Thinking of leasing a new car.....

[apnep]

My car has 135,000 miles on it- I kind of hate to spend that much to have DVD players installed in it.....of course, I hate the idea more of driving 2100 miles with two kids and no DVD player..........

I also was kind of dreaming about a Subaru Outback or Forester......

Just buy a DVD player then and attatch it to the back of the head rests. It'll cost less than a hundred.

But if you have your heart set on a new car...buy it, don't lease it and then, still don't pay for built in DVD, buy one and attach it to the back of the head rest. It's still cheaper. Love the Outbacks too.

Ang

Edited to add: I didn't read through all the posts before I posted. After reading one of your responses it sounds like you are just ready for a new car. But why wouldn't you buy? You sound like you're in great shape. Is leasing different these days? My DH used to lease his cars when we were first dating and it just seems like a bad idea for all the reasons a PP said...paying mileage over, dents, dings...walking away. Good luck whatever you decide, OP!

 

[DeniseinNS]

I don't think leasing is a bad idea, we've done it 3 times and have no regrets at all. Before we started leasing we had purchased a vehicle (Chevy Aveo) and it ended up being a piece of crap so when we traded it in we lost $1500 on it. We leased 2 vans after that and were glad to be able to turn them in on the end up the lease because we were starting to have problems with them, if we had purchased them we would have lost money getting rid of them. Right now I have a vehicle that we just purchased and my hubby has a leased vehicle and it's worked out great for us, the payments are lower on the lease so we had more money to spend when we purchased mine.

For the DVD player, I would just get the kids each a portable, it's much cheaper and you can use them in other vehicles, in the house, etc....

 

[msmayor]

Just an FYI...this is not necessarily true. We own 4 cars, an always lease 1 of them. We have never had to pay for the maintenance on our leased cars. The lease has always included oil changes, regular maintenance (tune ups etc). We have leased over 6 cars and also have never had to pay a dime for "excess wear and tear" or mileage. We know our mileage allowance and make sure that we are under it.

One way or another...you're paying for it. If not up-front when the work is done, then its built in to your monthly payments.