Leasing vs. Buying which is better for me?

rbradleysd

Hey All!
I go back and forth on leasing. I usually drive a higher end car (Audi/BMW/Mercedes) and always drive an SUV (I've had X5's, a Q5 and a Touareg). I drive about 18-20k a year and tend to get a new car around the 2-2.5 year mark. Lately I've purchased and put decent cash down (20k or so) and rolled the equity into the next car purchase. I do live in CA which means when I purchase I pay the full tax vs. leasing. Would it make sense to just lease and put less cash down and pay any mileage overage?

Mr_Shiftright

Not sure what makes "sense" to you. If you mean will it be cheaper than buying, I don't think so. Leasing rarely comes out cheaper on a per mile basis, unless you've maybe got some tricky tax thing going, or if somehow you calculate the "opportunity costs" of not having your capital available to invest in something profitable.

But those are both edgy assumptions, IMO. If you run 5,000 miles overage, that can hurt, too.

On the other hand, leasing favors the short-term buyer, and sometimes you can get a pretty good lease deal on a "leftover" high end car.