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Lease or Buy??

14K views 24 replies 18 participants last post by  LETSJET 
#1 ·
I plan on BUYING my challenger (well financing it but owning it some day) but can someone tell me the perks of leasing a vehicle or how does the "lease to own" plan work. I have a friend who leases his vehicle and he put some mods on it and gave it a whole new paint job and he says he gonna keep it but he's still leasing it right now. I guess you don't get charged interest while leasing? could some one just break down the lease to own process to me, but until then I plan on financing mine.
 
#2 ·
Leasing is a great way of getting a car you really want, for a monthly payment that is usually much less than if you were to buy it. In theory, every lease is "lease to own" as you have the opportunity to buy the car at the end of the last, or just turn it in.

For this to work well, you need to do a lot of research and be really certain that you are in love with the car and that you plan on keeping it for a very long time. It helps if you can keep the miles low so that when you buy it from yourself it is a really good deal.

I was lucky in that I got the Chrylser employee purchase price and lease loyalty discount when I leased my 2010 RT Auto. Mine is a stripper and the sticker price was $31,800.00. My lease was for 39 month @ $399.00 / month with 12,000 miles per year. I only put down first months payment and taxes and title etc which came to about $600.00.

I did not think I would love the car as much as I did but I knew the minute I drove it off the lot I would keep it forever. I put 12,000 miles on the car in 39 month. At lease-end, the buyout was $15,000.00 and it was worth $22,000.00. I finaced it for 72 months @ 3.2% interest and my new payment became $249.00 / month. I won't take 6 years to pay it off but it is nice to have a payment that is low to get through the lean months.

The Challenger is my personal car and I have an inexpensive Chrysler 200 as my work car.

Be sure it is what you want. Take really good care of it and leasing, and then buying at the end of the lease can work miracles for you.
 
#3 ·
At the end of the lease period, the vehicle will have a residual or market value. At that time you have the option to purchase it. You will know at the time of signing the lease, what that value is projected to be. That value could be negotiated. It would be like buying a used car. Payments are usually lower for a lease. Unless you have your mind set on buying after the leasing period, I would be hesitant to complete any major mods as you could be held responsible for I unmodding it and returning it to its original condition.
 
#4 ·
I leased mine, I usually don't keep cars for more than two years. I won't do any major mods but exhaust, lowering (on the rt for sure), tint and small things like that are not hurting me. My dealer is ok with me lifting my truck also. Yes if I do things like that I'd plan on buying it out or worst case switching it back.

Some people are pro lease and some are not. Idk it don't bother me at all. But I do hate when I get the "well I own mine" but yet they are paying the bank for 6 years... So no you really don't.
 
#5 ·
So are the interest rates better when you lease? Should I take the lease route and take good care of it until the lease is up? Which is best because my dream car is the scat pack I would keep that car forever. At least that's what I know right now


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#6 ·
So are the interest rates better when you lease? Should I take the lease route and take good care of it until the lease is up? Which is best because my dream car is the scat pack I would keep that car forever. At least that's what I know right now


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If you are going to keep it forever then buy it! If you lease then buy it you end up paying more. If you cant afford the payments then you cant afford the car.
 
#9 ·
Plenty of good solid arguments for leasing and for buying, just depends on your own personal situation.

I bought my Challenger but was considering leasing it until I put some more thought in it. To lease my Scat Pack for 39 months it would have cost me about $21k. That's a lot of money to just drive it back at the end of the lease and end up with nothing. Now I can see leasing a vehicle if its your only vehicle or at least primary daily driver. For me I already have another muscle car, truck, and a Harley so the Challenger splits time between those. In addition my Dad runs a used car lot that I help him out with so I've always got something to drive off the lot as well. I just didn't think the Challenger would get enough use in the 3 year lease period to justify the cost. Obviously not everyone has the same situation I do so take my ideas with a grain of salt.

Leasing is great because you can get a new car every 2-3 years and wont have to spend any signifcant amount of money on maintenance items. Personally I think your better of buying a Challenger especially if its a higher trim level.
It's one thing if its a $20-25k vehicle that you can lease for 150-200 a month but once your end up paying $5-600 a month for a lease why not just buy it?
 
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#14 ·
I leased my r/t shaker. My first ever lease. I'm at my mid life and started getting sick of wrenching on my old rusty cars (which also were paid for) and I might want something different (probably a new challenger) in 3 years. I live a reasonable distance from work (low miles) and I wanted to keep my monthly payment down because we just bought the wife a new jeep. I'm not into modding (although I'd like to play with the exhaust but not sure I can with a lease). 3 year 10,000 miles/yr lease, $2,500 down put me at $450/ month. I'm ok with this.

Should also note that if the car is worth more than what the pre determined value is you can buy the car and sell/trade it and use that equity.
 
#15 ·
My dealer is ok with me doing the exhaust, lowering it with in reason and painting wheels etc. I'm at 409$ with 0 down on the RT with nav, sound and sun roof. Not to bad, it works for me for the same reason, I will want an upgrade before its payed off so even if I bought it if end up trading it in.
 
#17 ·
It really sucked however I just made the final payment on my Challenger yesterday! It was 16 months of giant payments but now it's over. There is something very liberating about paying off a car.
 
#19 ·
Congrats, always nice to get the "pink slip" :thumbsup:

A Guy
 
#21 ·
Leasing makes zero sense if you are planning on keeping the car. Interest rates are very low so even a six year car loan can be found for 2-3 percent if you have good credit. I bought my Hellcat, but lease our much less expensive daily drivers. The reason for that is my wife drives a lot of miles she is reimbursed for and I work about five minutes from home. I drive our completely boring Nissan Rogue on the days she works out of her office near where we live. When she has to go other places she drives it and is reimbursed for her mileage which more than pays for the lease and insurance. It's pretty much a disposable car to me. I run it through the automatic car wash, vacuum it out , and use the free oil changes from the dealership. Beyond that I could care less about the car and will turn it in two years from now and get something similar that only costs us about 200 bucks a month. I would cringe spending money on maintenance for a vehicle like that or actually owning it.
 
#22 ·
My wife had given me the green light last winter to get another one, most likely a nice Scat or Hellcat once our Jeep is paid off. Having 2 Challengers will be perfect for when I retire and move to a place where no one has ever seen snow.

Provided my retirement hasn't been stolen by then and my 401k wiped out...:fight:
 
#24 ·
Zero for 60 the rest of this month at least....
 
#25 ·
leasing = renting
 
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