Lease is almost up. Need some advise.

[jay07631]

Originally Posted by MugsBRZ

He has a 2013 and is considering a '15 or '16. As far as the best value for his money, I haven't seen anyone ask how much money he has paid on the car over the 42 month lease period. What is the cost of your monthly payment? It's hard to say with 100% certainty what the best deal is without knowing how much you've already spent, but as others have written, it certainly will make the most financial sense to pay off the '13 and keep it rather than buy something new.

Leases almost always cost more than purchasing a car simply because you pay for a longer period of time when you combine the number of lease payments with the number of payments to pay off the residual, which means more interest to the bank. If you don't keep the car, the lease has the obvious benefit of not being committed for as long a period of time. 42 months is a longer lease these days with 24 and 36 month leases being more common. But most people buy cars on 60-72 month payment plans, so 42 months is still about 2 years less of a commitment. The other advantage of a lease is being able to upgrade at the end of a lease to a model with the latest features. Typically, leases have been a way of being able to obtain a car when you don't have the liquid cash for a down payment or your credit isn't as good - leases usually have higher interest rates than purchases.
Here is a great comparison of leasing vs buying:
http://www.cars101.com/lease.html

Whatever the monthly payment amount is, 42 payments is a lot of $ and he still owes $16K. I ran an appraisal on Edmunds.com for zip code 07470 on a 2013 DGM Limited MT with 23K miles in "average" condition (don't know what options you have and also don't know if the damage would drop it to "rough" condition or if it's extremely minor, maybe the car would be considered "clean"). Edmunds has the car valued at $15,944 for a private party sale; take $1000 off for a trade-in and add $1000 for dealer retail.



Personally, if I could afford it, I would go with the '16. The car is much more "polished" now with better features even though mechanically, it's the same.

Thanks for this (and for unjacking thread). Still have a few weeks, but this helps a great deal.

[jay07631]

So, update. Got a black 2016 limited m/t last night. thanks to all for your input.