Does Car Leasing make sense?

CKNSLS wrote:

Lantley wrote:
I have leased a car a while back. For me the advantage of leasing was a low payment. Disadvantage is I accrued no equity in the car. At the end of the lease I had nothing to show for my payments.
I must admit I did like the low payment. However turning the car in,leaving myself with nothing in return, left a bad taste in my mouth.
I would never lease again.
In your case a 1 year lease may have advantages, however the same pitfall exist.
How long do you plan to snowbird on your RV lot.
Is snow-birding on the lot a passing fad or something you plan to do long term.

Unless you only plan to snowbird 1 or 2 seasons, I don't see a lease as being a favorable option.
Insurance will be the deal breaker. You will have to insure the car year round.
A out of pocket used car will only need to be insured for the 6 months when you are using it.
Leasing maybe hassle free in terms of having a reliable new car with a reduced payment that won't have a lot of maintenance or unforeseen expenses however you will never own the car or accrue any equity. At some point the lease will end and you will have nothing to show for your payments.

You may have had no equity-but you shouldn't have put a lot down either. That's a wash.

I agree. I got what I paid for. I used the car for 3 years and walked away.Nevertheless I made payments for 3 years and ended up with nothing.
I enjoyed the reduced payment, but in the end I still needed a car.
So 3 years later when my lease expired I purchased my next car vs.leasing.

I will never lease again

Lantley wrote:
I have leased a car a while back. For me the advantage of leasing was a low payment. Disadvantage is I accrued no equity in the car. At the end of the lease I had nothing to show for my payments.
I must admit I did like the low payment. However turning the car in,leaving myself with nothing in return, left a bad taste in my mouth.
I would never lease again.
In your case a 1 year lease may have advantages, however the same pitfall exist.
How long do you plan to snowbird on your RV lot.
Is snow-birding on the lot a passing fad or something you plan to do long term.

Unless you only plan to snowbird 1 or 2 seasons, I don't see a lease as being a favorable option.
Insurance will be the deal breaker. You will have to insure the car year round.
A out of pocket used car will only need to be insured for the 6 months when you are using it.
Leasing maybe hassle free in terms of having a reliable new car with a reduced payment that won't have a lot of maintenance or unforeseen expenses however you will never own the car or accrue any equity. At some point the lease will end and you will have nothing to show for your payments.

You may have had no equity-but you shouldn't have put a lot down either. That's a wash.

6 months of a new car sitting in Florida while you are up North a lot of money.

6 car payments. Add insurance and registration. That's a lot of money spent on something you are not using just to have a car to go to the store in for a couple of months while you are there.

If you have a personal car at home you can have it driven down here. There are tons of ads for people who drive cars back and forth just for the RV'ers. The cost of doing that versus new car payments would save you a lot of money. U-Haul has contractors that move trailers, personal cars etc for people. Give them a call that might be the answer for you.
PM me I have BC card for them. They helped me move stuff down here.

when investigating leasing, ask them if it is OK to leave the automobile alone, in the open, unattended for 6 months.
bumpy

I have leased a car a while back. For me the advantage of leasing was a low payment. Disadvantage is I accrued no equity in the car. At the end of the lease I had nothing to show for my payments.
I must admit I did like the low payment. However turning the car in,leaving myself with nothing in return, left a bad taste in my mouth.
I would never lease again.
In your case a 1 year lease may have advantages, however the same pitfall exist.
How long do you plan to snowbird on your RV lot.
Is snow-birding on the lot a passing fad or something you plan to do long term.

Unless you only plan to snowbird 1 or 2 seasons, I don't see a lease as being a favorable option.
Insurance will be the deal breaker. You will have to insure the car year round.
A out of pocket used car will only need to be insured for the 6 months when you are using it.
Leasing maybe hassle free in terms of having a reliable new car with a reduced payment that won't have a lot of maintenance or unforeseen expenses however you will never own the car or accrue any equity. At some point the lease will end and you will have nothing to show for your payments.

I think only you can answer this question. You'd have to go to a dealer or two and find out what kind $ leasing would cost you over a period of time. Then go home, crunch the numbers and balance out cost and convenience. Leasing isn't for everyone. Every option you consider is going to have its tradeoffs. Some of us would be fine buying that $5k car and sticking a few bucks into it over a period of time. Some would be fine spending the money shipping a car twice a year.

What ever you do, its got to work for you.

$1500 does sound like a lot to have a car available. I've never leased a car but the ads I've seen make me think that it might cost $3000 down plus $3600 a year plus insurance.

Vulcaneer wrote:
.....We are finding that a $5,000 used car is not a very desirable car. Usually older and very high mileage.

And Florida sun does a job on them.

Now maybe for $10K (+) we can find something. But not sure ownership is best for us......

And that is EXACTLY what is going to happen to the car you purchase to leave in Florida during the summer months!

Unless you have a garage to put this car in for the summer it WILL succumb to all what the hot, humid summer weather in Florida provides. Especially when it will be left all locked up for those months. Add mice, roaches, pollen, the dreaded green mold, etc that gets into cars down here to that mix and anything new you buy or lease will loose its value in no time!

I am from Wisconsin and I can leave a car unattended for months to years and it will never sustain the damage that Florida can dish out in one summer month! :B

Unless you have the need to impress I would vote for buying an inexpensive used vehicle to leave behind.

I'm here in Florida right now and IMHO $5,000 CAN net you a nice vehicle to drive around for the few winter months you snowbirding. Just saying. :C

Folks, the OP wrote that they needed a SECOND VEHICLE.
Telling him to use his truck isn't going to help.

Maybe but driving your truck would be less expensive that taking on the costs (no matter how you do it) of another vehicle. Your truck will depreciate just sitting anyway so it's only the fuel to worry about and for 4,000 miles having a higher MPG car won't make up the difference.