Car Decision Help (Lease/Buy)

[AmandaVT]

I am trying to figure out what to do at the end of my current lease. In the past, we have always re-leased, and we typically get great deals. Our current lease - put $0 down, have all maintenance/annual inspections/annual registration included. We pay just under $375/month for each car. Since we started our last lease almost 3 years ago, we moved to a location much closer to both DH and my work. I am currently 5 miles away from school, and he is <1 mile from his office. This means we have very low mileage on both cars. I'm at 17,005 as of today, and DH is just under that. 

We are strongly considering dropping to one car, at least for a while. It feels like we're paying for 2 cars that we barely use right now. I cannot bike/walk to work as the road there is a 50mph state road w/ no sidewalks, and would be terrifying to bike on. DH could, pretty easily - and he had his hip replaced in Oct so now he physically can as well.

Our options - turn in both cars at the end of the lease term (May) and lease 1 new car that we share. Turn in one car and buy out the other. It's a Premium Subaru Forester in great condition and I love it. 

Considerations - my lease buyout price will be just over $16,000. When I look to see what used 2020 foresters are selling for, they're about $10,000 more (26,000-28,000). 

We did the Dave Ramsey - drive a beater - thing for a while and it very much backfired on us, and we ended up pouring money into beater cars. I was almost unable to attend my aunt's funeral 5 hrs away because we couldn't get there. We were able to rent a car and make it, but I need to have a reliable, newer car for my own mental health. 

I'm leaning toward buying out my Forester and dropping to one car as a test run. If we feel we need a second car, we can always do that. DH was looking at used cars and the prices are crazy right now, so it doesn't seem to make sense to buy a second car, used. We'd be better off buying out that lease too. (Subaru Crosstrek)

Any knowledgeable car people (or anyone else) want to help me brainstorm this? In the past (since we stopped the beater car plan), we've just released and not thought much about it. Given the current landscape, it feels like it might be smarter to buy out this lease. Am I on the right track?

[Spryte]

My instinct would be to buy out the Forester and try being a one vehicle family.

FWIW, we are a one vehicle family, and it works well. If something comes up and we absolutely need two vehicles, one of us Ubers. Much less than another car payment plus maintenance. We made our decision to do this very deliberately, maybe ten years ago, when we were intentionally trying to reduce our overall footprint. We all work or school from home, though.

We love our Forester, too!

[mommyoffive]

I think buying your current car makes great sense with the cost of used cars right now.  It sounds like being a one car family would work great for you.  I would do that.  I have never had a Subaru but have heard good things about them.  They are probably like Toyotas and Hondas that will last forever. You know what the car has been through and how it has been taken care of. 

I am also not into driving a beater so I feel you there.  

Edited February 27, 2023 by mommyoffive

[KSera]

We have never leased a car because it seems like a poor financial deal to me to put all that money into a car and not own it eventually. At least with zero down, that’s not as bad as a lot of leases. The used car market has been crazy for a couple years now, though prices are beginning to drop. Both my dh and I have had our cars go UP in value over the pandemic. For awhile, either of us could have sold them for more than we bought them. Mine was bought used and even with the miles I’ve put on it since I bought it, I could sell it now at a couple thousand dollars profit from when I bought it. Crazy. 

It does sound like buying out your Forrester might be your best bet right now. I do have to say that with your short commute, if you need a second car, I would totally go for a used EV. You don’t have all the maintenance of a gasoline car with an EV, and the number of miles on them doesn’t cause all the increased wear and tear that it does for a gas car. You just have to make sure when buying used that it has a good battery. Though heck, with those commutes, having your second car be an older short range EV that was cheap to buy would still work just fine.
 

 

[Starr]

We are in a time of being a one car family. We call it the marriage enrichment program. haha I would buy the one car. About a second,can you both get to work all year?

[Corraleno]

I would definitely buy out the Forrester. If the buyout price for the Crosstrek is significantly lower than what it would sell for used, I'd be tempted to also buy out that one and then sell it for a profit.

[Arcadia]

We are a one car family since I never drove here. My husband used to walk to and from his office, about 3.1 miles walking one way. We rely on cabs and Uber as our “second car” if we are in a time crunch, else we use public transport. 
I would buy the Subaru Forester. My neighbors driving that model have been driving their cars before DS17 was born. Outback is the other popular Subaru in my neighborhood. You are buying the car you have been using so risk is much lower than buying a used car on the open market. Also the price is lower. 

