First off, a car is not an asset unless its a really nice special edition 911 or something that will appreciate in value - its a liability. With that said, my last 3 leases have turned out to have a better resale than the payoff at the end of the 3 years - I'm loyal to my dealer/salesmanager, so he's actually purchased the cars from the bank at the end of my leases , and given me the equity towards my next cars. For example, in 2015, my 2012 car was worth about 7500 more than my payoff (the residual) and my salesmanager gave me 5000 toward my next car as a downpayment - then in 2015 I got 3000, and in 2020 I got 750 - all from a lease that I didn't even own. This is the least known hack in the car business. Take the money factor, multiply it by 2400 - thats your interest rate. Usually the rates are only a negligible amount over buying - and instead of paying 100% of the car over 5-8 years, you can pay say 40% over 3 years, and then have the option to pay the remaining 60% over 5-8 years at a low rate - essentially stretching the payments out.... and then after 3 years you can say "do I like this car or is it a piece of shit?" "Is it worth more or less than my payoff?" Now certain companies suck for leasing. Like volkswagen auto group. Others are better, like BMW and Subaru also protip - put as little drive off as you can on a lease. Lets say you put 5k down and get t boned as you drive it off the lot. Say good bye to that 5k