From: Julia Thompson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> On Tue, 25 Nov 2003, Jon Gabriel wrote:
> Out of curiosity, has anyone an opinion on which is a better option: > leasing or buying a car?
Buying, taking very good care of it, and replacing it no sooner than 8 years after the original purchase, unless your job requires you use your personal vehicle for entertaining clients or something.
I second this advice. If your choice is between buying or leasing a *new* car, your best deal is to buy a good one you'll be happy with (so you're not as tempted to trade it in), and drive it into the ground over the next 10 years.
If you're not willing/able to keep the car that long, then in some cases, you can make out better with a lease. Typically, I think the shorter you plan to hold on to the car, the more sense a lease makes. Also, though, things like the car's predicted future resale value factor in to the lease costs, so cars with better resale might have better value leases, though I've heard sometime manufacturers also will essentially subsidize leases by inflating the predicted resale to make the lease more affordable, for less popular cars (or those with bad resale value).
There's a potentially lot of complexity with leases, compared to buying, and some leases can contain provisions that can cost you $$$$ on the back end if you aren't careful. (ex: I've heard of leases with a provision that if your car isn't actually worth its predicted resale value at the end of the lease, they can charge you the difference.) If you go the lease route, definitely take the time to read up on the ins and outs of them first so you don't get screwed.
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