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Comment by xahrepap | Hacker News Reader

This is interesting data to me, because it shows me that I made the right choice to buy instead of rent a few years ago. In the area I live (based on the limited looking I've done and talking to friends who do rent), it's not uncommon for rent to be higher than what I'm paying for my mortgage + insurance, for a smaller place.

I would like to see an similar interactive app for determining if I should lease or buy a car. :)

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There's no app because:

- Cars vary widely in how they hold value (for example: http://www.autotrader.com/research/article/car-news/209232/2...)

- Cars will always depreciate, houses will often _appreciate_

- Leasing is almost always the poorer choice, barring basically the one case where you know you will need a car for the lease term only (and will not be getting another car afterward)

Leasing is always worse unless you prefer to have new cars every 3-5 years. If you need a car for the length of the lease term only, it's better to privately buy a 5 year old Corolla/Civic for $12k and sell it 3 years later for $10k.

There's a lot of factors to determine whether it's better to buy or lease but the rule of thumb is usually: if you drive not more than 15,000 miles a year and like to get a new car every 2 or 3 years leasing is for you. If that's not the case it's almost always financially better to buy. This is if you're in the US though, European leases are usually differently structured and this rule does not apply.

Leasing a car is a way to get a car that you can't afford to buy; it's for people who want to trade more money so they can enjoy a nicer car. Financially, buying a car is almost always more sensible if you can afford it. Exceptions to this would be highly specific and a generalized app probably wouldn't be helpful.

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