Should You Buy or Lease a New Car? | Consumer Reports

There are pros and cons to buying and leasing a new car. Consumer Reports' money expert reveals how to find the best option for you.

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[manthony]

A real penny saver would buy a low millage used car and drive it until it's dust.

[generallyhelpfulsoftware]

Maybe a kid in college taking on student loan debt shouldn’t be buying a new car.

[StalePhish]

I love how the "driving home in the car of your dreams" at the end is that car I just bought!

[KimHjalmarsson]

Buying makes the only sense for me personally. I get accustomed to and bond with my car so I want to keep it for as long as it can go. I'm still adding miles to a Mercedes from 2000 with more than 350 000 miles in total.

[dennyregova]

If I could afford It I would go into a new car every few years!!!

[generallyhelpfulsoftware]

Is Penny Saver a reference to penny wise and pound foolish? Lowering monthly payments while not caring about long term costs to own a car.

[patrickv]

This is good simplistic explanation of Buy vs Lease and covered the points overall quite well. Having said all this, I Leased once and never have since and do Not recommend Leasing whatsoever. Generally Leasing is cheaper on monthly payments, but when you factor it all in, is actually more expensive in the long run in many cases, the long run only being 2, 3 or 4 years depending on the Lease. At the end of 4 years on a Lease you own nothing.... zero ....nada !! Plus you have usually to pay quite a bit down on signing the Lease, plus take insurance for possible damage, plus mileage plan to calculate how much you drive a year to determine lease, plus etc etc. Whereas if you had purchased and even on Financing over 6 years and even better over 5 years ( 4 years is best but not as common now ) you have equity and higher residual value even on a trade in or even better selling your vehicle. The argument of cheaper monthly payments is a good one but don't forget to factor in the money down at signing and spread that out over you lease period to get a true representation of monthly payments ( to mention nothing of Present Value...but gets complex so for sake of argument forget it to keep it simple )
For students on a tight income or anyone tight of money, low paying job, single parent etc, regardless just look at less expensive vehicles. There are great deals on less expensive cars with excellent financing out there. People though want cars they can't afford, the car manufacturers know this and sucker you in on a Lease. Resist the temptation and just stay in your budget.

[dharmaram]

1:38 Nowadays technology rules the car industry and if one can stay within the mileage cap than leasing makes more sense. With how fast technology is improving in cars especially in the electric car sector than why buy such a car when it gets dated so fast and the car depreciates much sooner.

[ajlee]

Lease all German vehicles.
Buy all Japanese & Korean vehicles.
Lease all FCA products (except Wrangler).
Buy all GM vehicles.
Lease Ford cars, Buy their trucks.

[borninhk]

Road warriors can also consider getting lease takeovers of low-mileage cars that are way under their mileage limits. This will limit their repair bills, and if they are self-employed, there is cost certainty and a way for them to reduce their car payments with a cheaper lease takeover if there is a drought in their business.

[BossFlex]

I would say I am the Ding-King, that means I will have to buy a cheap, low initial cost vehicle so that I would not lose too much in the depreciation of the value of my vehicle over its life of ownership. Any way I am first again. Americans seem to work real hard, no time to watch Consumer reports videos as soon as they come out. Let's see if I can keep it up. 😄

[BTC]

Lease for the miles you drive per year with $0 down, carry gap through your auto insurer, sell the lease to (Carmax, Vroom, Carvana, AutoNation) during it's last month and pocket the difference, repeat.

[shahaan]

If u want to save money and get a new car. Get a used electric car if your commute is short. Or get a plug in hybrid. Honda clarity, Prius plug-in etc
Or get a used Prius.

[Anthony-nxyu]

Why would someone with no credit lease? They would’ve approve for the good deals and practically be buying car with that price

[logicalnerd]

Incredible that they recommend a freshman or otherwise young driver strapped for cash or already in debt to lease a brand new vehicle. Talk about terrible advice. Leased vehicles also always require you to have full coverage insurance on them, funny they don't mention that anywhere in this video. The best advice isn't even present in this video; that being buy a used or certified pre-owned car 2-5 years old (or older if you like) so the original owner has already absorbed most of the depreciation for you. If you're a freshman with debt and not much income you probably shouldn't be spending more than 5k on a used car, if that.

[Lovehandle]

Or buy a used reliable car. Lower your expectations and gather your money that means more than a pile of metal who should take you there from A to B and back. Think about your priorities in life than short term vanity.

[Tully]

THUMBS DOWN. This was an irresponsible, simplistic video to release with information suitable for an 8 year old.

[sigor]

Never buy a car you can't pay cash upfront. Don't ever lease a personal use car. Don't have cash? Buy a cheap used.

[giyah]

Disappointed. Usually i learn a ton of new stuff from CR’s videos and articles. This video had no added value; the recommendations that were offered in this video are “common knowledge” in my opinion. I still love CR, just didn’t enjoy this video.

[skylercalltemp]

If you have a student loan, perhaps you should be buying a used car in favor of leasing a new one.