Leasing mileage question

JDS1973

I'm looking to lease a VW Atlas. I'm planning on buying it when the lease ends and will likely put about 15k miles on it per year. Given that, would it make sense to get the lowest amount of miles per year (7,500) to save money on monthly payments or go higher (12 or 15k)? I know that will affect the residual value, but not sure if that will be good or bad for me financially when the lease ends. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Michaell

JDS1973 said:

I'm looking to lease a VW Atlas. I'm planning on buying it when the lease ends and will likely put about 15k miles on it per year. Given that, would it make sense to get the lowest amount of miles per year (7,500) to save money on monthly payments or go higher (12 or 15k)? I know that will affect the residual value, but not sure if that will be good or bad for me financially when the lease ends. Thanks for any help you can provide.

If the intention is to keep the car after the lease ends, it's better to just buy it up front. You'll skip the lease specific costs (acquisition fee), and you won't have to finance at used car rates in 3 years.

isellhondas

Exactly! If you KNOW you are going to buy it, why lease it?

JDS1973

to keep my monthly payments low for the first three years.

Michaell

JDS1973 said:

to keep my monthly payments low for the first three years.

You need to look at the total cost.

How long will the loan be when the lease is up?
How much total interest will you pay, between the lease and the loan?
And, the big question, which nobody can answer - what will the used car loan rates look like three years from now?

Better to lock in a loan now, when the interest rates are still pretty low, than to play roulette with the state of the economy when the lease is over.