Since your husband’s work is about a mile away, you could easily drop him off before work on days he doesn’t want to bike/walk. My husband drop DS18 at community college before work so DS18 would be on campus at around 8am regardless of class time. 

[AmandaVT]

Thank you! 

@Starr that's my biggest question. Winter would be tricky. Although DH could pretty easily drop me off at work, and almost all of my coworkers drive by my road on their drive home, so I am sure I could get a ride home when needed. I live one block off of the main road that leads to school, so they could even just slow down near my road as they pass and I could jump out. 😂

@KSera- DH really wants an electric car, so that's definitely part of our future plans. We even have a charging station just outside of his office.  

@Corraleno - I just checked. The CrossTrek price is similar (just under $17,000 to buy) and seems to be worth slightly less, but not much when looking at used car prices. DH has about 14,000 miles on his right now. 

@Arcadia Our work schedules are pretty different, so I couldn't take him in. I have to be at work at 7 am and he doesn't have his first clients until noon or 1 pm. I'm done by 3 pm most days and he doesn't get home until after 7 pm, typically. But, he could bring me in! No real public transport, unfortunately. I think we may have a few Ubers? But no taxis and busses won't go out to my school - it's pretty rural. 

[Arcadia]

25 minutes ago, AmandaVT said:

Although DH could pretty easily drop me off at work, and almost all of my coworkers drive by my road on their drive home, so I am sure I could get a ride home when needed. I live one block off of the main road that leads to school, so they could even just slow down near my road as they pass and I could jump out

Could you pay a coworker for the ride home and maybe the ride to work? .With inflation still rising, a coworker might be happy to earn a little gasoline money just picking up and dropping you off.

[livetoread]

Why would a dealer be willing to let you buy out the leased car at such a reduced price, when they could sell it used for so much more? I've never known a dealership to be that nice about their profits, so I'm wondering what the catch is.

[AmandaVT]

1 hour ago, livetoread said:

Why would a dealer be willing to let you buy out the leased car at such a reduced price, when they could sell it used for so much more? I've never known a dealership to be that nice about their profits, so I'm wondering what the catch is.

I think that's just the lease term? I contacted Chase (who finances the lease) to get payoff quotes. I'm guessing the dealership would much prefer me to turn in my car and lease a new one, but legally, the paperwork I signed in 2020 has a payoff section in there that was determined back then. I'm guessing no one knew that used car prices would go up so much?

 

Edited February 27, 2023 by AmandaVT
edited to fix spelling error

[livetoread]

11 minutes ago, AmandaVT said:

I think that's just the lease term? I contacted Chase (who finances the lease) to get payoff quotes. I'm guessing the dealership would much prefer me to turn in my car and lease a new one, but legally, the paperwork I signed in 2020 has a payoff section in there that was determined back then. I'm guessing no one new that used car prices would go up so much?

Ah, gotcha. That worked out well for you!

Edited February 27, 2023 by livetoread

[Miss Tick]

1 hour ago, AmandaVT said:

busses won't go out to my school - it's pretty rural

Even school buses? Maybe that would be an easy ride home, if your district has buses, I mean.

ETA I wrote this without taking into consideration that your day probably doesn't end with the school day, and that there is unlikely to be a "late bus" at rural district. Sorry.

Edited February 27, 2023 by Miss Tick
reality hits you hard, bro

[AmandaVT]

1 minute ago, Miss Tick said:

Even school buses? Maybe that would be an easy ride home, if your district has buses, I mean.

I live two towns over from my school. I'm on the eastern edge of my town, and there are two tiny towns to my east. The town I work in has less than 1,000 people living in it. My school has busses but they don't head my direction - they only bus for students that live in the town. That would be a great idea though!! 

[mommyoffive]

how about you take the car to work.  he walks to work.  he either walks home or you drive to his work after work and leave the car and you walk home

[prairiewindmomma]

I would buy out the lease. If this doesn’t work out for you, you can always flip the car and try a different plan.

 

[YaelAldrich]

Can you afford to buy out both cars and flip one? You'll make money? 

