K You for All the Advice. We Have decidedLeasing a car...experiences Good or Bad

I guess it depends upon how long you own your cars. I have both leased and owned. Lately, we have just owned, because we both drive a lot of miles commuting, and on the job, and driving the kids to their after-school stuff, which makes leasing impractical. Most base prices for leases only include 12K miles per year. If you want more than that, then you'll have to pay extra. Likewise, the trade-in at the end of the lease is very much at the discretion of the dealer, and if you do not purchase your next car from the dealer, you WILL end up screwed on the trade-in value. As an example, I once leased a Honda Accord, which as we all know, holds its value pretty well, right? Okay, so I turned it in UNDER miles (my lease allowed for 12K miles per year, I had only driven about 10K miles per year), and it was in PRISTINE condition. I had never eaten inside the car, and this was back in my single days, so there had never been kids in the car. I'd been obsessive about keeping it washed, vacuumed, etc. Right before turning it in, I had it detailed. The (rat bastard Honda of San Francisco) dealer CHARGED ME $2000 for turning it in! He really didn't have a good reason, except that he knew I was young, couldn't afford a lawyer, and had no recourse. Needless to say, I have never and will never own a Honda again. I despise Honda with every fiber of my being. But that's another story for another day.

Aside from that, I've leased a Jeep (sold it at the end of my lease, having learned my lesson from the Honda that dealers WILL screw you if they can find a way), a Ford (bought out the lease at the end, and I'm still driving the car 150K miles later!). My husband has leased BMWs (sold them at the end of the lease).

Bottom line, at this point I don't see much point in leasing from a financial standpoint. You're better off paying cash for a ~2 year old used car and not having a payment. But if you don't mind the payment, I guess leasing is fine.

What I've learned when negotiating a lease:
1) Never lease from the dealer. They're crooks. Instead, look up fleet leasing online. I think our last lease was through North Texas Fleet Leasing or somewhere like that. They were able to negotiate a purchase price that ended up saving us nearly $200 per month vs any local dealership. They delivered the car to our door. Easy as that.
2) The monthly payment doesn't matter. The purchase price matters. Do your research on purchase price just like you would if you were buying. Don't let anybody talk to you about monthly payments - simply keep on point and talk about purchase price. THAT is the price that drives the monthly payment, and you won't get confused with all the smoke and mirrors they try to throw at you in terms of financing.
3) Make sure you understand what will happen if you turn in the vehicle at the end of the term (vs. selling it, buying it out, etc). The lease needs to be pretty specific in terms of items they can ding you for when you turn it in.

Good luck!

I have leased three cars and loved it. I live and work in the same town so mileage was not a concern for me. Car damage was though. You must turn a lease in- in a better than average condition. I accomplished this by having each of my cars detailed and exterior polished before returning them. Fix anything larger than a door ding as well. Then you won't be "dinged" at lease turn in. :)

Car sales men make more money on leased cars. You spend more money leasing rather than buying. Check out Dave Ramseys "Financial Peace University" book and he will show you how much cheaper it is to buy rather than lease.

Also have you not heard all the problems there are with the volt. They have caught on fire many times and have had to stop production.

"It would be the second interruption in production for the Volt, which can go 38 miles on battery power before needing a recharge from its gasoline engine or via a plug-in."

The company I work for was leasing it's vehicles, until our auditors did some math and let the executives know just how much money they were wasting.

My girlfriend leased. I think it was for 3 years. Anyway, towards the end of the lease she was getting closed to the milage limit and the dealership was going to charge her an outrageous amount per mile for anything over, so the car basically sat in her driveway for 3 months.

A colleague leased a car. She has no kids and kept her car very clean. However, she was involved in an accident and had the car repaired. When it came time to turn in the car, she had to pay all sorts of penalties because of the accident (not her fault).

Don't listen to what the dealer tells you. Read all the fine print and make sure you fully understand it. If necessary, cross it off and rewrite it in the contract in language that is clear.

I have never and would never lease a car. It costs too much.

My husband and I both have leased a vehicle before (not together though), and we will NEVER do it again. Those stupid car sales people tell you that it is an EASY thing to do to trade in if you want to "Buy" a vehicle next time and It's NOT. Not one bit! No dealership wants to deal with a leased vehicle. Only if you intend to keep the lease going forever and ever. You tell them that you have a leased vehicle and they will give you an "OMG" look. Car Dealer Sales people will "lie" to you in order to get you to to purchase or lease a vehicle. So be careful. I would really recommend that you "buy" a vehicle. :-D It will be much easier to trade it in later if you decide to do so. We have a F150 and those trucks have a huge resale value. We owe only 15,000 on it, and it is valued at 20,000. It would be an easy trade in if we wanted to. But, I love my F150. It's the Lariat with Four Door Cab. Love it Love it Love it! Just think about it some more and get some more feedback before you decide ok. :-) Good luck!

it is really a matter of opinion. The biggest plus that you get with a lease is you can drive away with a brand new car and not worry about the value dropping as soon as you drive off the lot. The other plus is after the lease you can choose to buy the car (for market value not what you owe) or just get a new one again. If you don't drive alot of miles everyday and you need a dependable car I think it is the best way to go. The downside to it is if you lease you will ALWAYS have a car payment. If you buy a car you will eventually pay it off and have that money for other things. I personally love the idea of getting a brand new car every year but my husband hates always haveing a payment. So like I said a matter of oppinion

I have leased five cars in a row, each for a lease period of four years. So I've driven a leased car for about 18 years. All of my leases have been Volkswagens. I have had a very good experience with this.

The pros for me are having a car that runs. Previously, I had one good and some very bad experiences with cars that I owned or was buying. Some started breaking down before I even had them paid for. Only one car lasted for 9 years. Next, the monthly lease payment has been considerably less than a payment for a new car would have been. And, the dealership provides much of the maintenance during the lease time, but not all. The lease agreement will specify which.

My experience has been, which could vary based on make or dealership, is that they have accepted my returned leased cars with whatever dings and normal damage (and sometimes more) that occurs with a car over four years with no penalty.

There have been no cons that I can think of. In my experience, about the time you finish making car payments, you start paying for repairs. So a lease has worked well for me.

Never done it. I would tend to refer to that contract as a "fleece", not a "lease". There are VERY few circumstances (if any) in which it is a sound financial move.
The biggest part of the fallacy is the idea that "you will have a car payment anyway". Ummmm nooooo. My car has been paid for for a few years now. So has husband's. Still going strong, both over 250k miles. And we have NO car payment of any kind, and haven't for at least 2 years. Husband's has been paid off since 2005.

If you have money to burn (literally), then do whatever you want. But I think, if it were me, I would try to find a better way to try out the different/newer technologies. The idea of a rental or extended test drive comes to mind...