Lease VS Buy

[DTro]

I told myself that I would never.....ever.....lease a vehicle, but in reality when I look back, I've always had a payment. So would it make sense to lease? I'm currently looking at small to midsize trucks. Some I've looked at are the Tacoma, SportTrac, Colorado, Dakota and some Mini-Utes, Liberty etc.

The reason for that is I don't have a big boat and no kids and would like a little better mpg.

I just don't know about leasing though. I've heard some major league horror stories about leasing. I put at least 12-15k annually, but could cut back if needed (probably will anyways due to gas prices.

Just wanted some feedback from other "leasers".

Thanks

[prov1900]

I have leased two Ford F-150's in the past, a 99 and an 02. I ended up buying out the 02 at the end of the lease, because the price was right. The buy out is determined when you sign for the truck. It was a good deal at the time because I could not buy a used truck for that price, and I knew exactly how the truck was treated. We looked at leasing a new F150, but the buyout was a lot more. With leasing, if you get a ding or something like that you have to fix it with the insurance check, you cant take that money and use it for something else, provided you could live with the damage to the truck. No down payment on leases is nice, but when you are done, you dont really have any equity. I will more than likely buy my next vehicle.

[united jigsticker]

Depends on who you lease from.

I've leased from GM; Expected the big "inspection" of the vehicle when I brought it back, but all they did was take the VIN number off it.

Plus, if you do put a down payment on it, getting out of the lease early is easily possible.

You can also pre-buy extra miles, however, it may not be worth it.

If you lease for 3 years, 36,000 miles, it might cost you $229 a month w/ $2,500 down. That will cost you $10,744 for 3 years.

Lets say you go over the 12,000 miles, and put 16,000 miles. You will pay a penalty of $2,400 when you turn the vehicle in, for a total of $13,144.

Prebuy miles, for a 15,000 mile a year lease and your payment goes up $40 a month, for an extra $1,440 over the span of the lease.

But, if you opt our early, you do not get the extra money you sunk into the extra miles.

Also, the common thing for GM to do now is to run "lease pull-a-head" programs, which gets you out of your lease early with no penalties.

It's basically a way for them to move inventory sooner, and typically happens about 6-8 months before the end of your scheduled lease.

So if that were the case, and you buy a 12,000 mile lease, but put 15,000 on a year, and get the pull ahead offer after 2 years and a few months, you'll be within the 36,000 mile total allotment, and won't pay any penalties upon return.

Leases are perfect for the person who doesn't keep vehicles very long, and has good credit (lower interest).

On a lease, you pay interest on the payment rather then the total value of the loan.

Also, leases on say a Colorado would actually cost you more then leasing a Silverado, reason being, the resale on the Silverado is more after 36,000 miles then it is on the Colorado.

So look at that as well.

Furthermore, just because a vehicle is "smaller" and has a smaller engine doesn't always mean better gas milage.

I.E.

2006 Trailerblazer 4.2L I-6 @ 292 HP. 18 MPG Highway

2006 Silverado 5.3L V-8 @ 295 HP 19-21 MPG Highway

[zepman]

Leases are a good option of keeping a monthly payment in line. Also, almost all of the vehicles lifespan that you are using will be covered under warranty. If you don't put on very many miles leasing is a great way to go. As far as the equity thing goes--what equity? Cars and trucks are a cost of living not an investment. The previous post was correct however about some of the bigger more expensive vehicles being cheaper to lease than the smaller ones. Make sure you figure out the payment difference between trucks and cost of mileage to drive both. You may be suprised.

[upnorth]

I get better gas mileage with my 2005 v8 F150 than I did wiht my 2000 v6 Ranger.

With leasing you really need to watch your mileage since any mileage over the yearly quota is gonna cost you dearly.