I don't cheat on my wife, do drugs, drink to excess, or club baby seals....so I guess the good Lord decided that my vice would be spending too much money on vehicles. Everybody's got to have at least one vice, right?
I'm guilty as sin in that department, and I know it.
Buying new vehicles makes absolutely zero economic sense. It's quite stupid really, whether you purchase a brand new one or lease a brand new one. The second you drive a new one off the lot, you take a beating. Never the less, I'm one of those "every two or three years" folks that car dealerships love. The sad part is that I've turned my poor little wife into one too. When we met, she was driving a 12 year old beat up Geo Prizm and had no aspirations for anything different than that until the end of it's existence. Fast forward 12 years later, after being married to Big Dummie for 10 years, she's had 3 different cars...and now there's a 4th parked out in the garage that she's in love with. (Yuppie-ass Lexus. No, I didn't buy it for her as a Christmas present. LOL She makes her own payments, by way of her nursing job.) But, it's all my fault.
Leasing, odd as it sounds, really isn't that bad. Geo is spot on, in my opinion. We have done it once, and it turned out fine. If you are someone that doesn't drive a ton, wants to drive a new model car every couple of years, and aren't someone who plans to keep one until it's paid off and drive it until the wheels fall off...you can drive a little nicer car than your budget will allow. (Notice I said a "little" not a lot.) There is a payoff figure on a lease just like a purchase...and you can trade them in just like a purchase. The lease part doesn't really get that interesting until you keep one to term and go turn it in and walk away. Otherwise, it's not vastly different than a purchase. We leased one for 3 years...and when you totaled up the payments we made, plus what we could have bought out the car for at the end of the lease term, it wasn't too much more than what we would have paid for it outright from the get-go. A little, but not drastic. The benefit is that we were able to turn it in and walk away if we didn't want to keep it, versus trying to sell it or trade it in, where the dealer would be able to hose you a little more. (ie: "We're giving you $10K for your trade" when in reality they are giving you $8K.) My wife drives a whopping 4 miles a day, round trip, to work and back. But it's still hard to write that check knowing that you don't technically own it...like Geo said, kinda like renting versus buying a house really...
I just love new cars and trucks! I love the way they look, feel, smell. We spend a lot of time in them. It's like crack to me.
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