Lease to buy worth doing?

So I went to the Auto show yesterday and really liked the Toyota Tacoma TRD Sport.

I currently own my 2002 Cadillac Escalade EXT (has some rust issues 133k mileage ). I still owe $2,500 on it, will be paid off probably mid summer. But currently my monthly payment for it is like $250/month.

I have a work vehicle, so I barely drive my vehicles at all. I’m just not sure if it’s worth continuing paying for my truck or trying to trade it in on a lease to own, it would probably be a wash in trade in. But then I’m driving something brand new.

In reality because how little I drive my vehicles and not needing a new reliable vehicle for work, I should probably just not buy anything and drive my truck into the ground and enjoy no car payment for a little while.

You answered your question in that last bit.

Depends on the situation. On most cars? No.

On something like a Tacoma, which holds it value more than anything else I’ve ever seen? Maybe. Too many variables to tell. Balloon might also be an option worth looking into.

Keep in mind…If you’re going to lease something for 3 years and then finance it for another 5 or 6 - you’d be better off just buying it on an extended term in the first place. The payment would be a little higher, but you’ll avoid additional costs (acquisition fee, no lease bonus cash, etc) and you’ll pay a lot less in interest.

Still wouldn’t do it. This comes up here and there with me at work and in the end they either buy or lease, never buy the equipment at the end of the lease.

Exactly.

Also-the point of a lease is to have a new car because you need a new reliable vehicle. Once its close to needing something, turn it in and get another one. Leasing something when it won’t be used everyday is pointless

Yeah I mean it’s not really something I need but I’ve always owned used vehicles with higher mileage and never owned a nice new low mileage or new vehicle. By the time I buy stuff usually it’s worn out a little. I guess I’m just starting to feel like I want something that’s nice, and because I won’t drive it much it should hopefully stay nice for awhile. It won’t be used much but I guess if I had something nicer than what I currently have for DD purposes I would be more willing to use it more often. Also starting to worry about what might break on my current truck although I could probably fix whatever might break myself.

Save for a year and catch one lightly used that has most of the initial depreciation gone.

Buy it at longer term.

Leasing something to sit is lighting $ on fire.

^ this… I also wouldn’t buy anything I couldn’t pay off on a 5 year term unless it was an appreciating asset.

We have people who buy Tacomas and 4Runners at the end of the lease because the residual is 75% of what the car is actually worth on trade. If I leased a truck and knew the history of it, had the ability to buy it for $18k when retail on the same used truck is $25,000- I’m probably going to buy it out. Or use the equity towards a new lease.

There also seems to be no point in buying a used toyota truck, the used prices are crazy, you would be nuts not to go new given the used market. Save up and buy something new.

Im a noob when it comes to leasing, so what you’re saying is if I leased a tacoma, when I have to turn it in I’ve paid off more in that time than it would be worth used on the lot, so I’m able to buy it for the residual price which would be lower than an identical one on the lot.

I’m guessing in the end I’d be paying more for the vehicle over just buying it to begin with? Which makes it not worth it in the end or do people just justify it because of how cheap the monthly payments are and in the end you can own it if you like?

You have one of the best built American trucks IMO Im a big fan of the older Tahoe/Burban/Escalades other then the fuel lines rotting out and the fuel pump failing.
although that is coming from a guy who drives a Jap SUV an a diesel car lol

Just stick with hat you got. save your pennies while you do that and have nice down payment to buy NOT lease a new truck in the future. IT NEVER MAKES Sense to lease if you plan to buy at the end.

What Beck is saying is that you only used up 25% of the value of the truck in the time you leased it. So you can pay the remaining 75% of the value and own it which would be less than buying a similar used one.

Yes. This.

Simplifying numbers and being crude, if you lease a $35,000 truck for $475/month - your residual is essentially $18,375. Now let’s say that you only put 20,000 miles on the truck at this point. If a three year old 20,000 mile Tacoma retails for $28,900 - why wouldn’t you want to buy yours for $18XXX? Likewise, if it’s worth $23,000 on trade and you can buy it out for $18,375 - you could hypotheically apply the $4625 towards a new lease. Now you’re leasing a Tacoma for $350. Rinse and repeat.

When it comes to 4Runners/Tacomas - Using this school of thought…your first lease is the most expensive. It gets much cheaper after that.

Keep your Escalade and pay it off. You have a boner for the Tacoma because it smelled new and was all shiny on the showroom floor, in reality it can’t do anything your current truck isn’t capable of.

No debt > new car feeling

This.

This is true. Damn autoshow got me wanting to spend all my moneyz! I’m just gonna keep saving. I am tired of my truck but once it’s summer time I have 2 other vehicles I can enjoy and drive to places in.

Truer words were never spoken on this board. :tup:

x5

We need to get that wall up. This country is going to hell. I thought this was America? Go into debt. Keep up with them Jones’s. New stuff rules.

Only time a lease is smarter is if you’re looking for a vehicle under 6,000lbs GVWR and you have a business to write off the utilization against. I do this on one of my vehicles because of the fact that the depreciation tables on owning a higher end car under 6,000lbs GVWR are terrible, but if you use it for business enough, you can claim the majority of the lease as an expense which actually greatly exceeds the depreciation write-off of owning the vehicle. Dependent on the actual depreciation tables of the vehicle, you can actually end up ahead buying it at the end of the lease if you do it all right.

That said, that same rationale is why I bought my wife’s G wagen instead - because it’s over 6,000lbs GVWR and she legitimately uses it well over 80% for the rental properties since neither of us commute to an office, so we can depreciate a fuckton of it very quickly.

For personal use only? Fuck leases. Drive your truck. Buy something later. Or, to Deathproof’s point, go into debt because new stuff rules, God bless America.