drober30

Getting it tuned! Sweet can't wait to hear your impression!

DennisMitchell

I have leased a lot over the years. In theory the cost difference between leasing vs. owning is the lease acquisition fee (bank fee) and the disposition fee (if applicable). That is the cost difference assuming the lease finance fee is on par with the cost of owner financing.

Risk is offset against this cost difference. In leasing, the residual represents a pre-negotiated or preset trade-in value for the vehicle. If you are not brand loyal, leasing has an advantage over owning where you need to negotiate a sufficient trade-in allowance at your next purchase (when dealers wholesale to auctions trade-ins they will not be generous in the trade-in amount). Leasing has gap insurance. Leasing gives you the option to buy-out the car at lease end if the value is greater than the residual or it just is a great car to keep. Audi tends to set residuals conservatively, so if you don't buy-out the residual, you will lose money.

If you are brand loyal to Audi and you know you will trade your vehicle with Audi for a new one down the road, buying will save you money in the long run. As others have said you can trade-in when the time is right. You don't have to pre-purchase miles in your lease. You avoid the acquisition and disposition fees.

5 years to keep a car is not a magic number. If you look at depreciation numbers from car websites most depreciation is year one. Year 2 and on the depreciation is relatively constant each year. Yes, keeping the car longer than 3 or 4 years will lower your overall average cost of depreciation, but then you deal with being off warranty, or extra cost of purchasing extended warranty. So in my mind the sweet spot is trading-in the vehicle just before the factory warranty will expire. The dealer then puts on new tires if necessary and CPO's the vehicle.

drober30

One advantage to leasing.... if your car gets rear ended after owning it six weeks and you have $10k worth of damage that gets fixed...you drop it off at lease end, chuckle and walk away. If you own it, you will lose money and have to hear every dealer tell you how its not worth as much because its been in an accident.

$52k 2011 Ford Explorer Limited. Only six weeks old and rear ended by 18 year old kid. I was glad it was a lease. They did an outstanding job fixing it, even up to my standards but nonetheless, I knew it had been wrecked.

gamegenie

My thinking on that if the dealer repairs it to factory manufacture warranty state. It's as good as new.

There's no telling what damage new cars might have before they arrive to the dealer.

But I guess it's all in the head to some.

Va_TTer

If it hits the CarFax as an accident, then the loss of value on the trade in / resale is real. But for that reason, if someone else hits your car hard enough to result in repairs that are going to make CarFax, you need to either demand their insurance company pay for the diminished value or you need to sue them for the diminished value. Simply paying to repair a car that you own to functional is insufficient. Now, if YOU cause the accident, whelp that sucks. But it's not enough to sway me in favor of leasing.

DennisMitchell

Yes, I agree. That is why I said you would buy-out lease if vehicle value was greater than the residual. Your example it would obviously not want to buy-out. The additional cost of leasing is like buying an insurance policy to avoid the loss or emotional dislike of your vehicle in the long run. Only problem you have to wait of lease-end or else take cost hit to trade-in early.

mikele

For me, once the warranty is done the car is gone. I don't want to pay the ongoing maintenance expense. The lowest true cost of ownership is purchasing for cash. Next is purchasing with financing if you have very good credit. Leasing can require the lowest cash outlays, but unless you can write off a portion of the Lease cost it is not the least expensive method. Writing off the entire cost or a portion has become more and more difficult and invites unwanted scrutiny even if your deduction is 100% on the up and up. Every legitimate cost analysis that truly takes all costs of ownership into the equation backs up purchasing as the lowest net expense.

dseag2

In the past, I have purchased cars because I like to trade them every 1-2 years and leases typically won't allow you to do that. My next-to-last car, a Lexus GS350 F Sport, I kept for 3 years and planned on keeping it even longer. Then, after having '10 and '11 S5s, nostalgia kicked in and the Audi bug bit me. I traded for my current car, a '15 S5 Coupe. This time around I leased for 2 years knowing that was the time I would be ready for something else. I always have the best intentions of keeping the car past payoff, but I never do. And yes, it costs a lot of $$$.

P.S. Lots of Florett Silver S3's in this forum. Great color! ;-)

eric strauss

As you can see from the list below, we have acquired a range of Audi's - some kept over four years, others gone in less than a year. We lease or buy based on the incentives at the time and the vehicle we want. The dealers often capitalize on short leases as it allows them to sell the car twice, often with a bigger profit as a CPO. We have a great relationship with our dealer (Audi Pacific) and the Sales Manager keeps an eye open for me and the cars I am interested in. Our most recent acquisition was an RS5 that was getting stale on the dealer show room. The lease deal he offered was too good to pass up - and I have always wanted an RS5 before the naturally aspirated V8 goes away. I jumped out of my 2015 S5 lease after only 10 months. When I added up the additional financial commitment to the S5 for suspension, brake and exhaust mods, it was less expensive to go the RS5 route. Plus, they sold the S5 as a CPO in three days.

Most of the time, I have been able to leave the lease early, without additional penalty. Audi's are complex, fickle and ridiculously expensive to repair. I am not eager to confront long term costs. I did however, buy (as in finance) the 2009 A4 Cabriolet as the discount was huge, but the lease was terrible. The VW R32 I kept an additional 6 months after the lease because it was just so much fun. VW/Audi allows you to extend the lease.

My 4x4 vehicles however, I usually pay off and keep as they are relatively underpowered and over built. They do the hard work in our family, so the sports cars can live in the garage :-)


Best wishes

Eric

tjacoby

I kept my last car for 7 years (bought cash new), but not sure i'll keep the S3 beyond the warranty. I financed, after leasing a few cars - I'm so fed up having to follow the leasing company's ever changing rules for insurance on my last vehicle I leased (long story). and don't have to worry about mileage, the condition of the car, or any of the other thousand little abuses that age a car in the real world.