Sort of. If you buy a GTS for $105k and sell it for $70k 2 years later, it's basically the same thing. You "spent " $35k and have nothing, except the use of the car for 2 years. Welcome to depreciation on high end cars. It basically costs $1400 or so per month whichever way you cut it. Most of the time, buying is a better deal than leasing.

I just bought a car for the family. Paid cash although it was probably the worst deal given the really low (0) interest rate on a 36 month purchase they were offering. Lease deal was also great. It's not an expensive car and I'm keeping it for a while, so I just wrote a check.

 

My general thoughts on leasing:

- Make sure the vehicle price is a good deal.

- Make sure the money factor (interest rate) is competitive.

- Compare the residual value of the lease with what you could sell for at that time, if you had bought it and had to sell it. If the residual is low, that favors buying over leasing.

- Keep in mind that depreciation of a vehicle is highest in the beginning an then tapers. This favors keeping cars for a long time, or getting a CPO.

- Keep in mind that a lease will lock you in, giving you less flexibility if you need to get rid of the car, or want to replace it with something else. Buying out a lease is expensive, and selling the lease (eg, swapalease) may not be as easy as selling the car normally.

- If the car can go through a business, that would favor leasing.

 

"Compare the residual value of the lease with what you could sell for at that time, if you had bought it and had to sell it. If the residual is low, that favors buying over leasing."

At the end of the lease you at least know you have the car sold if you want it to go away. Selling sports cars takes patience as there are fewer buyers out their looking to spend big $ on a used car. I don't know if it costs any money to buy out your lease at the end of a lease program, but am curious if anyone knows. There have been guys on here who have elected to keep their car at the end of the lease program because they have taken great care of it.

Looking at eBay for completed auctions on 3 year old cars and comparing their original MSRP's may be a way to estimate a reasonable depreciation. Make sure you only look at those that actually sold. There are a lot that are out there that just get relisted over and over as the sellers want a price higher than what the market will pay. A new model coming out could make the historic depreciation numbers light.

Also, if you post a thread asking for the recent auction sales data, some of the guys on here might be able to provide you data.

 

It seems that anyone that is opposed to these numbers just does not like the idea of leasing, and that is their opinion. But if you are interested in leasing and comparing to what other 911's lease for, you are getting an amazing deal. Anyone who leases a lot will agree. The only reason you are getting this deal is timing (end of the year, end of 997 model production, clearing old models out with factory incentives). If you tried to lease the same car in early summer you would of had a 1800 or more payment with all other things being the same.
I love leasing because I know that I will not want the car after a couple of years and will want something different and newer. Its not smart financially but I am at peace with it and work hard to afford this stupidity. And for me leasing is a tax write off on my business. But cars like my GT2, I purchased because I will probably keep it for a long time and the lease was worse than finance.

 

I personally like the idea of leasing (terms of 36 months or less) for a number of reasons:
1) You get a new car.
2) The car is under warranty for the entire duration of the lease.
3) You have an easy out at the end of the lease. No selling, no listing, etc. If you lease another one many times the dealer will pay remaining months on your lease too. Porsche does this.
4) If you get in a wreck, you turn it in at the end of the lease fixed.
5) If it's a lemon, you turn it in at the end of the lease.
6) If you buy it at the end of the lease, you can get it CPO'd.

Yes,it may cost a little bit more, but in my opinion it can offer you MORE flexibility.

Of the cars that we have, we bought them all with the exception of our Audi. We did a 36 month lease on it and then at the end of the lease we decided that we wanted to buy it. We negotiated a price (less than the residual) with the dealer for the car plus the CPO warranty. I think it was a great deal.

Just my $0.02.

 

My wife leased her Cayenne from Porsche, fell in love with the vehicle and decided to buy it out at the end of the lease. Porsche had a deal with whereas they buy the car back, CPO it and finance it which would have resulted in around $3k out of pocket, cost of CPO, but another 2 years warranty. She decided instead to go with Chase, no money down and almost $400 lower payment but no warranty.

Now that was in 2006 and it was not a $100k car, but if you have the money and want the car go for it, my wife did and still loves her Porsche.

I went the purchase route with my '08 Cab just because I think this one may be a keeper.

 

That sounds like a good deal. Did you end up leasing it?

 

I chose to lease my '12 C4GTS PDK, because Im using it as a 365 DD in a winter climate. I know its just an expensive rental, but at the end of the day, I just turn it in. I don't have to deal with people wondering who or why the car has 45k miles in 3 years, and the suspension components have salt corrosion on them, blah blah blah....

I bought My GT3RS and I care for it like I do my children (ok, better than that), and the ability to just drive the shizit out of the GTS every day, and not constantly worry about it is the best feeling ever... well worth it IMO

 

Just a few quick notes here to consider. I have 20yrs experience in this industry at all levels, retail, wholesale and now auction.

1. When you buy you are paying sales tax on the entire price of the car. If he is putting $8,000 down on a purchase, that's not even enough to cover he sales tax alone. Then add license to the financed amount, etc. In a lease, you pay sales tax as you use the vehicle and only for what you use. If for some reason you only keep the car 8 mos, 15 mos or the entire lease term in this case 24 mos, you pay tax for the months you use. In summary, the minute you leave the lot with your new car you will owe much less to the financial institution on a lease than a purchase simply because of the sales tax.

2. On a purchase contract (Loan), interest is front end loaded, even on simple interest contracts. Banks know that statistically people trade in their cars before the loan term so the collect more interest in the beginning of the loan than at the end of the loan. That is the banks income. On a lease, what the bank collects is known as "lease charges". When making payments to the lease company, your balance owed is reduced on a lineal basis whereby they apply an equal amount of your payment towards lease charges as well as principal every month. In short, a greater amount of your payment is going towards principal in the beginning of the term compared to a purchase loan contract.

3. Being in the auction business, I can safely give you my professional opinion that whatever the lease company charges you for excess mileage has a direct correlation to the diminishing value of the car with "miles over" the agreed allowance on the contract. That is why Porsche Financial Services is 30 cents per mile and say Honda might only be 18 or 20 cents per mile. They are simply hedging their bet on the value at the end of lease term. My advice would be to ask the dealer for the payment for the miles you actually anticipate driving, then lease the car for the lowest mileage lease they have to offer. Put the difference in an account titled "mileage charge" with your bank. If you do keep the car the full term and "turn it in", the money in your account is enough to cover the "over mileage" charge. If for some reason you don't and pay it off due to the following reasons:

1. Sell private party
2. Trade In early for another car
3. Insurance loss (Stolen or Totaled due to accident)
4. Mfr repurchase (Lemon Law)
5. Change of anticipated use (drive less miles)

With any of the above events occurring the money you have reserved in the "mileage charge" account is yours. There is nothing more aggravating than turning in a leased vehicle with the miles way under the allowance on the lease contract. I just leased a brand new C4S cabriolet and did a 5000/yr lease. I know I will drive more than 5k per year, but I follow the above protocol.

Hope that helps

 

CarDudes,

That makes alot of sense. Thanks for the insight.

 

For a 24 month lease that's a hell of deal and you will not get a better deal anywhere. Assuming a $ 100,000 purchase price and your $ 8,000 down, the most competetive number I got was $2,300 per month. Better decide quickly before the dealer changes his mind.