Did you buy or lease, and why?

buy a used car for cash. That’s the best strategy. Not leasing.

 

I have a friend that has owned the same Acura for almost 15 yEars. He makes well over 200k.

He never leased a vehicle. Of course he owes nothing on the vehicle. He also paid off his house.

A few years ago he took an entire year off just because he could. Can an auto leasee do that?

 

This is probably the most ignorant post. Just because you lease doesn’t mean you don’t have money. Also just because you buy doesn’t necessarily mean you have money either. I bought my Tacoma and and an Audi, but I’ve also leased Audi’s and a Tesla. Sometimes you don’t want the long term commitment of a purchase or you lease as a business expense. Some people lease because they have extra money and just want an extra car for a few years.

 

I'm old school, never bought a vehicle unless i had the cash put away to afford it. Found i could always work a better price if paying in full by cash/check rather than payments or leasing. Some dealers will tell you it doesn't matter if in cash...they will say its the same for them getting it from the bank either way. I stay away from those guys.

 

That is your opinion, obviously. I have an emergency fund too. It's just invested because yes it may go down in a short term period, but it's more likely to go up over a reasonable period and is significantly unlikely to go to zero. Settlement is 2 days and cash earns next to nothing. But again we are both stating our opinions, neither of which is wrong.

 

I bought because I'm kind of a knuckle-head off road and I knew I was going to add aftermarket components and beat it up a bit. When you lease you have to consider the fees that come up at the end of your term.

My friends parents like to lease, as it keeps the payment low, they don't drive that much, are easy on their vehicles, don't permanently mod, and they like getting a new car every few years. They don't have to worry about depreciation, and problems that come with an aging vehicle. The dealer they used even would wave most of the fees if mileage was exceeded.

Depends on how you work the loan, I was having this conversation with a co-worker on her lease and then purchase, once we did the math (even including compounded interest) she ended up paying a few thousand dollars less than if she outright bought it. It allowed her to pay it off over 8 years instead of the traditional 5 keeping her payment lower

 

Paying cash isn't necessarily the smartest thing considering you can typically do better investing those funds than what you pay in interest on a loan.
As far as paying cash or paying off your home mortgage, the interest on such is one of the few tax write-offs you have these days.

 

I bought knowing I’m keeping my truck for a long time.

 

Yep, and get a new ride every 2 years.

 

Though short, a very good post. This guy knew his needs and spent his money according to his needs. That’s why there are options.

 

I bought. Wife has FB and found it on the marketplace. I thought it was wrecked the price was so low. 13 month old 2WD SR5, $24K. Turned out that an older gent bought it for his misfit son brand new and was toting a very hefty monthly payment. This older gentleman was actually living in a 5th wheel camper trailer just trying to make ends meet. His son (36 yrs. old) was trying to give the truck to his 16 year old son for his first vehicle and Grandpa said "yeah, NO".....

So here we are. I sold my super sweet 04' 4WD which a new frame (thanks Toyota) and $5K worth of "stuff" installed. I paid off half of my new loan right off the cuff. So I'm rolling in a 2019 Tacoma now and I owe $12K. It's a win in my book.

 

I paid cash because that's what I do. My wife leases and she loves that. I'll drive it for 7 or 8 years where she needs something new. We could do whatever but that works for us.

 

You're going to get 3% or so at a dealer and there's no guarantee you're getting that with any investment. Sure you could get 40% since March 20th with investments but only .008% of people do that. Where are you parking 40k for a guaranteed 4% over 5 years? And with the increased standard deduction the home is no longer a great tax write off either.

 

Financially, sure. If you can buy a 5 year corolla and keep it another 15 years you're way ahead of anyone buying new, financing new, or leasing new. I think anyone knows that people who can keep their cars 10+ years usually end up way ahead. That's not what this thread is about though.

I could. I bet lots of others could too, but I am sure there are even more that couldn't do that.

 

Bark on my friend, I'm at 19% ROI over the last 36 months.
Besides, times past you could get a better deal paying cash for a new vehicle, however now that just the opposite as dealers are typically making a $ on the financing thus giving them more margin to play with.

Like I said not the best of ideas to pay cash.

 

this is the dumbest thing I’ve read all day. 99% of normal people Couldn’t just take a year off of work. It has nothing to do with having a lease. I heard this somewhere once “it’s not a waste of time/money if it makes you happy.” I think a lot of people waste money on a lot of stupid shit that isn’t needed. I play video games. I know a lot of people that probably think it’s crazy that I spend thousands of $ on video games, headsets, systems, controllers. But it’s what is fun to me. Kind of like some people could care less about having a $500 car payment and like having the newest vehicles, never worrying about maintenance or anything. When it all comes down to it if we were all being really smart with our money we would be driving 20 year old civics and corollas.

 

I'm way over 19% the last 36 but no one cares. When you get everything paid off and have enough invested, being debt free becomes your score card. Sure I could buy some DKNG , CCL and COPA and probably make 100% next year but I already own a bunch.

 

Because people just want the latest and greatest most up to date technology. Buying/leasing vehicles has become like buying/leasing smart phones. Got to have it just to have it. With all these new features, most of which wont every likely get used.

 

I bought it out because it is a company vehicle and i could. Hate to pay banks to own my own stuff. Continued to mod it to my liking to the tune of 15k +. I probably will never get my money back for it so its a keeper. Good thing its a tacoma

 

If you are only getting 4% over 5 years on average, it's time to find a new financial advisor.