Im a college student as you know. I do have an S2000 but I am not turning that into a DD.

We just bought my GF a car, the 1993 prelude I was asking about in Car talk. It was supposed to be my car while I was fixing my 98 Jeep grand cherokee. << That is my DD. It turned out that shes driving it way more than planned and Im tired of being under the Jeep all the time hoping itll take me to work and school the next day.

So Im pretty much fed up with constantly dumping mechanical fix money into the Jeep grand. I do have an S2000 BUT, being in PA, you cant drive it but like 5 months out of the year. Doesnt help me much as a DD.

I dont pay for the S2k, Its paid for, just needs insured and I dont take care of that. (Just for the purpose of this thread)

Would it be okay for me to lease a newer SUV like a new Jeep Grand Cherokee for a couple years? Im not sure how the lease works other than you have limited mileage you can drive and at the end of the lease you are offered the car to buy for a bunch off sticker. ??? Correct?

What if I dont want to buy after I turn it in? Somehow Im thinking I cant just walk away right?? Do I have to pay to get out of it then?

How about modifcations to the car?? I cant do anything to it that they would know about after I turn it in right? No serious modifcations I assume. How about exhaust or something like that, would they see that the stock muffler is welded differently back on?

Also, how about doing your own oil changes and such?? Or does EVERYTHING have to be done by the dealer? I guess it doesnt matter because the vehicle is covered bumper to bumper.. I would just have to take it to the dealer to get it changed...

Thanks guys, I trust you wont steer me into a bad situation!

Im just looking to have a reliable DD while Im in college and ill finance something to buy once I have the money to do it after college.

 

I drove a ford fiesta in college my first year, then walked the last 3. You should concentrate on school more than cars......


you can drive an S2000 in PA weather 95% of the year ...get some decent tires and you are good to go.

 

Good tires or not, I dont want to be messing around in winter. I also dont want to risk wrecking the S2k or having it get hit just for the sake of that either.

-Dustin Haha, JK Scot.

 

Sell the Jeep and lease something if you have the money. Watch out for very low mileage allotments. Some people do mod their leased cars, but you pretty much have to return it bone stock. Also they'll charge you for damage beyond reasonable wear and tear.

Leasing is generally a loosing situation. You are paying for the depreciating value of the car during the term you use it. So they estimate how much the car will be worth when you return it.

Lets say it's a 50000 dollar vehicle and they belive in 3 years it will loose 70 percent of it's value (not unusual). So your lease terms will be 35000 dollars. At the end of the lease you give the car back they resell it and you are left with nothing. Lets say that instead you finance a 35000 dollar vehicle for 3 years. At the end of 3 years you own the vehicle. If it has depreicated 70% and you sell it you get back 10500 making your total spent on purchase 24500. True you are driving a lesser vehicle, but until you are done with school and rich like Scot it's not a bad thing to be a little conservative. That's what I did. I'm not saying I didn't have things given to me by my parents, and if they are given to you that's fine too. I'm saying just don't overdo it.

 

Plus you have to have good credit and show adequate income. If you don't have that, you'll need someone (parents) to step in. At that point, your parents are better off buying something and lend you the car instead.

 

yep, even if you have a cosigner with good credit, you won't get a good rate.

I cosigned for a friend, and even with me cosigning she couldn't get a rate under 12%. If I had financed it myself it would be between 5 and 6%, but there's no way I'd do that if the car wasn't mine.

With leasing, you basically pay depreciation and interest. They figure out the depreciation, then add in the interest on the money they have to put up front. Over the term of the lease, you are basically paying interest on the average of the cost of the car and the ending value. The amount depends on your credit and if the factory subsidizes the interest (pretty common actually).

They don't tell you the interest, though, as you pay one payment. But you are, trust me.

Now, leasing is great if you KNOW you will be getting rid of the car in 3 years and won't drive lots of miles. It shields you from unexpectedly high depreciation (which plagues most american cars), but if the depreciaiton is low, you can buy the car and flip it...your choice.

On the above example of buying a 35,000 car and getting 10,500 back at the end...you had to put up that 10500 and pay interest on it. Also, you have to put forth the effort to sell it, and it can be very hard to not be low-balled. So, that 10500 can easily turn into only 7500 or so on a real basis. With a lease, that's not your problem.

again, if you KNOW you are only going to have it 3 years, leasing can be a great because it shields you from resale risk. if you think you'll buy at the end of a lease, you should just go ahead and buy because of the amount of interest you'd pay buy leasing then buying.

 

Even $7,500 is better than 0

 

true, but I'd rather never put that 7500 into the car in the first place, and that's my point.

 

leasing gives you more options at the end or to get out of it. if you get into a lease you HAVE to stay in it until you have under a year left on it or you'll really be upside down. as long as you can stay under the miles you'll be ok. if you see "lease specials" on the tv 1) they are probalby for a very base model car 2) they do not include tax as well as all the state tag fees.

make sure the bank doesn't have any fees that they hit you with when the term is up. unless there is damage to the vehicle or overage in miles.

you will need to put at least something down on a lease. usually it's at least the first payment and the lease inception fees. maybe a security deposit depending on the lender. but if the credits good you should really like leasing b/c you can just get a new car once the terms up and pretty much be free and clear

 

you're comparing apples to orange here