Originally Posted by linh811

you are 100% wrong. I financed mine with Lexus financing for 5.6% (although I could have paid cash for it), my investments over the last 4 years have yielded from 20-40% return. You do the math.

Originally Posted by yemilipede

Originally Posted by linh811

Maybe I'm not clear enough. If a person has $50k cash, he should NOT use that money to pay for a car, he should invest that money, and BORROW money to pay for the car.

Originally Posted by Bass Mech

i lease and i am convinced its the best way to own/ rent a car. especially imports because they hold their value so well.

however a couple tips for thoes who want to knwo the facts.

1. i lease because i own a business and i can write the ENTIRE car payment, fuel , maintenence and anything car related off on my taxes and i dont track my miles for business use because i have another car for personal use.

2. leasing has prevented me from having to pay for any maintenence other than oil changes, i usually drive the cars about 25K miles and trade in so i never have any service brakes, tires ect.. to pay for.

3. lease payments are always lower than purchase payments, so i can get more car for less money.

4. i dont know about lexus but with all my Acuras i have always traded the car in about 1 year early from the end of the lease and always had EQUITY in the car, so i applied that towards my next purchase.

5. i never lease through anyone but the manufacturer finance company. i tried a lease through bank one and they front end loaded the lease so i ended up keeping the car for the full 48 months because i was upside down the whole time, they only paid the interest in the beginning of the loan so the principal never got any payments till the end BAD MISTAKE! now i use American honda finance and Lexus Financial Service. you will find manufacturers money always works best because they want you to return to buy another car and dont screw you over in the finance agreement.

6. Miles people always say they drive too many miles to lease BAHHH! every lease i have done has an allowance for miles your over if you run the full lease full term.
if you trade the car in early the miles dont matter at all. they just negotiate the trade in value of the car based on its miles and condition. what you still owe on the car is usually less if you take good care of it. the most i have ever been upside down is 1000 bucks, big deal!

now a couple things to consider if you have the patience, the time and are willing to do this.

i know i would have made out a lot better if i sold my leased vehicle in the paper when i was ready to trade in, i would have got about 3-4K more for the car to sell this way verses trading in.
dealerships make WAY more money on used cars verses new. if you can negotiate the new purchase down and have nothing to trade you always get a better deal. (i got my 350 fully loaded for $450 over invoice)

you have to pay the taxes on the lease if you sell it outright but its still a lot less than taking it in the *** from the dealer.

for me, i really dont care, if i have to pay a little extra to trade in verses sell outright i really dont have a problem with that, its a tax writeoff for me and i dont have the time or patience to fool around with selling a car. i can afford the payments and i can afford to spend a couple grand if necessary to make the transaction.

and finally, a poster mentioned doing a HELOC which is a good idea, however you can only get about 70% of that money written off on your taxes because its personal verses i write off 100% on my business taxes as an expense. but still not a bad way to go.
i see no reason to own somthing that looses value every time i use it when cars get about 50k miles on them their value really starts going down. most every person on this board has to admidt to themselves that even if they purchase, as soon as they own it what are they gonna do anyway? you got it, buy another car and have another car payment....
we are all car guys and we will always want the newer version of what you have now, there is always somthing new and exciting comming out and you know your going to want to get it.

the difference is that when you lease you dont have to negotiate the trade in value of the car. if it turns out that its not holding its value as expected, your protected in the lease, if you bought, your screwed!
so unless you drive your cars to the graveyard, you always pay more in a purchase because of the maintenence, additional cost to own and the fact you get no tax advantage if you own a business.
for me, i would be a fool to purchase.

Originally Posted by n8236

I'm surprised how many people own/finance their IS!

The usual rule of thumb is that, the more expensive the car is, the more likely it's leased.