Your opinion on leasing a car?

[rodi]

Here's my situation: I need a car, have no credit, and I'm doing this on my own. Now, I'm willing to put down two thousand dollars on a car and make payments faithfully every month but my credit is 0. I have no credit history and its making getting a car kind of tough. Should I look into leasing a car instead?

[MrAngryFace]

DO NOT LEASE A CAR

[MrAngryFace]

GET SOMEONE TO COSIGN FOR YOU DO NOT LEASE A CAR

[Van Cruncheon]

WHAT MAF SAID

[INTUNEevolution]

Build up a credit history, really quickly.

Buy something for two hundred bucks on credit, and then pay it off immediately.  Then, get a cosigner that you know to have good credit.  Then you can lease a car, but you can F everything up if you do not promise to yourself that you will pay it monthly.  Cars will wreck your credit like no other product on the market.

[rodi]

Wow, holy crap. So I guess I'm not leasing. lol

Thanks guys.

[brawndolicious]

my friend recently bought a used car from a used car lot with a loan from a credit union.  That might be the better option.  Leasing is a hell of a lot of money down the drain.  Even if you're car is worth <$500 by the time you want to sell it, you can probably make more than that back by donating it.  definitely if it's still running.

at least if you get a loan on this car, you're going to build up your credit.  you could definitely buy a decent car for less than 5 grand.  just research around a little before jumping into leasing.

kind of off topic but my friend told me that he learned that on this site called fatwallet.com, people do some insane shit (apply online for 8 credit cards at once and whatnot) in order to jack up their credit score or jack up how much money they can charge with their credit cards.  it's insane.  college kids that can charge $100,000 on one card.

if you want to apply online, and if you legally live with your parents (they probably won't check anyways), then you just fill out "combined household income" as what you, your parents, and your siblings make and that'll definitely get you some plastic.  like I said, these people are insane.

INTUNEevolution, doesn't it take 6 months until you have a credit score.

[INTUNEevolution]

my friend recently bought a used car from a used car lot with a loan from a credit union.  That might be the better option.  Leasing is a hell of a lot of money down the drain.  Even if you're car is worth <$500 by the time you want to sell it, you can probably make more than that back by donating it.  definitely if it's still running.

at least if you get a loan on this car, you're going to build up your credit.  you could definitely buy a decent car for less than 5 grand.  just research around a little before jumping into leasing.

kind of off topic but my friend told me that he learned that on this site called fatwallet.com, people do some insane shit (apply online for 8 credit cards at once and whatnot) in order to jack up their credit score or jack up how much money they can charge with their credit cards.  it's insane.  college kids that can charge $100,000 on one card.

if you want to apply online, and if you legally live with your parents (they probably won't check anyways), then you just fill out "combined household income" as what you, your parents, and your siblings make and that'll definitely get you some plastic.  like I said, these people are insane.

Everything in this post is ABSOLUTELY TRUE
I bolded all the epic truths.

[INTUNEevolution]

I did not think it was a time thing to get a score.

I was under the impression it had to do with purchases and reliability.

[brawndolicious]

well that's what my friend told me but it might vary?

[INTUNEevolution]

Well, we are both wrong.  According to my dad, it's based on payments.  So if your credit card company says you need to make 6 or 12 payments, that could be six months.

Dad also says, it's a good idea to not consider credit as free money, and establish a credit score by buying something really small and then paying 10 bucks a month for many months.  Companies then say, "look he's on time".  Boom, you got a good score.

[brawndolicious]

yeah, it definitely takes some responsibility to have a credit card but it's very easy to build up the score using it normally.

[Rman]

I had a friend who leased a car while living in LA.  He wanted to impress chicks with a brand new car and couldn't afford the finance payments of a new car.  He said it was a huge waste of money. 

[INTUNEevolution]

And probably wrecked his credit

Borers, Credit cards are not free money.  They will lie to you so that you are massively in debt and then take all of your assets.  Beware Credit card companies!

[Howard Alan Treesong]

since when you buy a car it depreciates pretty regularly, why is leasing such a bad idea?

[INTUNEevolution]

It's massively expensive, unless you plan on trading off for another car and continuing to pay out the ass.

