Investor · Leawood, KS · Member since 2017 · 178 posts · 108 votes
This was a convo my family had around the dinner table last night as some are leasing and some are buying their car. I was wondering what the BP community thought about leasing a car.
Lets make the assumption that you want a new car, can afford a $150-$300 payment and would plan to pay off your car in 10 years or less if you decided to finance to purchase.
Almost always the best decision is to buy a used car that’s 3-6 years old.
It depends what’s important to you. Investing, financial freedom etc or having nice stuff. It’s rare that you can have it all. I know people who are worth millions and they drive at best used cars or a used car that’s newer (think 3-5 years old).
I don’t know anyone who’s a millionaire who drives a Mercedes. Typically people who drive that type of car are high earners who have low net worths.
3 percent of luxury car owners in the US are millionaires. The biggest factor keeping Americans from building wealth is a car payment. There’s no equity in it.
End of my rant
I didn't read every page, but another price point to consider when driving a lease is higher insurance cost for that lease. Someone with an older car could have much cheaper insurance, but of course they may not have all of the bells and whistles that the person with a lease does.
I think this question has a lot to do with knowing yourself. There are plenty of people out there that will saying buying is better if you keep it for a long time, yet they go buy a car and then trade it in for a new car in 3 to 5 years or right after the car note is paid off.
Saying all of that, I am for buying a vehicle and trying to stick with it for a while. If it's taken care of, then it could definitely save you some money by not having car payments forever.