amg55

I haven't actually worked through the numbers (would take some time and be tricky) but is the following hypothesis true?

High end limited production cars (E55, S55, CL55 etc) cost more to buy/own/resell than to lease because resale values usually don't hold up as well as expected.


I got to thinking about this again after Kev's post about E60's and plummeting S55 resale value etc.
I don't like leasing in general, but opted to lease my E55 as a hedge against resale difficulties (including limited supply of potential buyers and unpredictable resale values which seem to be lower than predicted in more cases than not lately).

Anyone care to offer an opinion or data pro or con?

LYSHOLM

I am a big advocate for leasing due to the following:

-I own my own company and can take a bit of a write off
-I do not like to tie up funds in a depreciating item.
-I like the latest and greatest new auto every three years.
-I like a car under warranty
-Selling a car for retail is next to impossible and a MAJOR pain in the a**. I have always gotten KBB trade in and have lost my shirt no matter how RARE or rarely driven the car was.
-Do the math on a lease vs. purchase and the numbers are VERY close.
-As far as driving over the alotted mileage it will cost you approx .20/mile if you own it or if you lease it. Once again, do the math.


Henry Ford once said:

"if appreciates buy it, if it depreciates lease it."

If you want to own it for the long term (4-7 years) it is always smarter to purchase.

My $.02.

David

eclou

I thought he said "if it flies, floats, or f*cks then lease it!"

W210

Low mileage, enjoying taking care of cars in their perfect condition, usually dings and accidents free.

I like the flexibility of being able to sell the car anytime. By the way, unlike the S55, the E55 should hold its value slightly better.

I go for speciality cars with *initial* waiting lists such as M3, E55, M5, SC430, 996TT, 360, etc.

It all depends on your requirements, for my wife she crashes her car every year or so and so we lease to keep the depreciate fixed.

EDWARD CONROY

I was going to pay off the C32 and put that down and lease. You don't want to do that, the salesman said and gave me a long explanation why. Okay, I said, we'll put a small amount down and lease. I went home and crunched the numbers and for us I couldn't get it to make sense. Sure, we could direct our savings elsewhere, but the lease payments would be huge and then after 3 years we're giving up a great car and have nothing. So we financed.

eyc

The one thing with buying/financing is you need to pay the sales tax on the total when you buy it. My understanding is with a lease you don't pay the sales tax on the total right away, you pay sales tax every month. And in CA where tax is 8.25% that is alot of money!

My current experience with my '01 w210 e55: it is paid in full and cost was $85K (sales tax and license included). Now if I want to trade it in today I will probably only get $45K from the dealer. If I sold it private party I would probably get $50K.

I've had my car for 3 years and 3 months now... You can do the math.

Leasing can make sense if you plan on selling/changing your car in 3-4 years. If you plan on keeping it longer it maybe more worthwhile to buy/finance it straight out.

W210

I sold my W210 E55 at a good price well before the W211 E320/E500 were announced. Used the SL500 as a bridge between the W210 and W211 E55.

Staying in tune with the latest offerings and getting onto waiting lists before the general public will help.

We also have huge taxes but it's transferable between the trade-in and new car. It's important not to lose out too much on depreciation, as one will not be able to recover the depreciated tax lost.

EDWARD CONROY

There would have been sales tax for me if I leased, which surprised me.....$6,263. That was another factor in my decision. While we ditched the C32 after a year, we love this car and will keep it a long time, so financing made the most sense for us.