LeftieBiker said:Those interested in leasing but not buying a car really only need to worry about the total cost of the lease (DP plus sum of payments, plus all fees), putting down only as much as they are willing to lose if the car is totaled. Dealers will compete by, if possible, moving costs into the residual - and that's fine if you want a new car in two or three years.
Leasing a Leaf or any other car makes good sense for some but not for others.
My preference is to buy, especially with a Leaf because of the federal tax credits. When leasing the lease company gets the tax credit and will normally apply some or all of it to discount the car. When I was recently buying the lease offers only passed on $4,000 additional discount and dealers were pocketing additional $3,500 in profit. They were really pushing the lease deals.
I just counted car purchases and my recent Leaf purchase was my 63rd new car purchase since 1970 and my 14th new car purchase in just the last 6 years.
The last 6 years it includes 1 Lexus, 4 Leafs, 9 Fords. One truck was lemon Lawed and leaf was totaled. I still have the Lexus, 2 Ford trucks and the 2020 Leaf. The great thing is everything is paid for. It wasn’t always like this.
As I said, it wasn’t always like this. Here is a paycheck for my first job after discharge from the service. I was working at a drive in theater selling tickets in the booth one day a week and had gone back full time to college at that time. Notice the $5.50 weekly pay, $5 in credit union and only 21 cents take home pay. It was a good job because I could do my homework in a well lit air conditioned booth while my wife worked night shift as a RN. We had a new car even then, 1970 Dodge Dart. . I bought it with money I saved while in South East Asia.