more virtue-signalling, but thanks. i made enough in 6 weeks with 1 stock investment to buy my GS400 for cash. each to their own.

it's not that simple... for the whole lease payment to be deductible the vehicle would have to be only for business and not one's "personal" car. otherwise, only a 'portion' (of business use) of vehicle costs can be deducted. alternatively you can deduct based on driven business mileage. but you can't do both.

 

If you own another vehicle you can deduct 100% pretty low risk. If not, 80% is what most accountants are comfortable with.

 

While I agree it's not "positive", I would say, this is "expected." VW did this to build back customer trust after the diesel scandal. Seems they feel customers trust them again. I wouldn't have thought 6/72 was staying in place for the long run when they announced it.

 

Oh, absolutely, under luck and the right circumstances, one can make a lot, quickly, in stocks, although they'll be paying part of that in capital-gain taxes....I never said otherwise. But, IMO and in the opinion of some others here, it is not worth the risk.

That is not to say I have never owned stocks. I have, and, in some cases, made a substantial profit....other cases, little to none. But I just felt it was not worth the risk. Besides, I was already making more than I needed from much safer sources, even without them.



That's why I said "per IRS regulations". I myself have never used my vehicle in that kind of business manner....at least not enough to quality for any tax deduction. Steve probably does...and, from what you have described of your work, it sounds like you do too.

 

People lease because the payments are lower and in reality most people who finance or "buy" a car end up getting another one in 5-6 years anyway. Every car I've purchased I ended up getting rid of at the 5 year mark so it's basically like a long term lease anyways so I figured I'd lease. By the time the car is 5-6 years old you start having more and more issues and i'd rather not have to keep dealing with that. FYI I never buy new cars ever. ONLY used but now I lease. It's just more convenient and better financially.

 

They also have come out with some nice new (er) vehicles since the scandal, like the Atlas....and their general reputation for unreliability has lessened somewhat.

Mods.....can we discuss the reduced VW warranty here, or does it need a new thread? I wasn't sure when I posted it.

 

I've done the math on this many times, and 5 years is usually the break even point. If you keep a car 5 years or less you may as well lease. If you keep it over 5 years buying becomes cheaper.

This is assuming buying a new car.

 

How do you overcome mileage restrictions etc? I think there should be a no-hold-barred thread comparing the costs. Using the average price of cars which I think is $35K and using the Camry which has excellent resale value.

 

Mileage restrictions are another variable, but my calculations are based on 15k mile leases which most people can conform to. Over- mileage also impacts vehicle resale value, so its an issue when not leasing as well.

If a car has great resale value, its even cheaper to lease. If its worth more than the residual at the end of the lease you can always sell it or trade it and pocket the difference.

Threads like that have existed in the past

 

I get 15,000 mile leases and don't go over and I daily my car. You have to be going on pretty frequent and far road trips to go over the 15,000 miles per year mark. Or you live in a sprawling suburb with long commutes etc.

 

I go over miles and its still never an issue. I also have never turned a car in at the end of the lease, I always trade out of it so mileage penalties are never an issue.

 

being a leasing noob, can you explain 'trade out'? do you mean you find a dealer willing to give you more than the residual so you profit on the return and use that for the next lease?

 

For myself, 27,000-30,000km a year easy, that is about 18kmiles, sometimes less. I like the freedom to do whatever I want.

 

At the end of the lease, the residual becomes the payoff. So if the residual is say $30,000 and you get $30,000 in trade in value, you're out of the lease even. If you get $31,000 you pocket $1,000.

In MD we pay sales tax on the whole sales price of the car, and when we trade a car we get a sales tax credit for the amount of the trade in. So if my trade is worth $30,000 I save $1,800 in sales taxes by trading vs turning it in. So, even if the trade value is $1,800 less than the residual I still come out even.

At any point in the lease the payoff is essentially the residual plus all the remaining payments.

 

so you lease used cars now?