Just curious... Do most people buy or lease 996TTs?

 

I BOUGHT MINE...THE LEASE IS TOO HIGH,SO I WROTE A CHECK

 

i wrote a check for my C4S also.

I think most people buy, from what my buddy at the dealership told me. A lot of cayenne and boxsters are leased, though.

 

I leased mine. The lease rate was very low (making it reasonable to put the funds to use elsewhere, earning a higher rate) and it postponed/reduced the highway robbery otherwise known as Arizona state sales tax.

 

it all depends. back when i wrote a check for mine (fall of 00), resale (and therefore residual) was ridiculously high (for example, i ordered mine new in the summer of 2000 cause it was the same price as buying a used 996!). so, one doing a 3 year lease at that time would have made out like a bandit simply by handing the keys to the leasing company after three years. my car is worth about $40k off MSRP here 3 years later. however, after multi-billion $ leasing company write offs from the bubble enhanced residual mistakes, they're probably over compensating for depreciation now which "should" make buying more attractive. but it sure is nice knowing you can just hand it back in 3 years without getting hammered by depreciation - especially if the car is in an accident and is repaired or a lemon.

 

Actually, even if they go overboard on depreciation, but offer a really low interest rate, you might still come out ahead. You have to do the old lease vs. purchase math from accounting 102 to know for sure.

 

"even if they go overboard on depreciation, but offer a really low interest rate, you might still come out ahead. You have to do the old lease vs. purchase math from accounting 102 to know for sure."

yeah, but when the cost of money goes down on the leasing side, it does so on the finance side as well.

 

That is accounted for in the lease vs. buy decision model I referred to.

 

cash flow is of the most importance in our business so ours is leased.

 

If paying cash is not an option - I believe in financing over leasing - at least your money goes towards something...On some of those leases, buying/financing and selling with depreciation is less than the lease cost. My 2 cents

 

"If paying cash is not an option - I believe in financing over leasing - at least your money goes towards something..."

i dunno. my car will be three years old in a couple months. MSRP was $90k (+100% of the sales tax up front) and it's worth about $50k now. i'm sure if you ran the numbers you'd find the guy who leased and would be handing back the keys in a couple months crushed the guy who financed. $40K + 100% of the sales tax + interest i'm quite sure is a large % more than the sum total of 36 lease payments. and as a check writer, i've had a huge % opportunity cost on that $90K + tax over the last 3 years.

 

the bottom line is that there is no right answer here. it depends on many individual factors not the least of which are what kind of deal you can work out and what your expected rate of return is on your invested money.