Buying or leasing a car?

[acarolina]

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Would it be a wiser financial decision to buy or lease a car for M2-M4? My parents would be kindly paying either way, but since I'm not sure where I'll end up in the US for residency, and whether I'll be needing a car where I end up, I'm wondering what's the smarter choice. Any insight would be appreciated, thanks so much!

 

[freak7]

Would it be a wiser financial decision to buy or lease a car for M2-M4? My parents would be kindly paying either way, but since I'm not sure where I'll end up in the US for residency, and whether I'll be needing a car where I end up, I'm wondering what's the smarter choice. Any insight would be appreciated, thanks so much!

If mom and dad are footing the bill, then I'd vote buy. If it's really impractical to keep the car for residency (which shouldn't be a problem) you could always just sell and keep the extra money.

 

[watermelon master]

Would it be a wiser financial decision to buy or lease a car for M2-M4? My parents would be kindly paying either way, but since I'm not sure where I'll end up in the US for residency, and whether I'll be needing a car where I end up, I'm wondering what's the smarter choice. Any insight would be appreciated, thanks so much!

Buy. If you can afford it.

 

[Goro]

Would it be a wiser financial decision to buy or lease a car for M2-M4? My parents would be kindly paying either way, but since I'm not sure where I'll end up in the US for residency, and whether I'll be needing a car where I end up, I'm wondering what's the smarter choice. Any insight would be appreciated, thanks so much!

Buying used is cheaper than buying new; leasing is cheaper than buying new.

If you were my kid, I'd go with a decent used car. Civics are damn near unkillable. I've had great luck with late model GMC products.

 

[freak7]

Civics are damn near unkillable.

My buddy is still cruising in his '88 or '89 Civic. You do not lie.

 

[Pusheen]

My buddy is still cruising in his '88 or '89 Civic. You do not lie.

I have an '89 civic ! It's a sweet little car and I'm hoping it will get me through the better part of med school

 

[IlyaR]

You can get $100 a month leases. My cellphone bill costs more

 

[Kurk]

Buying used is cheaper than buying new; leasing is cheaper than buying new.

If you were my kid, I'd go with a decent used car. Civics are damn near unkillable. I've had great luck with late model GMC products.

I'd say civics up to 2005 only. After that Honda's quality control started to drop. Toyota after 2005.

 

[Kurk]

OP you're not in a position to lease a car and frankly your parents don't know wtf they're doing if they want to lease over buy. Leasing is advantageous if you want to cruise around in a high-depreciating money-pit car. Other than that it's a waste of money and really the ultimate scam. Seeing that you'll be a poor med student and likely resident, you'll want to pick up a nice new or used toyota corolla or camry (be grateful to have such willing parents).

What brand of car are you looking at?

Stay away from:
Chrysler/Jeep/Fiat/Dodge (Fiat Motor Cars bought out Chrysler products and their quality have really gone down-hill)
GM cars - Cheaply made now-a-days (not even made in US anymore)
Nissans - Owned by Renault motor cars; horrible automatic transmissions

Look at:
Toyotas (many are assembled in the US)
Hondas (not as good as Toyota but not horrible)
Kia/Hyundai (as reliable as a Toyota for the first 60,000 miles or so)
Fords (same tier as Honda now-a-days)

 

[NickNaylor]

Not a fan of leases since you are left with zero equity at the end of your lease, and if you're not careful you might be stuck with not insignificant mileage penalties at the end of it. That being said, if you're the kind of person who is going to get a new car every few years anyway (and thus never realize the savings of buying a car, i.e., keeping it for a few years after you've paid it off), then it might be the better choice for you.

I agree with the advice of buying a gently used car. Not all used cars are created equal - for example, I wouldn't buy a used Kia - but makes/models known to be reliable or for higher-end cars, you can save a significant amount of money on a car with 15-20k miles on it. I bought a new car a couple of years ago and will probably stick to gently used, higher-end cars from here on out.

 

[mbeus]

Buying is by far the cheaper option, especially since your parents are footing the bill. However, since I was paying for my own car, it was better for me to lease it because I didn't want to have to worry about repairs (it's under warranty for the 4 years I have it)

 

[BeachBaby]

I love my Subaru 🙂

 

[neoevolution]

I'd be worried about leasing due to liability over damage (my car has multiple scratches and dings from being hit while parked in my city) and mileage (some of our rotation sites are a pretty decent drive away)

 

[Osteoth]

You can get $100 a month leases. My cellphone bill costs more

How is your cell phone bill $100??

 

[whatisthisstuff]

Buy new or used. Both have their pros/cons. While obviously used is cheaper, it is also a used car so you are less sure of what you are getting. Will likely have to put more immediate maintenance costs into the car. With a new car you should be free and clear for atleast 3 years. Plus buying used can be alot more of a hassle. Even if you decide you want an 05 civic then there might be 20 of those in your area and you have to sift through them. I'm of the opinion that over the long term (and assuming you always need a car) that a new car is your best value. Everytime a car changes hands someone is usually trying to make a little bit of money. The catch is if you really could envision yourself somewhere where you would not need a car in a few years.

