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Leasing vs. Purchasing

517 messages, Last post on Sep 17, 2009 at 12:47 PM
You are in the Smart Shopper Forum. Your Hosts are kirstie_h & tidester
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Replying to: qbrozen (Jul 09, 2009 12:59 pm) personally, unless the Rav4 is a complete lemon, i would stick with what you have. buy a can of "new car" spray to get you by. |
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Hello. I've been reading a lot of posts about leasing vs purchasing, but still don't decide what is best for us. I'm married with no kids so it's only the two of us. We have a 2004 Mitsu Outlander 2004 xls and are making monthly payments of $300. We are still 53 monthly payments away from paying it in full. The car is still good but it's begining to have it's problems with the suspension and the obvious wear and tear. We bought it used, 2 years ago with 43000K and now it's 57000K, we drive in town, never out-of-state or long trips, just to go to work which is a daily commute of less than 7miles. I'm worried because it was a big mistake to make a 72 month commitment for a used car. i got a lemon warranty on this too. This car depresses too quickly and I would like to have a vehicle with better gas mileage, and not to deal with a lot of maintenance, as I can barely pay the monthly payments. I'm just trying to live withing my means and lower my bills. I would like to know what is better for me in the long term. Sorry for the long post, I will appreciate any advice, thanks.
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Replying to: virosario (Jul 19, 2009 11:16 am) If you had to go 72 months, maybe it would have been better to find a car that you could afford with a shorter term. Having said that, its tought to geta decent car for $300/mo. That corresponds to $15,000 financed for 5 yrs. Right now, there just aren't many leases running less than $300/mo without some significant up front money. You probably have a very firm grip on your car,so trading is probably out of the question. Besides, its hard to come up with a crossover that gets better mileage than an Outlander. Hoepfully, you can just drive your car for another 4 yrs,do the maintenance and be ok. |
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Replying to: virosario (Jul 19, 2009 11:16 am) tidester, host SUVs and Smart Shopper |
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I recently went to a dealer for quotes on the 2009 CTS. The 48 month lease (12,000 mi/year) quote was $540/month and the financing quote (0% for 72 months) to purchase car was $550/month. No money down for either quotes. I've always leased my cars for no more than 39 months. So, is 48 months too long to lease a car (i.e. is it worth it)? Since I've never financed a car for purchase before, is 72 months too long of a time period to finance? HELP!
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Replying to: ctsfan (Sep 16, 2009 10:57 pm) On the lease - be aware that it is difficult to impossible to get out of a lease once you're in it, without HUGE financial penalties. If you go the leasing route, you need to be sure that the 12,000 mile/year limit and the vehicle will suit your lifestyle for 4 years. Think about the future - any possibility of moving? is your job stable? On the purchase - 72 months is also a long time. If you are used to changing vehicles every 3.5 years, 6 years may seem like an eternity. Since you're putting no money down, you are going to be upside-down on loan-to-value for a long time, meaning the vehicle will be worth less than you owe on it for the majority of the loan payment period. This means that if you don't like it or want to trade it in, you may not be able to do so (without significant negative financial implications) for about 5 years. There isn't a one-size-fits-all decision here. You just need to be aware of the financial facts - if you look at them and think, "yeah, I can live with that," and you love the vehicle and can comfortably afford the payment, then it's reasonable for you to get the vehicle.
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Replying to: kirstie_h (Sep 17, 2009 6:15 am) |
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well, given these facts, the purchase seems to be a better idea. Usually a lease is going to be significantly cheaper monthly. $10 doesn't seem to qualify! Look at it this way. For $480 total over 4 years, you can effectivley "buy" a 4 YO CTS for $550/mo for 2 years. look at it the other way, if you keep it 4 years, you will owe. $13,200 o nit. Do you think it will be worth at least that much at that piont? Is that less than the lease buy out price (which is what the leasing company is "betting" it will be worth at that point). Hard to tell with 0% financing when you will cease to be upside down in the loan, but as Kirstie noted, getting out of a lease is nasty. If you want to trade the Caddy in after say 3 years, piece of cake. |
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Replying to: ctsfan (Sep 16, 2009 10:57 pm) |
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