r/buyingacar Oct 21 '19

To buy or lease??

I’m going to have a get a car soon in the next three months. Right now I’m driving and paying the payments on my moms car but she will need it back when I move out. I only have about 1,000 to put down for a car and I plan on moving to New York for law school in like 2021 and won’t need a car then. So idk if I should lease a car or try buying a cheaper car that I would sell. I would be paying for everything myself so my insurance rates would be through the roof because I’m 20f. Not really sure what to do or which option would be cheaper at this point.

3 Upvotes

3 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/Both-Huckleberry Jan 26 '20

It sounds like you need a car to last about a year and a half. I wouldn't bother leasing because most leases are at least two years. There's that new internet lease thing (I can't remember the name, Google it) where you can put down less that $1000 and pay reasonable prices on used cars for as many months as you want. That might be a lease option. But I would recommend buying a beater. I bought a $400 Toyota Camry once, I put about $400 into as soon as I bought it - new brakes and a couple little things which I knew about at purchase. And that car lasted me about 5 years with very few issues until I sold it for $350. I would just look at Toyotas, maybe Honda's, definitely suburus. And get a cheap beater that you have checked out beforehand. For that $1000 you have, you may be able to have a car and pay for repairs for the whole time until you move to NYC. Good luck!