Buying a car: leasing vs. taking a loan

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CFAMontreal

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Guys, at my work I am studying consumer leasing industry, and trying to figure out market potential for car leasing in Europe (the whole Europe). What I understood that financing a car purchase with a loan is perceived to be cheaper option than leasing a car. Would you, please, give any ideas why car leasing can be more suitable option than buying on credit? I'd be grateful for any response!!!
 
- no worries or uncertainty about the disposal/trade-in process... especially for people who trade-in cars after 4-6 years.

- sometimes you get tax benefits (think of it like an operating lease?)

- Some cars with really high residual values (like Honda Accord) make it a no-brainer way to actually buy the car... lease first then convert, pay it off at end. Costs the same as buying but you get the option to walk away at end of lease if you find something better or are not satisfied.
 
I view the lease as a put option. I may pay a few extra bps along the way, but like Virgin said; I have the option to put the car back to the company if the market gets soft.

And in my case, I am getting a great money factor on the lease (converts into a rate of about 3.0%), and there were no incentive financing options for loans.

If I planned on keeping cars for more than 3 years, I would lease them. But I am currently on my third leased car, and I didn't even keep the first two to full term. The first one I was able to get into a new car due to a manufacturer incentive (same brand), and then I sold that one after I had built up some positive equity (don't know how that happened....), and leased the most recent one.
 
If you drive a lot of miles, more than likely, purchasing will be cheaper than leasing. Leasing contracts usually have a strict limit on the number of miles you can drive and then they start charging you per mile. Due to the fact that Europeans tend to drive less than we do on average, I'm not sure if this is a factor or not.
 
Also, if you drive into things like I do, they require that you pay for them when you lease the car. I'm fine driving with dents, hair and other body parts in the grill, etc. but the leasing companies hate that stuff.
 
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