Purchase vs Lease Vehicle for Short Term?

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Apologies if this has been asked. I searched but the answers were relatively specific to the vehicle or situation in question. What I'd like are the general considerations to help make the decision.

I would like my daily driver to be an electric vehicle - however, at this point in time I do not believe this is a logical choice for me.

For Example:

  1. We only have Curbside parking at our current house, While I can try to get a street-side charger permit from the city, it is not ideal. Additionally, I lead a busy life and do not want to make special trips to charge - especially to "top off" before a longer trip.

  2. I live in a Cold and Snowy Location and travel to far away cold and snowy places. Range issues (exacerbated by #1) are real.

I'd expect us to be moving into a different house with garage storage in approximately 3 years. This makes home-charging a more viable solution and storing in a warm garage may help with some winter range issues. Additionally, I believe that EV technology will have evolved enough that they make sense in my situation.

However, I need a new car now. My 2010 SUV has 170k miles. Rust Issues, Random mechanical, electric, and suspension issues. It's all beginning to add up. I think that I've gotten about as much out of it as I can.

Knowing that I'd like to make the move to an EV in ~3 years - do I go with a 36 month lease or purchase with the intent to sell / trade in when I want to move on? In the past I've driven cars until they didn't have much left, so I'm "new" at this short-term game.

Vehicles that I am looking at are $80 - 100k. 48mo payments will not be an issue.

While I know there isn't likely a single or an easy answer, What should I be considering when making this decision? I assume I'd need to estimate depreciation? Are their good resources for this? Where do we think the used / trade-in values will be in 3 years post-covid and given current (US) economics trends?

Thanks for any insights.

Posted Jun 30, 2025, 3:17 AM UTC

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