Leasing Vs. Buying
LEASING VS BUYING A CAR: WHAT SHOULD YOU DO?
It’s time to celebrate; you’re getting a new car! But you’ve been up at night considering your options, asking, “Should I lease or buy a car?” Paying for a vehicle is a fact of life in the modern world. So the next question becomes, “What method of payment works better for me?” At the end of the day, the answer to this question comes down to obtaining a target monthly payment. Yet customers still have questions about which payment structure is “better.” We’re going to walk you through all the details you need to know on this handy “lease vs buy a car” research page, so please scroll below to get started or jump right to our new Chevrolet lease deals near Lakeland to see how we put this program to work for you.
Lease vs Buy a Car: Lease Secret Revealed
Lease programs are designed to be financially beneficial while offering a lot of conveniences. Despite this, many people express that they don’t want to “pay for something that isn’t theirs,” and decline the choice to go with a lease. Here’s a glance at some major car lease benefits:
- Lower or no down payment required
- Lower monthly payment than financing
- Short-term commitment allows for convenient upgrades to the latest model
- Vehicle warranty covers typical lease term
This all sounds great, right? But what’s the catch? There isn’t one. If you love getting a new car every few years, know your monthly driving habits, and enjoy a lower monthly payment, then you are a great candidate for a lease. Sure, you have to give the vehicle back at the end of the lease, but did you know you can buy the vehicle at the end? This final purchase amount is determined at the time of original contracting.
Your final payment amount covers the difference between what you have already paid and the original price of the vehicle. For example, if the total amount for your lease payments over three years adds up to $20k on a car that was initially $50k MSRP, can you guess what your final buy-out would be? You got it, $30K.
Lease vs Buy a Car: A Study in Finance
If you love to own what you drive for many years, without mileage restrictions or usage liabilities, then financing might be the way to go. Yes, your payments are higher, but that’s because you’ve committed to paying for the full amount of the vehicle (as opposed to a lease where you’re only paying for a portion of it). Here are some of the typical benefits that people enjoy when they finance:
- Unrestricted usage in terms of modifications or cosmetics
- Unlimited mileage restrictions
- Feeling like you own an asset
- Easier to transfer ownership if you decide to sell at any time
Since a lease is financially optimized for those who drive less than 15k mi/yr, professions that involve a lot of driving tend to finance. If we write a lease for 18k miles or even 20k miles per year, you’ll notice that the monthly payment might actually be greater than a finance payment. So if you’re a pharmaceutical sales rep, a real estate agent, or in construction, it might be more cost-effective to finance.
Lease vs Buy a Car: The Fine Print
At the end of the day, you will always be paying for a car, whether it is from a lease, finance, or cash scenario. Then there’s maintenance or critical repairs. Over time, the continual cost of paying for a lease nets out to a similar value of buying and maintaining the very same vehicle for the long term.
So which is better?
Actually, neither one is better. The idea of a lease vs finance scenario comes down to a financial and personal preference at the moment. Both financial structures allow you to pay for having a new vehicle without paying out of pocket for the total amount upfront. You pay over time. The only variable there is how much time?
Dyer Chevy in Lake Wales. We Make It Easy.
No matter which financial structure works better for you, our credit approval process is simple. You can even fill out our secure online credit application before you come in, so we can have the approval in place and ready for you when you select any of our amazing new Chevy vehicles for sale. We work with first-time buyers, families, professionals, and retirees. We can help people with tier-1 credit to no credit. Give us a try. You’ll be glad you did.