purchased, and would do it again and again this is my second 5 car and still have them both along with two mimi vans purchased of course

 

No accountant in his right mind would tell you to lease a car for business purposes. If you have to lease something, you can't afford it. Or, you don't care. Doesn't matter to me. I want a CPA on this forum to come forward and say it's "smart" to lease a $65,000.00 car.

And, no accountant in his or her right mind would tell you to lease a car for personal reasons, unless you're independently wealthy or don't care about cash.

 

I believe what you're doing is referred to as "financing" here.

American "leasing" is kinda like long-term renting.

 

Kind of. You put a bunch of cash up front, pay a bunch of payments, and then give up a car that actually has value when you're through with it.

So, yeah. It's like "renting." For a bunch of cash up front that you never get back. And a bunch of payments that you just throw away. Then you get a new car and start over.

 

Not necessarily. The car can be acquired at the end of the lease term, or rolled into another car. When lease rates are low it may be cheaper than other forms of financing. Depends on the deal. You don't get depreciation back either.

 

So true, I hate having to make payments. I guess that's why I have the attitude that if I can't pay cash then I can wait.

Unless we are talking about picking up a Ferrari 430 mmmmmm mmm mmmmm I could make payments on that.. even if they were 4000 a month.. haha

 

No. No cash upfront. Much lower payments than financing. And here is the biggest advantage leasing gives you in case of E60. In 3 years you will easily get rid of this completely obsolete by that time and unreliable car for much, much higher price (inflated residual) that you would by selling it yourself. Actually I never understood why some people are willing to drive 5 year old cars when there are so many newer and better cars around. If I could I would only lease for 6-12 month.

 

I concur with the post two posts back. Cars are a waste of cash. Period. But they're even more of a waste of cash if you lease them. You can sit up all night and try to justify it, but, in the end, it's a waste of cash. But, they're fun. So, whether you lease or buy, have fun. But don't try to act like you're either making or saving cash by "renting" a car, because you're not, I assure you.

I'm still waiting for a competent CPA to disagree, of course.

 

At the end of the day, you just compare the costs of the car, between leasing and buying, for your intended period of "ownership".

I'm leasing my car for 3 years. When I add up all my lease payments and any down payments/signing fees, I believe that amount will be less than the cost of buying the car and then selling it after 3 years. At the end of my 3 years, I do not think that I will be able to sell my car at a high enough price to get a better value over leasing for 3 years.

My calculations are based on the specific lease rates, interest rates, and deals I got at the time, so every case will be different. Buying may end up being a better deal for someone else, but I believe I got a better deal by leasing. And obviously, no one can predict depreciation accurately. But what I'm trying to say is that its simply about the numbers. It has nothing to do with what you can afford, or what you "should" do.

 

A competent CPA would probably tell you not to waste the cash on the car and take public transport, if saving money is that important to you