Buying vs Lease

[mommax3]

I'm with the majority. We buy late model used, pay cash if we can (and pay off the loan ASAP if we can't) and drive them into the ground.

[SuzySunshine]

We bought two new cars as we finished medical school. We were moving from a high cost of living area to a much lower one, DH was still driving the car he had bought when he was 16 and I wanted something with more space. We thought about leasing DH's car but decided to buy both of them and 7 years later they are both still doing great. I'm glad we bought new when we did because they are now paid off and we will be able to drive them through fellowship and a year or two of attendinghood without worrying about major issues. DH"s still only has about 55,000 miles on it.

I would normally say to buy as well but I think it depends on what you're going to buy, what the usual maintenance is, whether that is included and what your overall cost will be.

I would buy rather then lease. My parents leased a car and they said it was horrible. It was like renting a car and throwing your money down the drain. From their experience at least when you buy you can sell the thing and put that money towards another car. When you lease the money is gone and there is nothing to put down on another. We paying car payments on our car and it has not been too bad. In a couple of months we can pay off the car and our car insurance will go down. I heard that when you lease your insurance cost more.

[diggitydot]

Be careful if you're looking for Japanese cars. Supply is VERY screwy since the earthquakes and resulting tsunami and nuclear meltdowns. I used to work for Daimler North America and still have friends in the industry who talk about the difficulty sourcing materials from Japan.

[Vishenka69]

I think it really depends on the situation. Out of three cars we had, we bought one used, one new and leased another one. I liked the ease of the lease, we got a good deal. We knew that at some point we'd need a bigger car but it'd be a waste to get one at that point, so leasing for 3 years was optimal. We now own a German SUV that we'll keep at least until the warranty runs out (5 years) and may be a bit more and a ten year old Corolla that DH plans to run into the ground. My only problem with leasing was mileage. The distances here are pretty long and we go to NY/NJ a lot, so we were running over our allowance.

[DCJenn]

My husband leased when we met and is such an airhead that he had NO idea what the mileage requirements were (AFTER two across the country trips!) The only thing that saved him was that he parked it at his mothers while he did his medical school rotation in Hawaii. Otherwise, I have no doubt he'd have owed the max.

We've always bought since and some of them we should have leased. Now we have a 2006 Audi A3 (the little wagon) that my husband treats as a bumper car so he's not getting a new car any time soon and I have a 2007 Toyota Yaris that on my most recent roadtrip to the neighbor's wedding got 37 miles to the gallon so- that one isn't going anywhere soon, either. Both are paid off. I love new cars but I hate new car payments and I have lots more fun stuff to spend cash on.

Jenn