Lease or Buy used?

Ask the Hackrs
1

Currently my wife and I lease a SRX and a Genesis. Combined payments are $900 a month. We are thinking about simplifying our lives and focusing on saving for an early retirement. I have bought or leased over 25 vehicles in the last 25 years of driving. I think driving less expensive vehicles will be a large part of my cutting costs and eventually having no car payments or mortgage.

I am debating a short term and a long term strategy bearing in mind my situation. I like to switch cars often so that is probably the most difficult part of this for me. Plus being used to luxury cars and then going to something “normal” will not be easy. :smile:

So the question is do I lease something super cheap, buy used and pay off or buy new @ 0% and pay off?

I am thinking that a super low price lease will allow us to not pay for things like tires and breakdowns, but I gain zero equity.

If I build equity I could end up with no car payment but eventually maintenance costs.

If I buy used I would get something that has bad resale value that can get me a lot of car for the money. IE: used Chrysler 300, Nissan Maxima, Kia Cadenza all lose 35% or so of original value in one year and can be bought used still under warranty with 20K miles for well under $20,000.

If I get those used cars is it better to pay cash or finance at a low rate?

2

I’ve done the math on a spreadsheet and my opinion is if you can and are willing to drive a vehicle at less than 200 per month for a zero down lease, it makes more financial sense to do that than to buy a new or used vehicle for 20,000 and keep it for ten years. Of course everybody’s situation is different but that works for me driving less than 15,000 miles per year.

We are considering buying a used Chrysler 200 for about 15,000 and getting the Chrysler max care lifetime warranty since she may be driving more than that soon. Awd and 295 hp and most all advanced safety features for a nice low price.

3

I have been looking at a 200 as well. You can get the 200c AWD loaded for like $15k with under 20,000 miles.

4

Kia Kadenza is another contender.

5

Before you buy a 200, consider this

1 Like
6

New
Finance at 0%
Borrow max amount …Honda is 140% iirc

7

It’s about relative value. I looked at CPO Hyundai Sonatas and thought they were a great value. Then I noticed brand new 2017s were not much more.

8

I drove a 200c today. I understand what the article is talking about. It has all of the ingredients of a great vehicle but can’t really pull it off.

9

Do you think 0% can overcome getting a used car after it has taken the bulk of depreciation hit?

10

IMO, no. Unless you’re looking at a highly, highly discounted car that’s already taken much of the depreciation hit. Buy a new Hyundai or Kia with the long warranty and the overall cost will almost certainly be less than three consecutive leases.

11

There’s a guide out there for 5k cars created by 4chan (don’t go there if you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into).

1 Like