Guys - I'm looking at a used 2010 with nearly all of its warranty left. Very nicely equipped (close to a $140K msrp). I think I can get a nice deal on it.

I will likely drive this car for 2 years, but I don't want to pay a 24 month lease payment.

'm thinking of doing a no down/ 48-60 month lease, and then trade it in after 2 years. I figure that my cap investment in the car after 2 years will be about $32-35K, and that I can exit the lease by trading it in around $85K in two years.

Am I off in my thinking? I like the lease because I don't have to worry about accidents, paying all of the tax upfront, obsessing about whether and where to drive it, and mileage. More important, I have more tax write-off flexibility with the lease.

Thoughts and comps from those of you who leased these cars would be appreciated.

 

If you break your lease early, don't you have to pay all the remaining payments regardless?

 

I'm just a stupid guy. That's way too much math stuff for me.
Yeah btw how can you break a lease w/o penalty issues?
Also if one's a true hardcore enthusiast I can't see "renting" a GT3/RS.

Ranger

 

It seems like you are making lots of assumptions and taking a lot of risk in the deal your propose. I agree that leases work well for the reasons you stated and I think leasing is fine. You are just making some pretty risky assumptions regarding the value of the car in two years.

If the car is worth less in two years than you assume and you are either willing to ride out the term of the lease or put more money in then your proposal is fine. If not, you are far better off just leasing the car for the term you want and purchasing it at lease end if the residual is far less than the value.

The major advantages of a lease is mitigation of risk, lower payments, lower taxes, easier deductibility, and less hassle when you are done with the car. The disadvantages are limited flexibility, possibility of hidden fees, the stigma of "renting", etc. I'm sure I missed a couple under each.

 

Thanks all. I'm surprised nobody has leased theirs.

I am making some assumptions that may prove risky. I can't "break" the lease; I would trade it in on another car after 18-24 months or sell it for my then-buy out, which I'd estimate at around $85-88K?

I may take a one-time loss at the point of the trade in. That's what happened to me on a Range Rover lease, but the dealer wanted me to buy their Audi S4 so bad, that they gave me top dollar on the trade in, and I still got a good deal on the S4. I had to come out of pocket a bit to reconcile the numbers, but it was worth it. Generally, I've had good experiences ending leases early through trade-ins.

Sparkhill - I think you hit the major disadvantage: lack of flexibility. I don't care about or perceive a stigma, and I can check for hidden fees upfront. The question is how to minimize the out of pocket spend when you know you're only going to keep it for 2 years.

-bg

 

You dont even have the car yet and you want to get ride of it? I think you should just stick to thinking about the present, you'll probably love the car so much you wont want to trade it.

 

I can't fathom leasing a GT3 because I wouldn't drive a car like that and NOT take it to the track. And the second you take it to the track, you see the limitations of the stock configuration and you start modding the car. Obviously you don't want to be modding a car that you don't own. Well, I should say that I don't want to be modding a car that I don't own. I know a few guys who have modded the heck out of leased vehicles and it's a total PITA when it comes time to return the car and unless you DIY everything you end up paying labor twice, once to put it on and once to take it off.

This is also totally disregarding the financial risk of taking a car that you don't own to the track. I also consider this a bad idea in general, though I did it a couple of times with the WRX I leased. I just knew that if I wrecked the car I was going to have to cut a $20,000 check and buy the car. That's not a big burden with a WRX. It's a much bigger burden with the replacement cost of a GT3.