Elizabeth Ayoola

And do you have an itch to buy a new car?

So you're driving it into the ground?

Okay, let's dive into the listener question for today.

And it comes from Patty.

Hello, nerds.

I have a question about car leasing.

I had never considered a lease.

I like to live without a monthly car payment if possible.

I've needed to take out auto loans, but I paid them off and then enjoyed many years of driving with a paid off car.

I was in the market for a replacement car during the pandemic, and I was interested in going all electric.

So I bought a new all electric car from the dealer.

The sales rep kept trying to explain to me that the lease option made more sense than the purchase option because when the lease term ended, I could apply all my lease payments towards the purchase of the car if I wanted to buy it.

Is he correct?

What are his motivations in pushing the lease over the purchase?

I know this is a hard question to tackle because there are so many different lease programs.

This one was through Volvo Financial Services.

Spoiler, I did try the lease because the monthly payment was so much lower than the purchase for the same car.

It was at a time in my life when that was helpful, paying for kids' college in brackets.

My second lease term is almost up, and I now have three options to either lease again, buy the car, or return the car and lose what I've paid in.

I will not be picking option three.