[AmandaVT]

4 minutes ago, YaelAldrich said:

Can you afford to buy out both cars and flip one? You'll make money? 

We could buy one of them out with cash, but not both I don't think. But that's a thought if I could make it work!

[KSera]

12 minutes ago, AmandaVT said:

We could buy one of them out with cash, but not both I don't think. But that's a thought if I could make it work!

What if you bought the one you wanted to flip first, sell it, and use the money to buy the other? You could try a car buying service like Carvana where they give you an offer right up front and it’s quick and easy. You can put your VIN number in and it will tell you what they’ll offer for it. In the very least, it would be worth running the VIn through to see what you would get for it. 

[AmandaVT]

7 minutes ago, KSera said:

What if you bought the one you wanted to flip first, sell it, and use the money to buy the other? You could try a car buying service like Carvana where they give you an offer right up front and it’s quick and easy. You can put your VIN number in and it will tell you what they’ll offer for it. In the very least, it would be worth running the VIn through to see what you would get for it. 

 

Oh you're a genius! That's $9,000 more than we owe on it. Is Carvana legit?

[mommyoffive]

12 minutes ago, KSera said:

What if you bought the one you wanted to flip first, sell it, and use the money to buy the other? You could try a car buying service like Carvana where they give you an offer right up front and it’s quick and easy. You can put your VIN number in and it will tell you what they’ll offer for it. In the very least, it would be worth running the VIn through to see what you would get for it. 

That was my idea too when @Corraleno brought it up.  Pay for the one you are selling in cash.  Use the profits to pay off the other one that you are keeping.  

[KSera]

10 minutes ago, AmandaVT said:

 

Oh you're a genius! That's $9,000 more than we owe on it. Is Carvana legit?

I haven’t used it myself, but I have researched it because I was considering using it, and it appears completely legit. When they come to pick up your car, they’ll go over it and make sure it matches the condition that you gave, but it doesn’t seem like they’re even super picky about it. You just shouldn’t have left out anything big. Then they drive it away and you’re done. To me it seems like a better way for selling cars than buying cars, but I would even consider them for buying because they do have a decent return policy which is better than you’ll get with a private seller.

[Carol in Cal.]

46 minutes ago, AmandaVT said:

We could buy one of them out with cash, but not both I don't think. But that's a thought if I could make it work!

I would happily buy the extra one.  I need AWD badly and don't have it.  Especially if you have snow tires for it.

[AmandaVT]

6 minutes ago, Carol in Cal. said:

I would happily buy the extra one.  I need AWD badly and don't have it.  Especially if you have snow tires for it.

Snow tires are a must around here!! They were new last year I think and are lightly used.

[Carol in Cal.]

44 minutes ago, AmandaVT said:

Snow tires are a must around here!! They were new last year I think and are lightly used.

I’m not actually kidding.

[Spy Car]

The used car market isn't quite as "red hot" as it was (from my understanding), but used cars are still selling at a premium due to demand and lack of supply.

As others have suggested, the numbers of buying a car off lease and then selling it could bring in a nice profit. Especially with Subarus (and low milage ones at that). These are great automobiles, especially in places with snow (like VT).

We just got my wife a new Crosstrek (in special edition Desert Khaki) at Christmas time, and I'm mostly driving a 2004 Forester that has been passed through the family (and is still going strong).

I love Subarus. And in SoCal's recent "epic storms" (which are like "Tuesday" in many places) I feel good that Mrs Spy Car has AWD.

Bill

 

 

 

[pinball]

5 hours ago, AmandaVT said:

I am trying to figure out what to do at the end of my current lease. In the past, we have always re-leased, and we typically get great deals. Our current lease - put $0 down, have all maintenance/annual inspections/annual registration included. We pay just under $375/month for each car. Since we started our last lease almost 3 years ago, we moved to a location much closer to both DH and my work. I am currently 5 miles away from school, and he is <1 mile from his office. This means we have very low mileage on both cars. I'm at 17,005 as of today, and DH is just under that. 

We are strongly considering dropping to one car, at least for a while. It feels like we're paying for 2 cars that we barely use right now. I cannot bike/walk to work as the road there is a 50mph state road w/ no sidewalks, and would be terrifying to bike on. DH could, pretty easily - and he had his hip replaced in Oct so now he physically can as well.

