If you are getting a new car every three years, the difference between buying and leasing is you know what the cost to drive the car for three years is when you choose to lease it but you don't find out this cost until you sell (or trade-in) the car when you choose to buy it.

Getting a new car every three years seems very often. My newest car is a 2023, and it still feels brand new to me. I would not want to trade it in in 2026. But I understand; buying a new car is fun.

Everyone has to do what is best for themselves.
At my age I personally prefer paying cash and purchase a car every 3 years.
The way I see it, how much time do I have left.
As the old saying says "You can't take it with you".
If I drop tomorrow my daughter has just gain another asset to sell.

Unless you’re writing off the car for business, leasing always costs more. When I see calculations above like $500 a month, they don’t include the down payment of $5000 which amortized over 39 months, the payment is north of $600.
With a lease, you can get dinged by big charges for going over the allotted miles, dings in the paint, unusual wear, etc.

Houses go up in value, cars depreciate the minute you take it off the lot (most cars).
I usually trade in our cars before you have to buy tires or every 2 years. I buy new cars because of the new technology and get rid of the older car because the lack of new technology. There are so many new features on the newer cars that they can almost drive themselves, even if they aren’t a Tesla. Our 2019 Nissan had the feature that it would steer the car in the lane within the lines, and with it adaptive cruise control, if it came up on a car, it would slow down or even stop based on the car in front of it, and then it would climb back up to the set speed when traffic allowed.
Also the backup cameras with vehicle braking if it sees an object in its way, blind spot monitoring, on and on

I remember my parents being told that it was better for them to lease a car when they got into their 70s while they had owned their whole life.
My car is now 22 years old (but doesn't look it) and still only has 88,000 miles, so I'm assuming I may only need one more car for the rest of my life if this one conks out! Leasing is a huge waste of money IMO and you may live way longer than you think!

Many people lease for the pease of mind a new car provides, most people I know lease get the serviced on time and give it back and get another new car ,they figure auto expense like a utility an on going expense to satisfy their lifestyle.

Here living in The Villages bubble, do one even need a vehicle. A friend of mine who is visiting and considering moving here has an electric bike and is going to buy a Villages kart.. With both of those he can rent a car when he needs to go out of town.

A very descriptive ‘visual’ of the process; I like this a lot. Thank you.

Buy a car that's three years old and keep it for ten years or till you die, whichever comes first.

- If I purchase a $50K car today and then trade it in for maybe $30K in Jan. 2028 it has cost me $20K + tax+investment loss over 3 years (aprox $6k)

Since many warranties have been extended to 5-6 years, I still choose purchasing over leasing. The depreciation amount of the vehicle lowers significantly after 3 years and I keep the vehicle until the warranty expires.

I always buy my car, I never lease. When the lease is up in three years, you have Nothing! Buy your car and if you decide five years down the road, you want to get something different you have some equity to trade in. My suburban is 10 years old and I really don't plan on buying another vehicle. I hardly use it now anyway. Also, the new vehicles have so many bells and whistles, especially your speeds and your stops can be monitored by the government. If things got really ugly, the government probably has the ability to turn it off. Insurance companies are already monitoring your driving skills if you want a discount. Not worth it to me.

It's nice sometime to visit Leesburg or Inverness or to go to Tampa or Orlando.

He doesn't need anything more than a bicycle and cart but he might find he wants a car more often than he thought. But if it works for him, great!

So, borrowing from another post, the ice sculpture will look good for three years and is guaranteed to look acceptable for 5-6 years. Leasing means your ice sculpture always looks good. Running out the warranty means getting a new ice sculpture when it becomes more difficult to make out the features. Others insist that wet mound over in the corner is still a sculpture and the ice will last a few more years.

Think of the lease payments at the end of three years to be roughly equal to the depreciation if you bought the car, but you don't have to pay the entire cost of the car up front and negotiate on the remaining value when you want to replace it. If you want to be in a new car every 3 years and want to know your costs up front, then leasing might make sense.

This seems right. I think they have the numbers figured so that you pretty much get what you pay for, either way. Some advantages to one vs. another depending on your situation but if you aren't driving too many miles, want to drive late model cars, and don't have much financial pressure to squeeze ultimate value from every dollar, leasing is probably a decent way to go.

One thing is for sure, cars are expensive, no matter how you do it!

Joe