I have leased since the late 80s. Good and bad, I get a new vehicle ever 3 yrs, but we have very low miles and of course I always have a payment, but on the up side, lower payments than buying and other than oil changes no maintence fees. I sold cars for a local Chevrolet dealer for a while and many times people would come in looking for used and after working some numbers it was about the same payments, as buying a new car, look for rebates if buying new and always ask if they have any dealer incentives on the model you are looking at. If you are trading in, work that part hard, some dealers hold money on the trade in, they usually have at least 2 numbers on trade in, if not three. Good luck.

 

Leasing once appealed to me but never owning something and always having a payment would drive me nuts and seem like a bad idea fiscally. Especially, when they limit how many miles you can drive it and control modifications.

I faced the same decision a few months ago. We hadn't purchased a new vehicle since 2006. (Well that one wasn't new either, just new to us as it was a 2003). My wife was rear ended while Christmas shopping and due to the age of our vehicle, it ended up totaling the car even though it was still able to be driven.

 

I found that I could get a lot of my shopping down these days on line without having to be harassed by the salesmen at the car lots. Ultimately we purchased a 2018 Chrysler Pacific which was loaded with options and had less than 25,000 miles on it. It's still under warranty and we got it for a little more than $12,000 less than a brand new comparably equipped model would have been. I ended up going to a dealership that was about 100 miles away from home, but it was worth it as their price was $2,000 to $2,500 less than the more local dealers were asking for similar vehicles.

 

I haven't had the car even six months yet, but so far it has been great. I feel like my last two purchases of used vehicles have saved me quite a bit of money and I've not had any issues due to purchases used instead of new. I think as long as you can find a car that no more than 3 years old and has been taken care of that used is the way to go.

I had an uncle that lived by the thought that he's always going to have car payments, so he might as well drive something sweet. He would trade often for new or nearly new cars.

 

One year when his factory was shut down, he traded so often that he never had a car payment for something like 10 months.

My advice would be to buy used and pay cash.

Buy used, a few years old with low mileage.

Randy had it right in post #5.

My advice would be to buy used and pay cash.

 

It can be hard to do, but I agree. Haven't had a car payment in 15 years.

 

Hope I didn't jinx myself.

My advice would be to buy used and pay cash.

 

In a perfect world, yes. In reality, most probably cannot. Borrowing to pay for a car isn’t a bad thing, but far too many people borrow too much, for too long, for a vehicle. These 6,7, or even 8 year loans especially when you put very little down, are not good things. But if you can qualify for a really low interest, or no interest loan, borrowing isn’t a bad thing.

In a perfect world, yes. In reality, most probably cannot. Borrowing to pay for a car isn’t a bad thing, but far too many people borrow too much, for too long, for a vehicle. These 6,7, or even 8 year loans especially when you put very little down, are not good things. But if you can qualify for a really low interest, or no interest loan, borrowing isn’t a bad thing.

 

We’ll have to just agree to disagree. Borrowing money for any reason is never a good thing IMO.

Find out what the payment amount is for a 5 year loan on the new car you would buy right now. Then go buy the three year old car. Make the new car payment amount each month putting the difference between the used car payment and the new car payment into its own savings account. Keep making the 5 year payment amount into the account even after your used car is paid off. When you need the next car, you might be able to pay cash for it, or at least have a very low loan amount. Repeat with the next car. Eventually you will be able to pay cash for that 3 year old car and probably drive a much nicer car than if you keep buying new.

Dave Ramsey.

Being thrifty I’ve always purchased used cars, and presently (hope I don’t jinx myself) I have a 2000 Toyota Camry that I bought in 2012 that rides like a charm. I only have about 150,000 miles on it, and hope for many more.

We’ll have to just agree to disagree. Borrowing money for any reason is never a good thing IMO.

 

And borrowing money isn't the big bad wolf that Dave Ramsey tells you it is, either.

Another nice perk of having an older model is that when registration time rolls around I don't have to pay an arm and a leg because of an expensive car. My blue book value is quite low and I only paid $47 this year. I can't imagine how much it would suck on your birthday to receive a notice that will cost you a few hundred or more. Happy Birthday..huh?

In a perfect world, yes. In reality, most probably cannot. Borrowing to pay for a car isn’t a bad thing, but far too many people borrow too much, for too long, for a vehicle. These 6,7, or even 8 year loans especially when you put very little down, are not good things. But if you can qualify for a really low interest, or no interest loan, borrowing isn’t a bad thing.

 

Right. Paying cash for huge purchases sounds like a great idea, and is unrealistic for the overwhelming majority of people.