True, but lease deals usually/always force one to do things that one might not normally do...like cross the tees and dot the eyes. And I am sure most if not all cars still have normal and severe (funny how they always recommend the latter...$$$) maintenance schedules.

And dealers play games (*) like when bringing it back in at the end of a lease, if you don't go for another lease, they go over the car with a fine toothed comb; every little scratch and door ding, as if they'd really fix those before selling it.

(*) there is a reason the car industry has the reputation it does.


For sure and they can do what they want if they don't mind making car payments every single month for the rest of their lives. I prefer not flushing my money into the sewer. Its good for "key turners" who panic the second their engine misfires.

 

You mean everyone isn't claiming 30% CCA - according to my quick math the most straightforward way to hedge against depreciation :-)

 

Yep. We had an Explorer on lease from new for a few years (not our lease, we were just driving it, long story) and there was a bill for I think $500 in PDRs when we returned it for 2 dents. That's an expensive PDR...

The more people I meet in the industry, the more I see the reputation is still renewing itself, for both new and used. It's really frustrating, and makes my job that much harder. Sometimes you just want to give up and join the crowd.

 

Thats when I would simply have it done myself and not have them profit on it. They get a discounted rate as they do for paint and rust protection and all the other sub-standard crap dealers try to sell you when buying a new car.


If you work at the other end of the spectrum, you'll really stand out and be recognized.

BTW, my system for paying cash for my cars...every year that I don't smoke (I never have) puts about $3000 in the bank. Ten years later, I can buy myself a nice daily driver.

 

I just posted something similar on the GT3 forum. A few days ago, I was doing financial planning and finally decided to swallow hard and do the calcs on the GT3. In 40 months of ownership, the GT3 has lost $1,500/month in depreciation expense... for a non-rich person like me, that is hard to fathom.

When I bought the car, 3-yr old 996 GT3's were going for $125k, so I thought I'd do ok buying a "rare" GT series car. With the economy, volume of 997's produced and the currency change, the value has plummeted. Dealer trade in on a 997 GT3 is somewhere around $70-75k and retail is around $90k-100k depending on options...

I will never buy a new Porsche ever again; I certainly didn't get $1,500/month of value from owning a new car vs. a slightly used one. Lesson learned, and glad I learned it while I'm still young. From now on, it's second hard cars for me!

 

Amen! Last year I read the book The Millionaire Next Door and buying slightly used was one of the golden rules...

 

Since I know how to work on them and got pretty good at it over the years, I will never buy a new or nearly new car. I'm perfectly ok with cars that need work, even if it's a lot of work. The larger the problem the cheaper the price. But this doesn't mean they are junks or POS. They have to be worh saving.

 

It's really a no-brainer, used vs. new, despite my bias. However, if you're looking at trucks, right now it's better to buy new. I can't compete on under-3-year-old F150s - monthly payments are almost the same on an 08 vs. brand new. The cash rebates they're offering now are unbelievable.

 

Christien, I don't know you but I sell and lease a lot of F Series Super Duty. Is the truck for your business or day to day work? What are you going to use it for? A diesel is designed to be put to work every day, towing or carrying stuff. If you aren't going to be doing that, you may want to look at a 2011 6.2L gas engine and save yourself the $10,000 upcharge for diesel. It will still tow your race car or boat effortlessly.
A new 2011 F Series Super Duty Lariat Diesel 4x4 should lease somewhere around $1,000 per month for 3 years with $1,000 capital cost reduction and a lease rate of 6.5%. The buyout should be somewhere between $33,000 and $38,000 after 3 years and 75,000 km. Normal wear and tear is expected and accepted. Lease end charges sometimes happen but there are legitimate reasons for them. Bald tires, cracked windshields and body damage are probably the most common triggers for lease end charges but reasonable people wouldn't bring a truck back without first addressing these the same way they wouldn't sell a vehicle they own with the same issues.
I am on an advisory board with Ford and if you would like, send me a pm and I will set you up with the dealer principal of a dealership I know very well in the GTA and I know you will be taken care of the way you deserve to be taken care of. Or, if you would like to talk trucks without BS, send me a pm and I will call you.

Cheers.

Bob

 

Hi Bob. Thanks, but I'm on the same side of the fence as you - I'm a dealer. My point was that new trucks are so cheap, we can't sell them used at a large enough discount to justify buying used over new.

 

Forgive my ignorance... please explain further!

Slightly OT - I need a better/good accountant... anyone got suggestions? PM me please...

 

Depending on your job, you may be able to claim expenses and the depreciation of those expenses: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/t...clsss-eng.html

I too would like any recommendations of good accountants because I can't figure out how to use CCA to my advantage given my employment.

 

I'm hedging; new and used

For our daily driver, we have a Mitsubishi. Bought it 18 months ago, 0% financing over four years. It came with a 5-year bumper-to-bumper. Our last car was a Matrix. I haven't seen a mechanic in 5 1/2 years now. Not for a single thing, other than oil changes and winter tire installs. That's definitely worth something, and I still have 3 1/2 years of warranty left.

On the other hand, I bought the Porsche as our second car, which we knew would sit in our garage 5 days a week, because the build quality is exceptional. It's unlikely to cost much for maintenance over the next 3+ years of ownership if I only drive a total of about 20,000kms.

 

If you aren't self employed or required to use your own vehicle by your employer in the course of work, it's tricky to get CCA treatment for your personal vehicle. At least I'm not sure how you'd get CCA treatment.

 

Rule of thumb here is if you purchase a vehicle, you can write down 15% in the first year and 33% for each of the following three years. After 4 years, your asset is written down, or depreciated, to 0 and you cannot claim any more depreciation. Borrowing costs can also be included.
On a lease, CRA will currently allow you to write off up to $800 monthly payment before taxes, if you claim 100% business use. Insurance and maintenance are an extra write off, dependant on how much your vehicle is used for business.
Christien, probably just like you, most of my commercial business are new vehicles being leased for usually 3 years.

Bob