Lease Or Buy Dilemma

[Stwlegend]

Anyone here lease?  My truck finally had its last ride.  While I expected it would come soon, the thought of a payment again has got me miserable.  Gotta have something more reliable this time out, and want to go new.  I did my research on leasing vs buying, but would like to know if anyone has any strong opinions either way.

[Stwlegend]

Leaning towards lease after 5 dealerships this weekend, had it rough with these sales people and need to step away for a few days.  Annoying but I understand they gotta make a living too.

[hoogie]

I'm probably going to lease a vehicle the next time I need to.  I own both of our cars outright now, but had been making payments on the SUV for what feels like forever.

 

Ideally, I would finance or outright buy a car if possible, but some of the financing terms they have now are 7 years long.  I don't think most warranties go beyond 5 years, or however many kilometers.  I always hate paying for car repairs if I'm still making payments on it.  I think it all comes down to your financial situation and what works for you.

 

Also, I feel your pain about car sales people.  They are easy to dislike, but it's their job at the same time.

[Stwlegend]

Right, I feel like if I finance, by the time it's paid off at the amount that I can afford monthly, I'll be taking it to the shop for issues.  Lease is now seeming like the better way to go if I'm set on new.  Having a never ending payment is not what I want to look forward to, but i guess a lot of people do it.

[hoogie]

It all depends on how much you're spending and what the financing terms are.  The last car that we financed was over five years, which coincided with the length of the warranty.  I'm assuming you could shorten the length of the financing term, but I'm not sure.  Also not sure what the difference is between Canada and the US.  

 

Obviously, financing is usually the better option, because you actually own the car instead of essentially just renting it.  On the other hand, it would be nice to have a new and different car every couple of years, which is why I'll likely just lease next time.

[Stwlegend]

Appreciate the advice Matt.  I'm going SUV and I stopped in today and it looks like buying will be double the amount of leasing for a VW Tiguan.  So this coming weekend I'm going into the dealership with the intent to lease.  We'll see where these salespeople lead me lol.

[hoogie]

Tiguan is a great choice.  Very cool.

[IamNick]

What did you end up doing? I don't own a vehicle at the moment and I don't really need one because I just take the skytrain to work in Vancouver everyday. I'm thinking about buying something used though, like an old truck just for camping, hiking and snowboarding. I'll probably wait until next spring though since summer is almost over.

[Stwlegend]

Went with a lease on the Tiguan!  It was the "model year end clearance event".  2016 vehicles are old news apparently. They are making way, or at least telling me they are making way, for the 2017's.  So the vehicle was a bit cheaper which was nice.  Plus they didn't have the color i wanted (black), they only had like an orange, which i was super against, almost left, but then they got a grey through a dealer trade when they realized I was serious on leaving.  The charcoal grey is real nice, prob would have done that without question if they had that on site, but it worked out better price wise this way.  My first day with it today, has great pickup and looks sleak.  10 hours total in the dealership from the time I walked in, til the time i left.  Crazy.  But I'm happy.

[hoogie]

Nice!

[Stwlegend]

Nice!

 

Thanks, and thanks for some of the pointers on the lease/buy.  A couple guys at work said VW's are too "hipster" but I'm enjoying the ride nonetheless!

[hoogie]

Volkswagens are great.  I don't think they're hipster at all.  I've always wanted a Jetta, or a Gulf TDI.  The only downfall usually is the repair bills, but you won't have that problem.

[Stwlegend]

That's good to know at the end if I wanted to buy it.  Service did look pricey.  Its a 36 month lease and the oil changes are every 10k miles.  So i only have to do 3 oil changes for the lease and they gave me 2 free vouchers.  So I'm on the line for only 1 oil change but its priced at $84.99! Everything looked ridiculous price wise in there, but I'm used to going to the local corner guy by me so maybe that's why.

[hoogie]

That's an expensive oil change man!  Considering I've done them in my driveway for about $20.  

 

My buddy has an older Jetta, and does all the work on it himself.  He needed to replace his spark plugs, so he went to our local dealership to get a price.  They were $60 apiece!  Couldn't believe the upcharge, considering he ended up getting them from them at cost, which was around $15.

 

All dealerships are scams though, I've found.  When my Hyundai was under warranty, I had to go to the dealership to get the maintenance done to get free oil changes and to keep the warranty up.  The schedule was something like this:

 

Oil Change - Free

Service # 1 - $80

Oil Change - Free

Service # 2 - $200

Oil Change - Free

Service # 3 - $300

Oil Change - Free

Service # 4 - $450

 

In the course of five years, I had to do the biggest service twice.  Once they hook you, they'll keep you.

[Stwlegend]

You're freaking me out lol.  What a crazy service setup that is!  I wasn't told anything similar like that, but I know they will try to change the air filter and all that crap that is cheap for a high fee when I go in.  Not gonna get tied up with that stuff thru them.  Thinking tires might be the only thing I may get caught on but figured I could put a cheap pair on with enough tread to pass inspection when I turn it in.  Learning as I go here.

 

Spark plugs $60???  With the labor if he got that done at the dealer, your probably looking at over $200!  This is one of the main reasons I wanted to lease, hoping no issues, just turn in when things like the brakes get close to getting worn out.

Edited August 24, 2016 by Stwlegend

[Crusader]

when i bought my rogue, i was promised free oil changes and car washes but i also have to get scheduled maintenance done or i "may lose" my "lifetime" car washes and oil changes.

[hoogie]

I'm sure each dealership is different.  That's just what we dealt with at Hyundai.  Combine it with the fact that no one there knows what they're doing, and it was a huge reason why I'll never go back to that one.  Anton's scam was the same as the one they had there.  

 

I'm not trying to freak you out lol.  But yeah, four spark plugs would be $240, plus who knows what for labour.  You have nothing to worry about though!

[Stwlegend]

Haha.  I double checked everything and the free oil changes are literally just vouchers, no strings attached and I don't have any maintenance package. I should be okay.  All these stories you guys tell are more common than not when it comes to the dealerships. Hope to stay out of there for other than the oil changes and then the turn in 3 years down the road.