|
lease?
Well, I've decided I'm going to get either the VW or Audi (probably the VW so I can save about $3K). I'd like to save some money though, have a reasonable monthly payment and not put a lot of money down. I'm not very liquid at the moment, but will be probably by the end of the year.
I've never leased before, and always balked at the idea of "renting" a car. I don't have any tax advantages I can leverage wrt the car. In the past I've kept my cars for a long time, but I've only had the Subaru for 1.5 years, and probably won't keep this car out of warranty.
So my options are to put down a couple $K, finance long term through my credit union. I think that would end up with about a $500/mo payment (figuring about $100/$5K). I could put down more like $5-$7K but that would dip a little too deep into my savings for comfort. Then when I get my settlement I'd likely refinance, dropping another $10K into the car to lower the payments.
The other is to lease. I can put about $2K down, and do 36 months, 12K miles/year, $435/mo. I don't have the details yet on the rate, residual, etc but will soon. I have no idea what/where I'll be in 3 years, but having to change cars wouldn't be the end of the world.
The only thing I worry about is if circumstances change and I need/want to get out of the lease in a year or so. If I purchased, I could sell the car, although I'd be upside down and it would cost me a couple $K to get out of it. Are there equivalent lease options? I know I could do leaseswap, etc, but am wondering about other alternatives.
|