[Hehe]

I see lease as a predetermined depreciation schedule.

Whenever you sign a lease, it would give you a "residual value", this is important because it determines how much you end up paying.

For some domestic brands, this can be an advantage because when the residual value is set at a higher rate than what you'd get if you were to sell after 3-4years for another new car.

Lease makes sense if you the kind of person who change car every 3-4 years anyway. Your exposure to tax is lower (you only pay tax on the portion that depreciates, and not the residual) and if you can write off as expenses, even better.

For those who don't want to deal with the expenses on things like tires/brake wear... they even sell a "protective" plan now where you pay x amount in advance and it covers all wears and tears up to y amount.

Leasing can be at your advantage sometimes depending your own circumstances vs. financing or cash purchase.

The simple way to make it is ask yourself the question "how long do I plan to keep this car for?" If your answer is 3-4years, you might be better off just leasing. You are buying something that depreciate... that depreciation is your cost of ownership. Leasing gives you a clear idea on how much you'd be paying upfront. Whereas financing or cash, you'd be subject on how you'd sell your car. If you can get market price directly to another consumer, it MIGHT make sense. But if you were just going to trade it in or sell it to the dealer, I've yet to see cases where financing/buying came out ahead because dealer would just pay the lowest amount as they'd have to make money by selling at market pricing.

And another HUGE advantage for leasing... in a close lease with most of manufacturer financing arm anyway is that you don't have to worry about the potential loss in value if you ever get into an accident.

Say if someone rear-ends you and it's 100% their fault. ICBC would only pay to fix the car. But say the repair was $4000 (which is easy in modern cars) and when you go to sell the car, suddenly your car is worth a lot less. That loss in value is something you don't have to worry when you are leasing.

In the case of a lease, you just return it and that's it. The residual value stays the same.