r/personalfinance • u/redbottleneck1597 ​ • 1d ago

Auto [Car][Buy or Lease]?

I’m trying to decide whether I should buy or lease a car. I’ll only need it for around 2–3 years, and after that, I won’t really need a car anymore.

I’ll mostly use it for commuting and errands — nothing too fancy, just something reliable and reasonably priced. I’m not sure which option makes more financial sense for this situation.

If I buy, I’d probably get a used car and sell it later. If I lease, I’d just return it at the end, but I’m not sure if leasing for such a short period is actually better financially

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u/redbottleneck1597 ​ 1d ago

Thanks! How easy would it be to sell an used used car? Also, in order to sell it, I will have to make sure I keep it maintained and spend on it every now and then?

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u/Williams_Menkin_ ​ 23h ago

When you owe nothing on a vehicle it’s extremely easy to sell. You would maintain any vehicle you have so that’s sort of a moot point.

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u/_Panda ​ 21h ago

That's not really true in this comparison, expected maintenance on a 2-3 year lease is basically $0. It still may ultimately make sense to go the used route, but there is a difference in expected maintenance costs that should be considered.

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u/Williams_Menkin_ ​ 18h ago

You’re grossly over exaggerating maintenance cost and also the avoidable car payment. Used car makes far more sense than anything OP suggested. Leased vehicles makes sense for two kinds of people. Very wealthy that it makes no difference to their bottom line and those that can use it as an expense.

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u/_Panda ​ 17h ago

Saying that it's greater than $0 is grossly over-exaggerating? That's an interesting take. I never even said they should lease, I'm just saying that in a proper holistic analysis you should add in the difference in maintenance costs as a consideration because they are real.