Should Conne get a new car? - Page 2

It's a good argument and one that has been made many times on this forum but you are right. The inky time you should lease is when

A) the total amount payed out is roughly e squeal to the depreciation you'd otherwise face

And

B) you are 100% confident that you can meet every single payment even if you were to lose your job etc.

If either of those conditions fail to be met then leasing is unsafe for your finances, but if they are met (Pio is a great example) then leasing offers you the chance to own a new vehicle with a very rapid turnover.

That's the key issue. Are you going to drive the car for an extended period of time or are you going to get a new one fairly frequently.

There's not much of a difference feature and driving pleasure-wise between the car you have and the cars you are considering. The only thing you would be buying would be the warranty and maybe a bit of tech updates.

Also, if you are seriously debating whether you can afford to pay 150-200 monthly on a car, don't get a vintage European car

Short Answer-There is no reason for you to get a new car unless your current one is breaking down on you. I have been in situations where I owned a car free and clear but get incurring car repairs that were adding up. A few hundred bucks here, $800 there and all of a sudden you could be making payments for a new car and not worrying about break downs.

As for leasing, as far as I am concerned it is a matter of preference. In my experience when I have bought cars in the past they have usually been used and I financed them. So for 4-5 years I am paying on it. I always had the idea that once the car was paid for I would go without car payments for a while. The problem is if you drive at all (I avg. about 14k a year) the miles add up and about 6 months left and the car is becoming a money pit. Repairs are piling up and I am still making payments on it. So then I decide to trade it in. The money left on the current vehicle (negative equity)gets rolled into the next one and the snowball begins. Did that a couple of times. That is when I switched to leasing. I would rather have a new car every 3-4 year that are reliable and turn it in and start over on another one. Staring at zero is a lot better than starting at negative. I know used car values have improved recently so it may be different now but I still prefer leasing.

Since you are teh guru of leasing, can you do it if you are going to be pulling down. 60k miles/year? That's what my life looks like in about the 9 mos horizon, and I'll probably need a car.

~ H

Nope. The numbers stop working at about 15k. I don't think you can even find a lease at 60k.

That's a lot of mileage.

I just did the math and your screwed. I hope you get paid mileage. You will go through cars every other year. I hope it is worth it.

A good diesel would last 4 years on that milage, with proper care. No idea about availability/quality etc in the states though.

Keep your car. Car payments are stupid.

Thanks.
 

60k miles is quite a lot. Assuming you work 52 weeks a year and drive 5 days a week you're still racking up a minimum of 250 odd miles per day. That roughly works out at 5 hours a day in the car every single day. Once you take 3 weeks odd out in holidays and sick time you're doing even more.

You must be in for quite a change in lifestyle?

200/day, the rest is for trips and non-work stuff -- basically my current non-work driving. Been doing it 4days/week now for four years, though sometimes I train part of the journey. Not what I like, what I'm stuck with. Not really planning on discussing it very much. But yes, you're right.

 

~ H