Our options - turn in both cars at the end of the lease term (May) and lease 1 new car that we share. Turn in one car and buy out the other. It's a Premium Subaru Forester in great condition and I love it. 

Considerations - my lease buyout price will be just over $16,000. When I look to see what used 2020 foresters are selling for, they're about $10,000 more (26,000-28,000). 

We did the Dave Ramsey - drive a beater - thing for a while and it very much backfired on us, and we ended up pouring money into beater cars. I was almost unable to attend my aunt's funeral 5 hrs away because we couldn't get there. We were able to rent a car and make it, but I need to have a reliable, newer car for my own mental health. 

I'm leaning toward buying out my Forester and dropping to one car as a test run. If we feel we need a second car, we can always do that. DH was looking at used cars and the prices are crazy right now, so it doesn't seem to make sense to buy a second car, used. We'd be better off buying out that lease too. (Subaru Crosstrek)

Any knowledgeable car people (or anyone else) want to help me brainstorm this? In the past (since we stopped the beater car plan), we've just released and not thought much about it. Given the current landscape, it feels like it might be smarter to buy out this lease. Am I on the right track?

Buyout both cars.

Keep your favorite one

Sell the other one for profit.

[Scarlett]

I would never willingly go down to one car. Maybe when we are retired but probably not then either.  

[KungFuPanda]

We easily exist with one car. It might be mildly inconvenient about twice a year. It’s certainly not worth a car payment to avoid that. You can take a WHOLE LOT of short uber trips for one month’s car payment. 
 

I also don’t think I’d ever feel wealthy enough to lease a car. MOST of our car-owning years have been without a payment. We pay them off and keep them until they need to be replaced. We’re on our 5th car in 30 years and that includes about 15 years with two cars. It would cause me more stress to pay hundreds of dollars a month to lease a vehicle than it would to deal with an occasional service or repair. 

[Scarlett]

21 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

We easily exist with one car. It might be mildly inconvenient about twice a year. It’s certainly not worth a car payment to avoid that. You can take a WHOLE LOT of short uber trips for one month’s car payment. 
 

I also don’t think I’d ever feel wealthy enough to lease a car. MOST of our car-owning years have been without a payment. We pay them off and keep them until they need to be replaced. We’re on our 5th car in 30 years and that includes about 15 years with two cars. It would cause me more stress to pay hundreds of dollars a month to lease a vehicle than it would to deal with an occasional service or repair. 

Yes I feel this is location specific. No Ubers here or public transportation. We have 2 cars paid for and one it’s a small payment and small balance. I have had 6 cars in 42 years of having a license. 

[KungFuPanda]

2 hours ago, Scarlett said:

Yes I feel this is location specific. No Ubers here or public transportation. We have 2 cars paid for and one it’s a small payment and small balance. I have had 6 cars in 42 years of having a license. 

It can be. My mom lives in a place with no public transport or real Uber options.  She has no walkable shops and very few delivery options. Dh and I figured we might need to rent a car on occasion, but it’s never actually come up in about 5 years. Even if we caved and bought a new car tomorrow we’ve already saved years worth of payments and insurance. It’s worth a try and if you hate it you can always buy a car later. 

[Scarlett]

35 minutes ago, KungFuPanda said:

It can be. My mom lives in a place with no public transport or real Uber options.  She has no walkable shops and very few delivery options. Dh and I figured we might need to rent a car on occasion, but it’s never actually come up in about 5 years. Even if we caved and bought a new car tomorrow we’ve already saved years worth of payments and insurance. It’s worth a try and if you hate it you can always buy a car later. 

True, and sorry OP to make this about me instead of you. If you can make one car work it is a sensible option. 

[Soror]

It sounds like it wouldn't be a big difficulty for your family to go to one car so I'd buy out one lease. 

If you're confident you can turn a profit on your other car I'd buy them both. From what I've heard about Carvana it's good if you're selling, but bad to buy from (for one they mark up cars a lot and two I'd heard they were going out of business for some shady practices). 

