Buy Or Lease?

ron schenker

What's the most feasible route to go? Buy a cheap 10- 15 year old truck in good shape, spend a couple of grand to put it in excellent shape. Grand total = $5000.00. no monthly payments, cheaper insurance...or
Lease brand new truck, nothing down, approx. 500/mth. payments, tax write off, no breakdown worries, higher insurance, give it back at lease end.
- total miles driven/yr. = 18,000
If this has been done to death, please refer me to thread, thanks

Mike Finley

My program falls more in the middle - buy a 2-4 year old truck with low, low miles on it somewhere in that $15,000-$20,000 range, drive it up close to 100K and do it all over again.

I've leased at least 7 or 8 times for personal vehicles, but I don't see how you get over the damage issues if you were going to lease it for a work truck. While there is no free lunch with damage, if you buy a vehicle and put a lot of damage on it the value is reduced upon selling it or trading it in, and leases all have provisions for what is called "normal wear and tear" which covers issues of scratches up to a certain length and dings on a certain amount of body panels, but the big difference is the lease wear and tear is very conservative compared to what a buyer or your used vehicle would accept on a truck approaching 100K.

ron schenker

Good point Mike. Thanks!