Auto Trends

Depending on what is most important to you, maybe you can’t…

But, if you are actually considering the possibility of purchasing that car after your lease is up, there are a few things that you will want to keep in mind.

The best aspect of any lease is the low down payment, low monthly payments, and low maintenance costs. Some people who are a little strapped for cash, consider the lease for the initial purchase with the intent to purchase afterwards. This can be a great overall plan. However, for this plan to work, the value of your leased vehicle will need to be within the same range of your buyout price at the end of the lease.

Not every car is going to hold its value enough to allow this plan to work…

Occasionally, at the end of a lease the value of the car will be upside down to the buyout price and you would end up paying more than the car is worth on the market. In order to properly execute this plan, you need to keep track of consumer market prices for the type of vehicle you are considering.

Currently, these are the top cars that are holding their value according to Cars.com:

1. Mini Cooper at 68% resale value

2. Subaru Impreza at 63% resale value

3. BMW 650 at 62% resale value

4. Toyota Tacoma at 62% resale value

5. Ford Mustang at 62% resale value

6. Audi A4 at 62% resale value

7. Porsche 911 at 61% resale value

8. Jeep Wrangler 61% resale value

9. Volkswagen New Beetle at 60% resale value

10. Volkswagen at 60% resale value

…And more importantly, here are the vehicles that are not holding their value:

1. Mazda B2300 at 28% resale value

2. Ford Ranger at 29% resale value

3. Kia Rio at 30% resale value

4. Ford Freestar at 31% resale value

5. Buick Rendezvous at 31% resale value

6. Dodge Caravan at 31% resale value

7. Ford Crown Victoria at 32% resale value

8. Chevrolet Silverado at 32% resale value

9. Dodge Ram 1500 at 33% resale value

10. Dodge Durango at 33% resale value

If you are not planning on purchasing the car, the biggest drawback of a lease is that you will inevitably always have a car payment for as long as you continue to holdout on the buyout. Like an apartment dweller; you will never be able to build up any equity in your cars, as you are only paying for their use. This is going to be more expensive in the long haul, there is no doubt about that.

However, if owning a new car is the most important thing, attaining a new loan for every new car you purchase every few years does not make financial sense either…

To recap: if you are buying a car that you know you will want to keep for a fair amount of years you should probably just take out a good loan and pay it off in a few years. If you are not the kind who can have the same car for several years before getting a new one, then leasing might just be your most simple and convenient option.