FIRE Profanity: Did She Just Say Car LEASE?
I’m going to drive this car forever!”
-Me, every 7 years when I buy a car
I drive a Mom Car. What is a Mom (or Dad) Car? Glad you asked. It is a vehicle, driven by a parent and it contains several, or all, of the following attributes:
Car Seats/booster seats
Fuzzy seat belt covers
Cupholders full of sand, trash, and sticky gum (or is that gum?)
May or may not have a family of hamsters living under the seats
Questionable smears and smudges on all glass and smooth surfaces
That about sums up my current SUV. About 10 years ago, when I was pregnant with YoungFUnd, I upgraded from a sedan to a used SUV in order to “make room for my family”. Which meant “make room to fit my giant pregnant butt between the seat and the steering wheel”. I liked the extra space and didn’t mind the lower gas mileage- it was my family car.
Fast forward about 10 years, to the present day. I still have the Mom mobile, with over 155,000 miles on this old bird. I clean it and wash it regularly, and maintain it responsibly. There have been several big issues recently, but thankfully no “side of the road” shenanigans. Yet.
So why is the title of this post “FIRE Profanity: Did She Just Say Car LEASE?” Isn’t the word “lease” supposed to send shivers down my frugal spine? Well, yes, and also, sort of.
For the last few years, I’ve been eyeing other cars and finding things to add to my list of “reasons I should get a new car”. These excuses reasons include:
Better gas mileage with a hybrid or EV (Electric Vehicle)
Something more reliable than my old car
Save time and sanity by not having to work on fixing up whatever new issue arises
Upgraded safety features
See above: “What is a mom car?” for description of current condition
I don’t urgently need a new car right this minute, but the justifications to buy a new car are calling to me louder than before. Louder than the noises my Mom mobile makes when I drive up a hill. Louder than the clunking when I drive in the cold weather. Louder than the squeaking when I turn it on. Louder than the creaking when I make a right turn. I could go on and on.
I didn’t start seriously looking into the prices and options, however, until I saw a sign that seemed too good to be true: Lease an EV for $199 a month?
That’s less than what I spend on gas per month!
It’s like a free car, if you think about it… right? I knew there was more to the story. I was unfamiliar with what a lease entailed. The only thing I knew about a lease was that most people who are on the more conservative side with money don’t typically lease cars. In fact, use the word “lease” in front of a certain crowd, and you can elicit head shaking and “tsk tsk” noises. There had to be more to the story, but I just didn’t know what it was. Yet. It was time for some more in-depth research.
On to the fun part: Test driving! I test drove 5 different EVs over 3 weekends. They all floated on air compared to my shaky, clunky Mom Car. The fancy buttons, the moon roof, the quiet ride…
… and so clean.
After each test drive was the usual “sit and talk numbers” session. With each discussion, the monthly lease amount started off reasonable, with recurring amounts starting around the $199 as promised. The more questions I asked, it seemed the more other fees were revealed, and the monthly amount would inevitably increase. This deal was becoming less and less appetizing.
The lease felt very cheap at the start, since the monthly payments were advertised so low. Thinking of the cost of a car in total, however, instead of the monthly payment, forced me to see the huge impact that buying or leasing a car will have on my financial future:
What would a lease cost me in total at the end of the 36 months? What does this cost look like in a 10 year time frame?
What would a purchase cost me if I paid a chunk upfront, then the rest in 36 months? What does this cost look like in a 10 year time frame?
What would the cost be to just keep the car I already have, and continue to pay for gas and increasing maintenance?
How much more do I need to save in my “Car bucket” if I want to pay all cash?
These 4 questions, and the answers they gave me, were all I needed to know to make a decision about leasing. Calculating the totals of each question was a sobering, and very useful, practice.
The intention of leasing an EV was to save money by reducing gas, taking advantage of the EV incentive, and to have a reliable car. I would not get the desired result with the path I was researching.
Monthly payment aside, there is another legitimate concern with leasing, at least on my part: The condition in which I return the leased car! My imagination starts running wild with what could happen during the 36 months, and how I would have to explain myself when I return it at the end of the agreement.
“Sorry about the green goo in the backseat, we had a science experiment incident!”
“That chocolate handprint on the dashboard? No, that was there when I started the lease.”
“Smell? No, I don’t smell anything.”
In summary, when leasing, I would be paying a lot more than the billboard advertised (no surprise there), just to drive someone else’s car, on their terms, and have less flexibility in the meantime if anything happens.
Lease option: OUT
In a shortsighted perspective, leasing an EV could potentially feel cheaper and feel like a better deal than other alternatives. In the longer term, I am setting myself up for a revolving door of upfront payments and monthly expenses that far exceed the total cost of purchasing a car for long term use.
If updated EV technology brought quality to my life, or it wasn’t as expensive as I determined it would be, then this post would have a whole different result. Personally, I just want to plan fun activities with my kid, embark on road trips, and get there in something reliable without annual mileage or end of lease variables hanging over my head.
The reality is, no matter what I drive, it’s going to be covered in seagull poop (on the outside) and dirt (on the inside) before my kid has even buckled themself into the car for the first time.
For now? I wait.
As a single parent working their way towards financial independence, I don’t have the luxury of skipping the research phase, or allowing a car salesperson to push me before I know exactly how much I am willing to spend. I am in a position where I can easily overspend $10,000 or save $10,000 depending on my patience and strategy.
There will be an opportunity, hopefully soon, when I manage a deal that makes sense for my car needs and my long term plans. In the meantime, I’ll give the old Mom Car a nice wash, vacuum up all the orange crumbs on the floor, and rattle my way towards to the grocery store.
