What Is Parked In Your Driveway?

That was a little tough to read, but here let's do some math. Cost of owning one car for 12 years vs the cost of leasing via 36-month leases year after year.

I'll use a Toyota Camry as the example since it's America's best seller. Data is from Edmunds. I'm assuming you just get the base model and put no options in it.

A Camry costs you $22,159 (true purchase price per Edmunds, with no options on the car). Then you have to maintain it. Toyota pays to maintain it for the first two years. After that, let's say you take it for oil changes every 10,000 miles and do all the factory recommended service and replace the tires and brakes when you should, all that shit. Average maintenance cost per year after the 2nd year is about $250.

So over 12 years that's $22,159 + $2,500 = $24,649. Then after 12 years it's usually worth a little bit, so you can sell it for $2000. So we're back down to $22,649.

On leases, right now you can lease the same car for $3284 due at start (which includes $2499 cash down + $650 bank fee + $135 doc fee), and $142 per month for 36 months. $142 per month times 36 months is $5,112. So the total cost of your lease is $3,284 + $5,112 = $8,396.

Since that only gets you a car for 3 years, you need to string together 3 more leases back to back, so we get an apples to apples comparison for owning for 12 years. 4 consecutive leases x $8,396 per lease = $33,584.

So owning one car for 12 years, costs you $22,649. Leasing for the same time period every 36 months costs you $33,584.

It's a massive difference. How many miles do you put on your car per year? I can do the math to tell you whether leasing or buying is better, because that will affect it for you.


So we agree.

So we agree.

If you're going to own one car for 12 years, yes. How often do you buy new?

If you're going to own one car for 12 years, yes. How often do you buy new?

I buy the wife a new one,she drives 4 miles to work and four miles back after 5/6 years when it is paid off I take that car and she gets a new one ,again.:)Happy wife ,happy life. Seriously I get a car with 40/45 thousand on it and then turn them in when it's time to get another .I don't take a penny of my own for a down payment.(my ride is 49 mi each way every day 6 days a week)
I just traded my old Camry 03 with 240,000 on it and in "fair" condition for 3200 on a a new Santa Fe.

I buy the wife a new one,she drives 4 miles to work and four miles back after 5/6 years when it is paid off I take that car and she gets a new one ,again.:)Happy wife ,happy life. Seriously I get a car with 40/45 thousand on it and then turn them in when it's time to get another .I don't take a penny of my own for a down payment.(my ride is 49 mi each way every day 6 days a week)
I just traded my old Camry 03 with 240,000 on it and in "fair" condition for 3200 on a a new Santa Fe.

OK well you're not buying and replacing the same car every five years. You're buying and replacing every 10 years. You guys buy a new one, she keeps it 5 years, you get it for the next five years, but you're not trading it back in until it reaches 10-12 years old. That makes great financial sense.

That's much different from what my father in law does. He buys a car for himself, then after 5 years of owning and putting 50K miles on it, he trades it in and buys a new one. He does the same thing with his wife's car. So they buy 2 new cars every five years. It's way cheaper to just continually lease than to do what he does.

Ive had the same car for 17 years!! couple hundred miles away from 250k ... then im getting a nused car.

my soft budget is 20k. I want to put 15k down, then stretch 5k over 3 years.

Ive had the same car for 17 years!! couple hundred miles away from 250k ... then im getting a nused car.

my soft budget is 20k. I want to put 15k down, then stretch 5k over 3 years.

That's about my "budget" when it comes to a car purchase. Whether if I put something down on that $20k purchase or I finance the whole thing (which I hope not to do), that's about my breaking point. Which honestly, gives me a lot of options as far as purchases. If I don't go the Dodge Charger route, I might go with a 6-8 year old Escalade or Yukon. I want a gas guzzling luxury SUV, and those things are just getting broken into at 100,000 miles.

I'm just glad that my car runs...06 Toyota Camry.

That's about my "budget" when it comes to a car purchase. Whether if I put something down on that $20k purchase or I finance the whole thing (which I hope not to do), that's about my breaking point. Which honestly, gives me a lot of options as far as purchases. If I don't go the Dodge Charger route, I might go with a 6-8 year old Escalade or Yukon. I want a gas guzzling luxury SUV, and those things are just getting broken into at 100,000 miles.

Coming in late on this, and maybe it was just because they were both rental, but the Chargers that I drove were the biggest POSs ever. This is coming from someone who owned a Dodge Stratus in high school. Under-powered (unless you're getting a sport package), gas guzzling, garbage man. Again, being lazy and not catching up, see if you can take one overnight. I was extremely underwhelmed.

im test driving a '16 honda accord for a few days .... meh.

Coming in late on this, and maybe it was just because they were both rental, but the Chargers that I drove were the biggest POSs ever. This is coming from someone who owned a Dodge Stratus in high school. Under-powered (unless you're getting a sport package), gas guzzling, garbage man. Again, being lazy and not catching up, see if you can take one overnight. I was extremely underwhelmed.

I don't think I would be satisfied with the SE trim. I would have to have the R/T. I just felt that the Charger would still be a sedan that I could get the kid in and out easily, while having something with power to it. But, the more I think about it, the more I might need to just lean toward the full size truck or SUV. Because one of these days, I'm going to buy a camper and I'm going to need something to pull it with.