There are two primary ways you can get a car from a dealership, you can buy it, most likely involving a car loan at the end of which you own the car. Or you can lease it, where you pay the dealership a monthly amount for permission to drive the car, at the end of which you have the option of buying the car. But which option is better for you? This article will help you decide. 

Leasing Pros

For the purposes of this article let’s take ‘buying’ as the assumed default position and compare it to leasing, starting with the pros that leasing has over a regular car purchase. Leasing is a different way of approaching car ownership, where instead of owning a car until it stops working, you’re constantly switching to a new car every few years, and with the way leases are set up, you’ll always be driving newer cars than you may be able to afford in a straight purchase. 

Lease monthly payments are generally lower than the equivalent loan payments for the same car, which means you can afford better with the same budget. Because you’re technically renting the car, maintenance fees and other concerns of that nature are not your responsibility and you have no need to worry about those costs either. Leasing can also be especially good for company vehicles, as if you’re using a leased vehicle for work purposes you can get extra tax credits over a bought vehicle. 

Leasing Cons

The biggest downside to leasing is that you don’t own the car, and that causes quite a few problems depending on what you’re planning to use the car for. Leased cars generally come with a mileage limit that’s harshley enforced, meaning that if you go over the maximum amount of miles that were agreed upon you’ll get hit with massive overcharges.

In a more financial sense, a lease agreement is technically a sunk cost, because you do not own the car at the end of it, whereas with a regular purchase, you own the car at the end and can theoretically sell the car later and make some of that money back. 

Verdict 

Your decision to lease or not is largely dependent on 2 factors, how often you drive, and how much you care about driving the next cars available. That mileage limit is a much bigger deal breaker than you might first assume because it severely limits the freedom available to you, no road trips for you, and means you have to plan out your use of the car carefully, but if you only plan on using the car occasionally and just love having a shiny new car in the driveway, then it might be right for you. 

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