[Porsche-O-Phile]

Interesting points and while not necessarily wrong some of them really sound like a stretch / rationalization, at least to me. I think the "right" thing to do is whatever makes a person happy with their decision (or failing that, the least miserable). I think it's not simplistic at all to say if one makes a payment of "X" (really "$X" plus "$Y" in interest) on a steeply depreciating object that's less financially beneficial than NOT making a payment. Money either goes out the door or it doesn't. With a payment, it does. With a "free and clear", it doesn't (or perhaps more correctly it does once and then that's it).

The notion that if you're not making a payment you'll somehow pay the same or more in maintenance is just silly and in my experiences, not borne out by facts at all - in fact quite the opposite. It also presupposes that a car "on payments" (lease or purchase) will be free of maintenance costs, which I also think is a stretch. Warranties are frequently skirted by dealerships and they often come with deductables, exclusions, etc. certain things (tires, brake pads, etc.) are going to cost the same (approximately) on any car and are unavoidable.

At the end of the day, do what works for you in your situation but I really like the idea of not writing checks to banks for increasingly-worthless piles of driveway rust every month. Let some other sucker do that, eat the depreciation and I'll gladly get another 100k or 200k of reasonably trouble-free use out of it without caring what the book value is. Just my $0.02.

Oh, and I totally agree with Matt - in a layoff, one does NOT want a car payment. The very first thing you should do (after the obligatory night of sitting at the bar getting schite-faced) is drop any vehicle with a payment off at whatever dealership one got it from. Best to avoid such situations completely, but if you find yourself in it, dump the car(s) and focus on keeping a roof over your head and groceries on the table. Priorities.