That would be a better option than leasing.
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Comprehensive without collision is pretty cheap.
I pay like ~$10 extra a month for comprehensive (not collision) on my 01 Toyota.
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Don’t lease. Buy a ~5-10K reliable Toyota and have it checked out by an honest mechanic before.
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Need cheapest lease for poor student who will be doing meaningful research to save lives
I need the cheapest lease for poor student son who will be doing nothing meaningful while saving no lives.
Would that be a different car and lease?
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He can walk.
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IMHO, buying a used Japanese compact car is the right move 99% of the time. Just not here.
Yes anything can happen in a career but would you tell a doctor doing their residency to take multiple days off work to do their due diligence to buy a used car correctly and then have a less reliable vehicle? It’s totally an opinion question but I would say their time now is worth more than the possible financial hit later.
If this was a person who had any sort of automotive ownership experience and lived anywhere other than NYC (where looking at cars is going to take longer/be more expensive) maybe the answer is different. But between the likelihood of her making a poor choice when looking at 10 year old cars with 100k miles on them, the time and money she would have to spend shopping for them and then the chances of her losing more time/getting taken advantage of when the car needs service I don’t think the likely financial savings is worth the non-financial costs.
But again it’s all an opinion question.
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You forgot to mention the amount due at signing. That could range anywhere from $5k+. So maybe not the best option for someone only making $35k a year.
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Nah, NJ residents get a $4k POS incentive which covers most of the DAS. No sales tax either on EV’s.
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OP’s friend is currently not a NJ resident, though.
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Oh stop lol, she’s moving to NJ and will eventually get a place there which means she’ll also have a NJ D/L . She’ll be eligible .
Edit: but with her income nearing close to the poverty line, she should invest in a monthly bus pass LoL.
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It’s a total lease cost of $13,600 for 36 months in NJ on the m3 rwd plus the free charging he mentioned.
OP should just list her budget because I don’t know what else is close to that amount with a 45k msrp.
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I think we’ve also had conflict among us as to what the primary goal is here. Maybe I had overlooked it, but what exactly is the primary goal here?
-Are we looking to drive the nicest, newest, car with the lowest TCO? (Even if it potentially means returning a lease, $0 is returned & you start from scratch a 2nd time)
OR
-Are we looking for a vehicle that would likely be the better investment over a 2-3 year span? (You would/should have some sort of equity to trade or sell at the end)
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All the people recommending Tesla, the insurance will destroy her.
NTM the excess wear/tear from parking in a student lot or on the street.
And hope it doesn’t get keyed.
And hope an inexperienced driver doesn’t spin out in the snow in a torque-y RWD car (for a PhD student with no place to store a second set of tires for winter).
Speaking of, hope the advisor and fellow students don’t judge you too harshly for showing up in a brand new Tesla while they all drive beaters.
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Maybe worry about housing first? Find a place on or near campus. Rely on ride share for short trips, errands, etc.
If it doesn’t work out, re-evaluate once she’s situated. I don’t think she needs to rush into a car just because she’s moving to suburban NJ.
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The additional cost of a lease could provide a steady higher expense but peace of mind for unexpected repairs. The difficulty of finding a good used car can be time consuming and or require a few pre purchase inspections. Even the old man down the blocks car could have neglected maintenance or 5+ year old tires with a bit of rot. However that I come level I too agree with bus pass possibly and carpooling. Also how many years is the program?
While a ten year old car has airbags etc, there are better safety systems in newer cars, so there’s that to consider for a new driver in a part of the country that has seasonal drivability issues
Meh.
Keep your eyes on the road, and not on your phone are you’ll be fine, especially in a Crown Vic.
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We had a few Crown Vic’s in the family back in the 90’s when I started driving. They were great cars and cheap to buy/repair as old police units or taxi/livery cars
I remember I hydro plained in one on the belt parkway and ended up into a divider in Brooklyn. No bad damage or anything, just a scrape and dent on the quarter panel.
Parked it in the garage thinking my old man wouldn’t see it until the next day he did and I got a slap to the back of my head.
$500 later it was fixed and painted . Good as new
Thank god I have the means to drive a nicer car nowadays but wouldn’t hesitate to get another if I was in the poor house and needed a vehicle.
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A crown Vic is probably stronger then 90percent of cars on the road today.
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