I've bought 3 used cars in the past year, there are plenty out there that are marked up to ridiculous amounts but there are also decent deals too. We've never paid more than KBB and on the lower end of their range at that. (one of those cars for me - upgrading my 17 year old van because although mechanically it was great it was looking rough and I was tired of driving a van--- 2 a sportier car for ds who was tired of driving the grandpa car- dh drives it to college now- and 3 a car for dd1 who is turning 16- we found exactly what she was wanting for the right price)

side note: I think Dave Ramsey is a jerk of a person and I only agree with parts of what he says but... He advocates beaters just for those that are in debt. After that, it is whatever you can afford to pay cash for- the idea is to keep putting away a car payment into savings so you have money to replace your car when the time comes. You don't have to buy a brand-new car to have one that is reliable and safe. Good cars can last for years if they are well-maintained. 

 

[AmandaVT]

19 hours ago, Carol in Cal. said:

I’m not actually kidding.

The lease is up in early May I think? The Crosstrek is in excellent condition and has been very gently used. I will say though - we're in VT (as my screen name indicates) and Vermont cars are notorious for undercarriage rust. At 3 years old, it's probably not an issue yet (I haven't looked under there!) but Vermonters will often go to drier/less snowy states to buy used cars to avoid rust. If you are interested though - DM me. Would love it to go to a good home! 

13 hours ago, Scarlett said:

True, and sorry OP to make this about me instead of you. If you can make one car work it is a sensible option. 

Don't be sorry - you've given me things to think about and I appreciate it. We have similar set ups - Uber may exist here, but it's not like it is in even small cities. Another thing your post got me thinking about is DS will be 15 in a couple of months and (I can't believe he's old enough for this) old enough for a driver's permit. So that's another consideration we'll need to take into account. I think we could make it work through the spring/summer/fall and potentially revisit next winter. At the very least we'll have saved 6-7 months of car payments at that point, which is pretty cool. 

2 hours ago, Soror said:

It sounds like it wouldn't be a big difficulty for your family to go to one car so I'd buy out one lease. 

If you're confident you can turn a profit on your other car I'd buy them both. From what I've heard about Carvana it's good if you're selling, but bad to buy from (for one they mark up cars a lot and two I'd heard they were going out of business for some shady practices). 

I've bought 3 used cars in the past year, there are plenty out there that are marked up to ridiculous amounts but there are also decent deals too. We've never paid more than KBB and on the lower end of their range at that. (one of those cars for me - upgrading my 17 year old van because although mechanically it was great it was looking rough and I was tired of driving a van--- 2 a sportier car for ds who was tired of driving the grandpa car- dh drives it to college now- and 3 a car for dd1 who is turning 16- we found exactly what she was wanting for the right price)

side note: I think Dave Ramsey is a jerk of a person and I only agree with parts of what he says but... He advocates beaters just for those that are in debt. After that, it is whatever you can afford to pay cash for- the idea is to keep putting away a car payment into savings so you have money to replace your car when the time comes. You don't have to buy a brand-new car to have one that is reliable and safe. Good cars can last for years if they are well-maintained. 

 

I'm going to show the Carvana stuff to DH and let him know about this thread too! I agree about DR. We were in debt at the time and were working to pay down a loan and credit cards. And my brain knows that a 5-10-year-old car would be reliable and not need too much work, typically. I think I may have some car PTSD because my insides turn when I think about having a 10-year-old car again. We did have some crappy luck with the cars we were buying. They would get a clean bill of health, and then they would just fall apart. I had a tie rod blow on the highway, and I barely was able to pull over safely. We had to replace 2 CV joints on another car, and the tech wouldn't let us drive it because he said it was too dangerous. There are probably another half dozen or so situations that I don't even want to try to remember! I'll work on it - maybe one newer and one used-er could work!

[Spryte]

If you decide to buy out the lease and sell one, definitely check several car buying companies. I sold my mother’s car last summer, and there were two companies that offered similar amounts and one that offered almost twice that! We read a lot of reviews—good and bad—and decided to go with the company that offered the higher amount. It felt too good to be true, so I was skeptical, but there were enough positives that I felt ok trying. We used driveway dot com and it all worked out perfectly. My experience matched the reviews in that it required patience, but that was the biggest hiccup. Oh, and I forgot to remove the tags when they towed away the car, and that was a headache.

[Hannah]

If you think that Ds might need a car in a year or two it might be worth buying out both..  You know exactly what you're buying and it sounds like the prices are really good.