i can tell you that we never get low-mid mileage prius’ is on trade, people tend to keep them for 150-200k. Also i have personally NEVER leased a Prius to anybody.
Fast forward 4 years…god damn.
I have since this thread leased 2 trucks. The first lease I traded a vehicle I OWNED which help me with cash towards a initial payment and ultimately helped lower my monthly payment. I had roughly $4,000 to throw at my lease in addition to the trade value and got my payment at a “reasonable” payment.
The second round I surrendered my first lease and swapped into a brand new slightly stripped down version of the exact same truck I had for my first lease. Without having the same situation of a trade to offer for down payment the $$$ came directly from my pocket. I wasn’t able to put down the same amount so my payment did go up…but only $80/mo. This time the lease is a “Balloon” option. My understanding is my lease payments are applied to the principle residual value at the end of the term. THEN, I can choose to buy at the “depreciated” value. But, to me this sounds like a pyramid-like scheme (those that have a better understanding please correct me).
In Summary…a lease is more about piece of mind over saving in the long run. Rather than have a vehicle at risk of breaking and fixing for 3 years you are worry free. Having a “fun” car in the reserve to break, fix, swear at is WAY more fun (for me) than worrying about your daily.
In the end what works for me is paying a little more to LEASE my A-to-B vehicle and OWN my fun POS.
Picture for context…
1 Like
I recently recommended leasing to a female for this reason. She’s been stuck with a car she bought and has been dumping a lot of money into it… in addition to being stuck on the side of the road and living with the fear of being stuck on the side of the road. She also has no access to anyone with even limited automotive knowledge to give her recommendations. And her dealership has been brutally incompetent.
Really depends on the lease deal. When GM was dumping Equinoxes before the redesigned model dropped people were getting stupid deals on them. $140/month for a mid sized AWD with nothing down type deals.
These thread really opened my eyes to leasing:
The key seems to be finding a vehicle the manufacture is throwing great lease deals at.
I jumped on the Honda lease deal for the new Si sedan. I was looking to get a left over 17 for under 200/month. No dealers in buffalo had a 17 sedan left. Went to Lia where I used to work. Got a smoking deal on a 2018 White Oxford pearl. Put 1400 down and walked away with a 215$ payment. 12k/year.
I’m on my 5th lease, Jay is spot on. You need to find the car they want to move and you’ll get a killer deal.
We just leased a new 2.0T Equinox sport for my wife. 252hp with the 9 speed auto is really fun to drive actually. I had to put $400 down and pay $162 a month for 12K miles a year.
On a side note, what is the “fear of being stuck on the side of the road”? With cell phones you don’t even need to walk anywhere if you don’t want to. Call an uber done.
For context, she lives in the GTA where driving the 401 can look like this:
Terrifying - traffic jams are terrible, she should move.
If leasing was “stupid” I wouldn’t have two of them and recommend it to everyone I know.
Leasing is “stupid” if you’re going to blow over the miles and/or treat your possessions like garbage.
Very good point.
I had a colleague look at my Si the other day and he couldn’t believe how well kept it was. 7k miles now and he says it smells new still. Never understood why people who pay for something neglect it.
One of my biggest pet peeves is people who don’t take care of their stuff. House, apt, car… doesn’t matter. I think it’s a direct correlation to their character and how they handle their life in general.
I got lucky I guess with my 2014 Camaro SS 1LE. I bought it for $39997 back in the summer of '13. With taxes and all of that crap it came to $42ish I think. I can’t remember what I put down honestly. I think $3k? I traded it in this past March and they gave me $25500. So basically I got to drive a brand new Camaro for 4 and a half years for $17500 or just under. Breaking it down per month (54 months), it was roughly $324 a month. I don’t think I would have been able to lease it nearly as cheap. What do $40k cars typically lease for? Specifically performance cars?
What was your actual payment each month for the past 4.5 years though, and what was the loan balance at the time you traded it? Your math seems way oversimplified and doesn’t take into account the way interest is front loaded on the loan amortization.
Also, how many miles did you put on it? I’m guessing it was only a summer car? Leasing for 4.5 years would net you roughly 55,000 miles of use.
True to that I was simply debating how some people think EVERY car just tanks in value as soon as you drive it off the lot . I owed roughly $10k when I traded it in, and they gave me $25500. So basically used that as a $15500 down payment. So basically it cost me $490/month with interest. But then you deduct the tax you paid into the new car, blah, blah. I’m guessing that a lease for a Camaro SS would probably have been in the $450 range? Maybe more? There are certain cars that depreciate much slower than others and it might be better to buy than to lease. I don’t want to get into a debate over payment plans in my case, because I traded into the halo car I originally wanted, but couldn’t justify when they first came out.