A question we hear all the time at the Happy Car Store is, “ShouldI lease or Buy my new car?”  That’s a great question.  Here is a little information that may help answer that question:

So, which is better, lease or buy?

It depends on what’s most important to you. All of us have different lifestyles and priorities — in cars, life, and in finances. Car lease-versus-buy decisions must be made with your own lifestyle and priorities in mind. What’s right for one person can be totally wrong for another.

LEASE – If you enjoy driving a new car every two or three years, want lower monthly payments, like having a car that has the latest safety features and is always under warranty, don’t like trading and selling used cars, don’t care about building ownership equity, have a stable predictable lifestyle, drive an average number of miles, properly maintain your cars, are willing to pay more over the long haul to get these benefits, and understand how leasing works, then you should lease.

BUY – If you don’t mind higher monthly payments, prefer to build up some trade-in or resale value (equity), like the idea of having ownership of your car, prefer paying off your loan and being payment-free for a while, don’t mind the unexpected cost of repairs after warranty has expired, drive more than average miles, prefer to drive your cars for years to spread out the cost, like to customize your cars, expect lifestyle changes in the near future, and don’t like the risk of possible lease-end charges — then you should buy.