I agree with you about leasing being more restrictive and having less options. I personally used to always buy my vehicles and keep them for 4 to 6 years. I kept them for so long that it was a better choice over leasing. It did not make sense to basically 'rent' a car for 3 to 4 years, pay half or more of the price and then have nothing to show for.

However after some looking into, i.e. an accountant telling to stop buying and instead look into having one car as a lease, I realized that for my tax situation it would be better to lease. At the moment neither of my two cars (suv and sedan) have any money owed on them.

The lease deals are much better than before and its more advantageous for me to have one car under a lease.

Maybe I'm wrong but I'm sure other self employed/ small business owners would agree with leasing one vehicle for tax reasons.

 

Your logic is very sound and given the current lease deals it really works to your benefit . If you can walk away with a C4S for 1400 it sounds great .

The only deterrent is that years 4, 5 and 6 which has been your previous pattern will change pushing you into a new car. It's hard to give back a car that you love Or even worse be forced to keep the car for the full lease term if you are not happy .

Owning a car detaches you from the dealership the day you drive it home .
Leasing holds you to their terms including when you return it .

Then again you won't face dimiished value if ever in an accident so there are many sides to the coin.
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One last point --when I see a bought car I think to myself "that's 100K". When I see a leased car I think "that's 36 payments" . You mention that your other cars are paid ... that's a good feeling .

Tough call . It sounds as though in your shoes you win either way.

 

Not many people think this way anymore... I believe its these tax incentives to have 'debt' and not pay off things quickly that are changing things...

 

Exactly . That's what a FICO score is --the ability to remain in a continous state of debt and the better one is at staying that way ... the higher the score .

If one paid cash for everything, never took out a credit card or morgage he would a low score. Some elderly folks fit this criteria because they were taught how to manage money better than we were and the modern young generation on the whole seems even worse IMO .

What your accountant might consider is the following . If you add up the three year lease plus the write off plus another three year lease would the 6 year term even come close to if you paid cash for the car NOW.

Also worth noting are the expenses of lease return when Porsche tells you to fix their car the way they want it and slaps a disposal fee .

Maybe I am old school in thought. I am not a small business owner leasing at the best time in the last 10 years that I have seen to lease a Porsche --but I do feel compelled to examine all sides of this .

Tough decision.