can’t lease, consider taking out a car loan for some portion of the purchase price anyway, even at a high interest rate.

Auto-enhanced FICO scores are commonly used to decision and price auto finance transactions, and they weigh your performance on installment loans (especially automotive accounts) more heavily than other score models for obvious reasons.

In the future having an auto finance trade line with a perfect payment history will help your approval odds and/or get you better loan/lease finance rates.

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Roughly what kinda credit score are we talking?

I didn’t want to start a new thread so I’m replying here with a question.

Deep breath as I wait for the inevitable burns rof

I purchased a brand new model S for cash and obviously took a major bath and started to look into leasing as a way to ameliorate the depreciation on EVs.

my issue is I have been reading leases need car payment history and I have none. I’ve always purchased cars for cash and had them a long time.

I want to purchase an Escalade iql and I could afford to do so in cash but I’m pretty worried about the depreciation.

any advice?

You can lease a car without a thick auto file but the interest rate will be higher … well most cars…

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Yeah and at what point does it outweigh the negative depreciation? My backup plan is just to go get a gas car for cash which I really don’t wanna do.

Most cases it’s never wise to put Neg equity into a lease. (There’s a Volvo → Volvo exception but that’s not you)

Before Sept there was a way as the Government was giving $7500 for free, but since that is gone, I don’t recommend doing that.

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Oh I don’t have anything to roll over. Maybe I’m misunderstanding you. I’ve always paid cash for cars. I’ve never even financed one.

Mortgage? Revolving lines of credit?

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With GM a one-pay lease will improve your chances of credit approval considerably, afaik.

As always negotiate a good lease

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Any negative depreciation on a lease is eaten by the Bank when you turn it in.

Unless you try to get rid of it early, and basically you owe all of the negative depreciation.

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What he said. Or put a very large downpayment on the lease.

With no auto history and a $120k+ plus sticker vehicle… :man_shrugging:t2:

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So at the risk of being the “oh no my steak is too juicy and my lobster is too buttery” person I own my home and business assets in full. The only reason I’m even considering a lease is because I found a car that is 99% of what I want and I know it’ll drop by half in a year or two. I have one no limit Amex plat I pay off every month and one other small limit credit card I never use and that’s all in my tradelines.