 

[general admission]

How is your cell phone bill $100??

Are you kidding? A decent data package plus a payments towards most any phone = easily 100$ or more. It's very common these days.

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

Lease:
Something to consider: does the dealership take care of all maintenance free of charge during the lease term? It would be nice to not have to worry about actually keeping up with a car. I'm not sure if that's a thing just thought of that. Also might be the way to go if you want a really nice car, but in med school I would imagine most people, even car people, have "just a car."

Used Car:
Don't get me wrong I like Range Rovers, BMW's, Teslas and other expensive cars as much as the next guy but for now as a student, I'm very satisfied with a 13-year-old Honda Accord. I have had it for 3 years. It is a lot sharper than a lot of other cars that old. Very reliable, does the job of taking me to school, driving to the next city over, to the beach, New York, Florida, etc. and I never worry about it giving out. Only one thing has gone wrong (which may or may not have been related to hitting a tree, idk) and it was not expensive to replace which wouldn't have been the case with the other cars I like. I'll be honest that I lose track of time and don't take care of it like I should and I'm not sure that kind of neglect would fly with many other cars. It also wasn't too expensive and has everything (Leather heated seats, better radio than some of my friends, sun roof, etc.)
Some of the newer Accords are even nicer, I probably have another car or two to go through before I'm "set" and what I'll probably do is buy another (newer) accord. Really, I think they're great student cars.
Just don't put on ridiculous add-ons that make it look like a DIY douchemobile - Like what you see (hear) at Sheetz at 1AM. Not cool haha.

*So are civics though

 

[AcademicNeurosurgery]

Are you kidding? A decent data package plus a payments towards most any phone = easily 100$ or more. It's very common these days.

This is really only true if you finance the latest model phone. There are several companies that have $50-60 unlimited everything plans and you can find brand new phones significantly cheaper if they are a model or two older (e.g. iPhone 6/6s). Not to mention that right now, several companies have run specials on the iPhone 7 for $10-$15 a month over 2 years (total ~$360 for a iPhone 7). I think it is easy to avoid paying $100/month for a phone bill without sacrificing much, but to each their own.

On topic - as others have mentioned, used is the way to go. Having a reliable car with affordable maintenance costs will help tremendously as you continue to be a poorly-compensated student/resident. More than likely, you will need a car no matter where you go for residency. In the unlikely case you don't, you can always sell at the end of M4. Compared to leasing, you will at least have equity regardless of if you sell the used car as an M4 or sell/trade-in when you bring home an attending paycheck.

 

[AthleteDoc7]

I made the mistake of leasing a brand new car when I probably should have bought a used car before school started. My lease ends June of next year, and I have way lower mileage than I'm allowed as I didn't drive as much as expected the first two years. Any input if I should just buy the car (option to buy) when the lease is up, or do I just turn it in and lose all the payments?

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

I made the mistake of leasing a brand new car when I probably should have bought a used car before school started. My lease ends June of next year, and I have way lower mileage than I'm allowed as I didn't drive as much as expected the first two years. Any input if I should just buy the car (option to buy) when the lease is up, or do I just turn it in and lose all the payments?

That depends on so many things.

 

[AthleteDoc7]

That depends on so many things.

I'm clearly not too financially savvy at this point when it comes to car buying lol, which I can admit, hence why I'm asking for advice. the car was $25K total, and I'll be $9k into it after my lease is up. what else does it depend on that I can try to provide?

 

[Kurk]

I'm clearly not too financially savvy at this point when it comes to car buying lol, which I can admit, hence why I'm asking for advice. the car was $25K total, and I'll be $9k into it after my lease is up. what else does it depend on that I can try to provide?

Depends on the car and your mechanical savviness

 

[AthleteDoc7]

Depends on the car and your mechanical savviness

it's a "known to be very reliable" car. also mechanical savviness is good, with multiple mechanics in family

 

[Kurk]

it's a "known to be very reliable" car. also mechanical savviness is good, with multiple mechanics in family

Right, go ahead and keep it then. The question is how long can you keep it before it depreciates past the $14,000 mark. If it's a KIA it'll be relatively soon. Toyotas hold their value very well as do Hondas. If you're on-top of preventative maintenance and love driving your car into the ground ownership is the way to go.

 

[SterlingMaloryArcher]

I'm clearly not too financially savvy at this point when it comes to car buying lol, which I can admit, hence why I'm asking for advice. the car was $25K total, and I'll be $9k into it after my lease is up. what else does it depend on that I can try to provide?

So lets say you turn it in, what then? You'll start making payments from scratch on a new car? I think depending on your answer to this we may not have to look any deeper.

 

[badasshairday]

Lease and get a new care every 3 years. I used to buy, but then I realized I like new cars.