Cars I don't want: buy or lease?

The only two things that last forever are love and deleting files in unix.

(F)leasing is almost NEVER a good idea unless you fit within a very VERY narrow parameter range, and you're STILL not going to get a good deal, but rather one that will "suck less."

I don't see "teenage driver" fitting those parameters, but "limited use family hauler", might.
The thing is......fleasing is usually used to keep people in newer cars than their budgets might otherwise allow, or to put people in more expensive cars than their cars might otherwise allow.

All of the weather forecasting instruments presently indicate that you should ABSOLUTELY wait until there are more cars chasing fewer bucks than the other way around.

However (COMMA!!) weather guessers are a lot like baseball batters.
They can fail at their assigned task more than half the time, and still get to rich and famous, and considered to be great in their field.

If I woke up with a teenage driver I would look for a college-kid car and accept the fact that I'd be paying about $1,000-$2000 more than I might have done a while back, and and the kid into a G3.
They're a little bit bigger than the Priussy and you can get one new enough to be reliable and safe enough to let you sleep nights without having to revamp your retirement plans.
It would also be a wonderful opportunity to perform a theory-to-practice on vehicle maintenance.

You may want to consider doing what @farmecologist did and beat the bushes for a used Prius with a verifiable pedigree, especially since you know what an EGR is and how to keep a G3 from getting the "death rattle" that are causing their street values to plummet.
To be fair, that's also a hatchback car thing as the market shifts away from cars and towards CUVs.

Good Luck!
Keep us posted!!

 

I was assuming the little McCoalroller wasn't going to be driving for some time yet.

 

our kids about to have their third, moved up from a murano to oddysey. they wanted a sienna, but there are none to be had.
leasing is not all the same. you have to look at the deal, and compare the math with purchasing, and sale/trade value at the end of the lease.
and some lese agreements require the car to be in better condition than others.

 

Congratulations!
My mistake entirely.....but my advice pretty much remains the same.

I will add that sometimes child seats (and their contents!) can have a decidedly negative impact on the interior of a car, more so if you have to take them in and out a lot, and most (f)leasers these days will look for signs of use with the dedication and intensity of a TV forensics examiner.

 

If a car is needed know, and what you want isn't available, I don't see leasing as a bad idea in general.

I understand that used car prices have gone up, but what about something more towards the beater(old/high miles) category. Price plus cost to make it reliable, might still come out ahead of a lease.

 

There is option C, a roof rack for the c until the current car shortage is over. Or it will give more time before having to settle on something.

 

Hey congrats! Our kids are little bit older...22 and 19.

I'll have to say, our car search saga turned out great...but it is a big time sellers market. We ended up doing a craigslist deal. Turned out stellar and was a win-win for both of us...but I was a bit nervous about it ( we had never done a craigslist deal before ). Also got a great valuation on our 2010 with 135K that was totaled. Valuations *are not* plummeting on the Gen3's in this market..even with the EGR issues, etc... The average joe doesn't know squat about EGR issues...they just want to spend less on gasoline. ( tagging @ETC(SS) on this ).

It's too bad *small* minivans aren't really a thing anymore. Our 2014 Mazda MPV got us through the 'early kid' years up until we got the Prius v wagon. We had this color/model...but not the aftermarket wheels. We got a LOT of compliments on the color thru the years. Also cool that the rear windows went down. Made it feel a lot more like a car.

 

Hmm...Ford Maverick?

 

I have leased several cars in the past. 4 to be exact. They were cars otherwise too expensive to purchase within our tight monthly budget then. If you want 3 years of a rental car that you know you are not going to abuse and will not put more miles than the contract allows, then sometimes leasing makes perfect sense, IMHO. That being said, it generally costs more than purchasing cash, but if you are comparing only 3 years of ownership of a leased vs financed purchase, then the total price tag may be quite comparable. For a leased car, you are paying the depriciation cost plus interest for the duration of the lease on your monthly payment, and when you get out of the lease, you get nothing for it. For a financed purchase, you are paying the total cost of the car plus interest in the monthly payment, but you get what the car is worth when ready to sell.

In the end, I really liked leasing. if you don't plan to keep the car longer than 3 years, then leasing makes perfect sense. But each leasing contract is different. You have to do the math. I generally treat any lease program to be a good deal if the total cost (that is upfront down payment plus the total of monthly payments and any "fees" associated) is less than 1/3 of the price of the car if purchased in cash. Basically, that's a 33% payment of the car for the depriciation and interest in 3 years. However, you do have to read small prints on other "fees" they try to tac on at the end of a lease to make sure that the total stays within this range.

I am at the age that no longer wanting to DIY car maintenance or keep a car longer than a few years. And I will not likely be driving more than 10K miles/year. Unless the EV tax credit gets changed to a refundable credit, I am likely to lease my first EV for a 3-years rental. Hoping I will find a similar deal as Hyundai offered on their original Ioniq EV. No money down, $99/mo 3 years lease.

 

Most leases vs purchase comparisons I have seen online compare the lease program which is usually only for 3 years to purchase of a car on a 3-5 years loan. Yeah, of course, the lease will cost more for longer than 3 years of ownership because you are driving a new car after the first 3 years. But, if you do the math only on the 3 years of ownership, that is purchase a car and sell it after 3 years, then the lease vs financed will become very close. That is unless a dealer is giving you a huge purchase discount. Most of the lease programs I have seen are based on MSRP price, not the actual sale price. If a dealer is willing to discount $6K off MSRP for financed purchase, but lease cost is based on the MSRP, then leasing will be quite a bit more expensive.

 

For the next year or so financed price will be pretty close to MSRP, and if I know my McCoalrollers, they're not gonna want to play the up-optioned "discount" price game that is required to make (f)leasing "statistically" less expensive than buying.

I think that there is a used Prime out there that has L.J.M. written alllllllll over it.
Even if you pay $1,000 over last year's street price, you'll save a bajillion in depreciation and probably insulate yourself a little bit during the next few fuel price spikes.

Gas is going up too!
I'm paying over $2.50 for the stuff!!!!!!

Might be a good time for a road trip to Tampa/St Pete.

 

But then, would a Prime, with its Prius-like overall dimensions and battery-narrowed hatch, haul enough for those family cruisin' trips?

 

Good Question, but the OP said: "Well now that we have a little McCoalroller running around..."

The PP is a small car, but it's big enough for kid duty.
Even kids duty if you don't have a litter.
Of course....I myself originally misinterpreted the OP, but speaking as somebody who has multiple car seats in multiple cars as I type this I can assert that there's enough seatbelts in a Prime for 2+2 ops, plus cargo and support equipment.