Should I Rent A Car Long-Term Or Lease?

Sure you can rent a car for a long time. You can also keep warm by burning portraits of Ben Franklin in a hibachi. But why would you want to? First off, you have to define ‘long time’. Is it two months, two years, or less than twenty years? Why do you need the car and what is important to you? If it doesn’t have to be a snazzy car, you could just buy a reasonably reliable almost-beater. As long as the thing keeps the rain off—right? Well, maybe not. Maybe you don’t want a car that could be mistaken for a domicile. Okay, so you want something nice-ish, new-ish, that makes you look…like you have a good job. Nobody can make the decision for you. You have to look into the terms, the prices, the options yourself. But leasing would definitely be cheaper than renting. In the short term, leasing is cheaper than buying new. In the long term, buying new is cheaper than leasing. Buying used can be cheaper than both of them but only if a. you have the cash and b. you get a good car. There are no easy answers. Imagine that.

Not only that, but for the money you would pay to rent a small, economical, no-status car, you could lease a gorgeous, upscale gas guzzler. What could be better? There is a caveat. If you need the car for impressing clients, that’s one thing. If the car you’re thinking of is nicer than the boss’s, well, you probably need to re-think it.

Now, what if you have no credit, or bad credit, and your only options are either to rent or lease. Obviously, you need to re-think the whole you-money thing. And then you need to do all the things you know you need to do to straighten out that thing. And in the meantime, leasing long-term might help your credit rating if you follow all the rules and don’t even try to bend them.

Bottom line—only rent long-term if you have no other option (?) and/or someone else (employer) is paying for it. Which begs the question: Do you really want to work for somebody that dumb?

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