@RussianPassion wrote:Not true at all. You can always as what the lease money factor is. And if you take same exact car, and say lease it for 3 years and finance it for 5... Say you put nothing down in both cases and make similar payment or total $ paid within 3 years... You will have exactly the same. NOTHING. Residuals guarantee you future value... When purchasing you have no guarantees. To think that you can break the equity barrier faster in a purchase is wrong. Plus, you will have to finance tax on the FULL sale price of the car AND pay interest on it. Leasing is THE best way to drive a new car. The reason dealers like leasing over financing is because we get a chance to sell or lease another car to the customer at the end of the lease term (say 3 years vs 5 years on the purchase). For the sale reason manufacturers put more rebates and incentives if you lease. And when leasing, you have less of a possibility to be upside down. Only logical reason to buy the car over leasing it is if you plan on keeping it forever... Which is something that people always say, but US statistics says otherwise... People always trade up or down. Keeping a car after its warranty runs out if a nighmare if you buying something of quaity. Finally, if you lease today you can turn it into a purchase at any time. You dont have to wait until the lease term ends. If you finance the car, you are commiting to a long term contract with the only way out being to sell it. With lease you have options. With lease you get to drive more car for less money.
Just my 0.02 Rubbles.
A couple of points to the above rebuttel:
1) Naturally you can ask what the money factor is - and hopefully you know the way to convert it to interest rate. I am just saying that many people enter into a lease without having that very important piece of info - and don't do the conversion before they sign. Those that are here do their research - that's why they are here.
2) RussianPassion mentions "Break the equity barrier faster" - there never is equity in a lease. Period. Never. That is the point of a lease. If you purchase you eventually have equity. Sooner if you have low interest rate and don't trade an upside vehicle to get into the new one. Equity is a function of the deal you negotiate. Negotiate poorly and you may never have equity. Dealerships know this and bank on it (pun intended).
3) RussianPassion mentions "Keeping a car after its warranty runs out is a nightmare..." Not my experience in over 40 years of vehicle ownership. This is one of those areas that has more to do with your attitude - if you fear it, then you will need a warranty. If you keep your vehicle maintained regularly and save the cost of the warranty for repairs, then you won't fear the repairs. Some people just feel better having a warranty. The rest of us would rather pay for a repair than a warranty that may or may not cover the item that needs repair.
4) Lastly he speaks of 'long term' - at the end of a 3 year lease you have nothing. At the end of a 3 year purchase, if you have negotiated a good interest rate and a shorter term and a decent purchase price, you have equity. If you want to have a new vehicle every year or two, than leasing is probably for you. If you keep your vehicles for several years than a purchase is probably more appropriate. Several is 3+ years IMO.
Many car sales reps want you to lease because they have a recurring customer guaranteed plus the vehicle comes back to sell to someone else so they are generating their own market. The dealership makes more money on the transaction if you lease. Plus they "sell" the vehicle twice: once for a 3 yr lease and then again when the lease is turned in at lease termination.
If you don't mind vehicle shopping every year or two (as in a lease), then leasing is probably the way to go for you. IMO, vehicle shopping is not something I want to do frequently - so I would rather buy and pay it off as soon as possible. I like driving a vehicle without payments. 
