Leasing?

General discussion about cars. Looking to buy a new car? Have a great driving story? Post it here!
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ClutchFork
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Re: Leasing?

Post by ClutchFork »

I was just thinking how hard it is to find an auto repair shop that is any good, maybe 1 in 100 are any good. So one solution is to lease to avoid all the repairs that go with an older vehicle. But I am too old school to do that, so I keep driving an old beater. Thankfully i have a great mechanic shop but they are sometimes booked a week out.

So when I was young in the 1970s it did not seem as though people leased cars, or at least it was not common, but now and since perhaps the 1990s, it's like you can't even find a car priced for sale, it is always how much a month. Of course the psychology of it, $299 a month sounds better than $22,999. My father-in-law went to buy a car some years back and they kept telling him the lease price and he kept asking how much to pay cash and they kept giving him a run around, so he left and bought a car elsewhere. And he had been a loyal customer of that dealership for many years until then, and never went back.

But nowadays, I don't care what they advertise, lease or what, because there is not a new car out there that I would even want. I'll stick with my old beater.
Stick shiftin since '77
theholycow wrote:Why in the world would you even want to be as smooth as an automatic? Might as well just drive an automatic...
Rope-Pusher
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Re: Leasing?

Post by Rope-Pusher »

ClutchFork wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:41 pm I was just thinking how hard it is to find an auto repair shop that is any good, maybe 1 in 100 are any good. So one solution is to lease to avoid all the repairs that go with an older vehicle. But I am too old school to do that, so I keep driving an old beater. Thankfully i have a great mechanic shop but they are sometimes booked a week out.

So when I was young in the 1970s it did not seem as though people leased cars, or at least it was not common, but now and since perhaps the 1990s, it's like you can't even find a car priced for sale, it is always how much a month. Of course the psychology of it, $299 a month sounds better than $22,999. My father-in-law went to buy a car some years back and they kept telling him the lease price and he kept asking how much to pay cash and they kept giving him a run around, so he left and bought a car elsewhere. And he had been a loyal customer of that dealership for many years until then, and never went back.

But nowadays, I don't care what they advertise, lease or what, because there is not a new car out there that I would even want. I'll stick with my old beater.
Leasing seemed to become popular in the '80s, particularly if the driver could write off part of the expense as a business expense. Now, the criteria for itemizing business expenses has changed and it's not much of a benefit for many people. Later, it seemed leasing was promoted as a way to afford "more vehicle" than you could afford to purchase. As vehicle sticker prices continued to rise this seemed to attract a large amount of customers to leasing. Leasing also is a means of controlling the vehicle trade-in timing and value, particularly when low mileage limits became more prominent.

There are a lot of numbers in lease payment calculations that can be juggled by the dealership to meet a customer's desired monthly payment. This also makes it difficult to compare lease offers from different dealerships, unless the prospective lessee dictates a common up-front payment, lease close-out payment, and vehicle residual value to all the dealerships vying for his business.
'08 Jeep Liberty 6-Speed MT - "Last of the Mohicans"
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ClutchFork
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Posts: 1935
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:55 pm
Cars: 2008 Fusion 2.3L manual
Location: Detroit MI

Re: Leasing?

Post by ClutchFork »

Rope-Pusher wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 3:53 pm
ClutchFork wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:41 pm I was just thinking how hard it is to find an auto repair shop that is any good, maybe 1 in 100 are any good. So one solution is to lease to avoid all the repairs that go with an older vehicle. But I am too old school to do that, so I keep driving an old beater. Thankfully i have a great mechanic shop but they are sometimes booked a week out.

So when I was young in the 1970s it did not seem as though people leased cars, or at least it was not common, but now and since perhaps the 1990s, it's like you can't even find a car priced for sale, it is always how much a month. Of course the psychology of it, $299 a month sounds better than $22,999. My father-in-law went to buy a car some years back and they kept telling him the lease price and he kept asking how much to pay cash and they kept giving him a run around, so he left and bought a car elsewhere. And he had been a loyal customer of that dealership for many years until then, and never went back.

But nowadays, I don't care what they advertise, lease or what, because there is not a new car out there that I would even want. I'll stick with my old beater.
Leasing seemed to become popular in the '80s, particularly if the driver could write off part of the expense as a business expense. Now, the criteria for itemizing business expenses has changed and it's not much of a benefit for many people. Later, it seemed leasing was promoted as a way to afford "more vehicle" than you could afford to purchase. As vehicle sticker prices continued to rise this seemed to attract a large amount of customers to leasing. Leasing also is a means of controlling the vehicle trade-in timing and value, particularly when low mileage limits became more prominent.

There are a lot of numbers in lease payment calculations that can be juggled by the dealership to meet a customer's desired monthly payment. This also makes it difficult to compare lease offers from different dealerships, unless the prospective lessee dictates a common up-front payment, lease close-out payment, and vehicle residual value to all the dealerships vying for his business.
Very informative and you did not leave out the "least" detail.

