Idaho Guy

I hope I'm putting this in the correction section...

I just wanted to generate a discussion and learn a thing or two about leasing vs. buying. I've always been a "buying" kind of guy. Better to own your vehicle at the end of 5 or 6 years than to have nothing at all - that's always been my thought. But, having gotten married recently and with kids on the way in the next 2-4 years my attitude may be changing. It would be nice to have a new vehicle every 3 years and have a full warranty to go along with it. Of course, BOMB'ing wouldn't be an option with a lease but with 325hp and 610 lb-ft BOMB'ing probably isn't justified in my case anyway. Plus, as our needs change so can our vehicle. Right now (and this is purely hypothetical), a 3/4-ton 5.7L V-8 may be the best. In 3 years, maybe a 1-ton Cummins.

I am not self-employed so there's no way I could write off some or all of the lease costs - that's a big deal, I know. And we typically put about 15k-18k miles on our vehicle per year.

I would appreciated any and all suggestions or comments.

smokindog

Personally I'm a buyer. I did lease the very first service truck for the business, but I just got tired of the $1100/month payment so I paid the lease and bought the truck early. I ended up saving quite a bit in taxes too

If you have ever thought that negotiating a purchase is tough try it with a lease. For whatever reason my mom keeps leasing. Every couple years I have to go with her and work on some poor sales person to get her the $0 down variety and I do every time. Heck, I even did it for an ex-girlfriend too. That is the only way I can see a lease making sense.

Think of it this way.... $2500 down + TTL + $400 x 36 months. That's $16900 that you will never see. Oh and don't forget about the over mileage charges. $0.15/mile sounds measly right? Not when you go over by 6000 miles which is only 2000 a year and very easy to do. So now you have $17800 gone and nothing to show for it.

runamuk

Leasing!!! Total B.J. after you lease the truck you have to pay for the truck Baaaad juju If you know what I mean!

Rick

ozman3918

My last truck was a lease.Right after I bought truck , we ended up buying a house 40 miles away from work.I put 50000 miles on it in under 2 years.I ended up taking a huge loss after buying from them and buying the new one.I own my own company and it wasnt a big write off. Did great with first year diesel owner write off.

Dodgezilla

I leased once for the lower payment and will absolutely never do it again!!!! You are stuck with that vehicle till the end of the lease or you can sell it but if it's for less than the total $$$ amount of your payments, you are responsible to make up the difference!! Worst of all is that every time you get in to drive somewhere you ask yourself "Do I really need to be driving there?" It sucks watching every mile because it will cost you money down the road.

DON'T DO IT!!!!!!!

Geico266

Leasing is for loosers.

Pipes

I have a small business lease from Dodge called of all things the "small business lease". The features it has is #1 Tax write off, #2 lower monthly payments,#3 unlimited Km's. Downside is it is a 5 year lease, I cannot recall the buyout after the five years, whatever it is I allready know I will not like it, I can't remember anybody liking the agreed buyout price after the lease is done. The Unlimited Km's is a nice touch which made the lease work for me.

snow104

If you plan on keeping the truck 4 years or more buy it
If you plan on trading it in less than 4 lease it.
Dont lease for 5 years
4 years and your finaly right side up on a buy, then you start to own some of the truck.
I used to lease gassers
Only because I traded them every 30-36 months

If your gonna keep it buy the diesel
If you trade every 3 years or less lease the gasser, (3 yrs= not worth the 6k diesel option)

Dieseljunkie

Ive never leased a vehicle, and never will.. its like renting a car for 3 years.. what a waste of $..
Scott

smokindog

I think relative to a CTD the $400/month payment was a little low for a lease. I think I recall having the finance guy at the dealer show me the lease program just for giggles and my payment would have been $612/month for 36 months with $3000 down and there was no $0 down variety there. At those numbers I would have been a little less than $10K off the purchase price in three years. That would have been $25k+ out the window No thanks!

Idaho Guy

Ok, so clearly the consensus here is anti-lease -- which was (and still is) my take. I appreciate all of the comments.

Deke

What is a looser?

I think the lease is a great idea. My first RAM was a 97 1500 with the 318. It didnt quite get done what I needed as far as towing went, but I was able to deal with it for 3 years. I turned in that truck at lease end with 90,000 miles on it. I did get one bill for the mileage from Chrysler, but never heard from them again. Then I got an '01 2500 with the V10 on a 3 year lease again. My payment went up a little, but well worth the money for such an upgrade. That truck had tranny problems and got 8mpg towing. When I turned in that truck, it had close to 90,000 miles again. Then I got this '03 with the CTD. The only downfall is that I had to lease this one for 4 years, but my payment only went up $40....yeah, $40 more for a 4 door long bed diesel compared to a Quad Cab short box V10.....not bad if you ask me. I look at like this....you get to try out a few different vehicles with no commitment. If you dont like them(as I did with my first 2 RAM's) you get a brand new vehicle every 3 years. That means that you dont have to deal with some maintenance issues. We have a personal property tax in this state also....you dont pay it if you lease a vehicle.

The only downside to my personal story now is that I LOVE this truck. I said in another post that this is the only vehicle that I have done ANY modifications to since 1989. I have actually considered keeping this one, so we'll see what happens when I go to purchase it. If its too much, then I'll take off all my accessories, sell them and start over.

Geico266

A looser is anyone who thinks a vehicle lease is a good thing, or anyone who does not pay their bills in a timely manner. Just because you refuse to pay your bills does not make it right. You owe the leasing company money due to the contractual obligations you freely entered into.

Look at your credit report and see if your leasing company has "dinged" your credit for non-payment. Bad credit will cost you hundreds of dollars more a year in higher interest on everything you buy.

Leasing is for loosers.

snow104

Cash= purchace
72 mo. buy vs. 36 mo. lease=
(1) lease if you plan on getting a new one every 3 years or less. because you never get equity till after the first 36-42 months. on a 73 month buy.

(2)If you plan on buying the truck at the end of the lease, you pay for the truck twice.

(3) If you plan to keep it more than 36 mo. buy it. then you start getting equity on that 72 mo. loan. then if you trade it at say 48 - 72 months you are right side up
and can use the equity towards your trade.

Thats the way the math works

Just remember
(1) The house allways has the advantage.
(2) (the golden rule)= he who has the gold makes the rules

Good luck.


I dont think either is wrong
Just depends on your situation at the time

smokindog

Snow104,

"Just remember
(1) The house always has the advantage.
(2) (the golden rule)= he who has the gold makes the rules"


#2 is the most important. If you don't have the cash you pay with your.... When you have cash you can deal. When you need the bank you are at their mercy.

I have a friend whose father owns a local Mercedes dealership. He has always told me that 90% of the people that drive them shouldn't. I suspect maybe that could be the case with some Cummins/Ram owners too.

Who finances vehicles for 72 months? You'd have to be insane to do that. Think of the amount of interest paid. If you can't get the terms at 48 months you are buying more than you can afford.