[BlueTsunami]

My plan (I need to buy a car) is $2000 Downpayment on a $5000 car. $5000 is when you start to get away from the beater cars

[Shins]

since when you buy a car it depreciates pretty regularly, why is leasing such a bad idea?

Best case scenario has you falling into the new lease every 2-3 years camp, but even then, its similar to long-term renting of an apartment/house. The money isn't piling up. Its being thrown out the window.

[INTUNEevolution]

since when you buy a car it depreciates pretty regularly, why is leasing such a bad idea?

Best case scenario has you falling into the new lease every 2-3 years camp, but even then, its similar to long-term renting of an apartment/house. The money isn't piling up. Its being thrown out the window.

This.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I still don't get it though. I mean, I can may $10,000 for a car now and sell it in 3 years for $5,000.

Or I can lease a car for 3 years for $5,000.

In either scenario, I am out $5,000, right? What's the difference?

Or are my numbers all off?

[brawndolicious]

I think you way overestimate how much cars depreciate.

[sky]

Huh? Leasing a car is fine.
It depends on what your needs are. There's good and bad.

Good
-----
Always have a new-ish car, if you're a regular leaser
Cheaper monthly payments (you're only paying for a portion of the car's total cost, rather than the whole car)
You can probably get a nicer car than you'd be able to afford to buy straight out

Bad
----
The car is never really "yours"... this matters a lot to some people
Restrictions on how many miles you can drive per year, as well as general up-keep (remember, it's not really your car)
Higher insurance costs

Btw, if you do lease a car, don't put any down payment, if possible.
Even though paying upfront will lower your monthly payments... if the car is stolen or totalled, you'll lose the down payment forever.

[INTUNEevolution]

My Mom's car was leased, until they put all the lease money towards owning it.

We drive so much, we went over the annual limit, dramatically.

It's the equivalent of cell phone overages.

[bluemax]

Craigslist.

I bought a so so car (3 years old) with low miles (around 36k when I got it) for $3500.

It was previously a salvage title, but only had some body damage. The engine and what not is fine, did end up having to get the breaks fixed after about 3 months of use, but that is it.

[cubicle47b]

I'd talk to a few banks and see how much they're willing to loan you with a $2000 down payment.  If it's not enough get your parents to co-sign.  Then shop around for the best priced Civic with the lowest miles and a clean vehicle history (use Carfax).  Get a mechanic to check it out before you buy.  That's about the best you can do.

Also, get a credit card now and start building your credit.

[balikeye]

Huh? Leasing a car is fine.
It depends on what your needs are. There's good and bad.

Good
-----
Always have a new-ish car, if you're a regular leaser
Cheaper monthly payments (you're only paying for a portion of the car's total cost, rather than the whole car)
You can probably get a nicer car than you'd be able to afford to buy straight out

Bad
----
The car is never really "yours"... this matters a lot to some people
Restrictions on how many miles you can drive per year, as well as general up-keep (remember, it's not really your car)
Higher insurance costs

Btw, if you do lease a car, don't put any down payment, if possible.
Even though paying upfront will lower your monthly payments... if the car is stolen or totalled, you'll lose the down payment forever.

This is pretty much spot on. The only way leasing is beneficial to people is if they are the types that no matter what they will be getting a new car every 2-4 years anyways. You are much better off leasing if that's the case, because of the money you would be losing by constantly trading in vehicles that aren't fully paid off. When leasing, you not only have to pay attention to the payments but also manage the miles you put on (not to mention the general condition of the car). Which in my opinion really defeats one of the biggest perks of owning a car...the freedom to just take off and go.

As a sidenote on credit...whomever it was earlier that mentioned what their parent said was absolutely correct as well. In very simple terms your credit score reflects your ability to pay off a sum in timely increments. For instance if you charge up a credit card for $100 bucks and pay it off in 4 (on time) payments, your score ends up better than charging that same $100 and paying it in full on the first payment due. Because the latter doesn't really prove that if you wind up with a debt that you can't pay off right away...that you would be able to responsibly handle it.

Hokay back to lurking 

[INTUNEevolution]

If I were in the OP's position, I'd buy an economical car and drive it to death.  Save your money, you don't need to impress your employer with a nice car.