Quote Originally Posted by kexodusc
Bingo.

Some people get great value out of owning a vehicle for longer than 4 years. That can't be disputed. For those of us who cycle through vehicles more often, don't rack up high mileage, or beat the snot out of them leasing can have tremendous advantage. In my case, the lower payment on a 4 year lease of my Accord saved me more money than the difference in final year payments and resale value of the vehicle at the end of year 5 had I bought it and financed for 5 years. And best part was, I would have been able to lease a brand new car instead of making payments on an older vehicle. More new car for my money....that's in limbo right now...but I digress...
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If I'm not mistaken, the cost of money that pay on a lease is close to that on a chattel loan such as car loan, so there isn't much to choose in that respect, lease vs. buy, and the convenience of lease easily makes it the way to go if you're going to flip vehicles every 4 years. If you can finance at a lower rate, say around prime, then buying might still be the better way to go.

Since for me an automobile is a necessity, not a luxury, I have to go for the lowest cost. Since I can't charge any part of the cost to business and drive quite low mileage, this consists of:
  • Settling for a utilitarian vehicle
  • Buying a late-model used vehicle with residual warranty
  • Keeping it for a long time
  • Purchase it using an equity-secured line-of-credit.