So with the manipulability of the lease numbers, salesmen must love leasing.
Stick shiftin since '77
theholycow wrote:Why in the world would you even want to be as smooth as an automatic? Might as well just drive an automatic...
Rope-Pusher
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 11607
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 3:44 pm
Cars: '08 Jeep Liberty
Location: Greater Detroit Area

Re: Leasing?

Post by Rope-Pusher »

ClutchFork wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 7:12 pm
Rope-Pusher wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 3:53 pm
ClutchFork wrote: Tue Jul 06, 2021 9:41 pm I was just thinking how hard it is to find an auto repair shop that is any good, maybe 1 in 100 are any good. So one solution is to lease to avoid all the repairs that go with an older vehicle. But I am too old school to do that, so I keep driving an old beater. Thankfully i have a great mechanic shop but they are sometimes booked a week out.

So when I was young in the 1970s it did not seem as though people leased cars, or at least it was not common, but now and since perhaps the 1990s, it's like you can't even find a car priced for sale, it is always how much a month. Of course the psychology of it, $299 a month sounds better than $22,999. My father-in-law went to buy a car some years back and they kept telling him the lease price and he kept asking how much to pay cash and they kept giving him a run around, so he left and bought a car elsewhere. And he had been a loyal customer of that dealership for many years until then, and never went back.

But nowadays, I don't care what they advertise, lease or what, because there is not a new car out there that I would even want. I'll stick with my old beater.
Leasing seemed to become popular in the '80s, particularly if the driver could write off part of the expense as a business expense. Now, the criteria for itemizing business expenses has changed and it's not much of a benefit for many people. Later, it seemed leasing was promoted as a way to afford "more vehicle" than you could afford to purchase. As vehicle sticker prices continued to rise this seemed to attract a large amount of customers to leasing. Leasing also is a means of controlling the vehicle trade-in timing and value, particularly when low mileage limits became more prominent.

There are a lot of numbers in lease payment calculations that can be juggled by the dealership to meet a customer's desired monthly payment. This also makes it difficult to compare lease offers from different dealerships, unless the prospective lessee dictates a common up-front payment, lease close-out payment, and vehicle residual value to all the dealerships vying for his business.
Very informative and you did not leave out the "least" detail.

So with the manipulability of the lease numbers, salesmen must love leasing.
Yanno, companies theyselfs sometimes offer stronger incentives to lease than to buy.

I had a friend that one time arranged to lease a vehicle for 2 years and his bargaining point was "I'm making one payment and then bringing it back in 24 months. What's it gonna cost me?"
'08 Jeep Liberty 6-Speed MT - "Last of the Mohicans"
User avatar
ClutchFork
Master Standardshifter
Posts: 1935
Joined: Wed Mar 06, 2013 2:55 pm
Cars: 2008 Fusion 2.3L manual
Location: Detroit MI

Re: Leasing?

Post by ClutchFork »

Rope-Pusher wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 8:37 pm
ClutchFork wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 7:12 pm
Rope-Pusher wrote: Thu Jul 08, 2021 3:53 pm
Leasing seemed to become popular in the '80s, particularly if the driver could write off part of the expense as a business expense. Now, the criteria for itemizing business expenses has changed and it's not much of a benefit for many people. Later, it seemed leasing was promoted as a way to afford "more vehicle" than you could afford to purchase. As vehicle sticker prices continued to rise this seemed to attract a large amount of customers to leasing. Leasing also is a means of controlling the vehicle trade-in timing and value, particularly when low mileage limits became more prominent.

There are a lot of numbers in lease payment calculations that can be juggled by the dealership to meet a customer's desired monthly payment. This also makes it difficult to compare lease offers from different dealerships, unless the prospective lessee dictates a common up-front payment, lease close-out payment, and vehicle residual value to all the dealerships vying for his business.
Very informative and you did not leave out the "least" detail.

So with the manipulability of the lease numbers, salesmen must love leasing.
Yanno, companies theyselfs sometimes offer stronger incentives to lease than to buy.

I had a friend that one time arranged to lease a vehicle for 2 years and his bargaining point was "I'm making one payment and then bringing it back in 24 months. What's it gonna cost me?"
Good point. If you can make a single payment up front for the whole two years, then you know your cost, but of course a new car will require costly collision insurance too, so upping total costs vs my beater that would never need collision insurance.

But leasing would never work for me because I am not inclined to keep a car clean and shiny so they would ding me on degraded condition on turn in. Ha, I don't think I have washed one of my vehicles in decades, though the motorhome gets an exterior scrubbing every 5 years whether it needs it or not..
Stick shiftin since '77
theholycow wrote:Why in the world would you even want to be as smooth as an automatic? Might as well just drive an automatic...
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