Never leased a vehicle and do not know the acronym.....the 5 BMWs we've owned, are owned outright. Why pay so much and have nothing at the end....???? different strokes, different folks...
I should also include that I have worked pretty much for the same entity for 38 years.... acronyms change, sometimes within less than a month depending on where you are...
As the character in the movie stated... Its in the specifics Bob, its in the specifics...
I've never leased a car, either. I used to be a militant anti-leaser, but as with most things I "go where the data takes me."
I look up the KBB values of our cars on the anniversary of their purchases. What that's shown me is that if somebody has a short automotive attention span (wants a new car every five years or less) and drives 15k miles/year or more, they'd be money ahead by leasing.
I wasn't money ahead by owning my 2014 535i until early in the sixth year, but with the COVID car shortage I'm making out like a bandit now. My car depreciated only about $1000 in the seventh and eighth years (March 2020 to March 2022). I've had some large repair bills, but they're trivial compared to what new car depreciation or a lease payment would have been.
Frau Putzer's 2018 X3 had zero depreciation over the third, and fourth years (also March 2020 to March 2022). The maintenance costs were about $300: two DIY oil changes and a wheel alignment.
Our automotive attention spans are long. We've kept cars bought new an average of 9.6 years. That's steadily going up with retirement and lower annual mileage. The last three cars we sold were 12.5, 12.5, and 15 years old.
