<prompt> Human: Background on me and my wife: Mid-30s and make decent salaries. We are financially comfortable but dont make crazy amounts of money.Background on her parents: Have no money for retirement for a variety of reasons. For reasons that I wont get into, they will need another car very soon. Father-in-law is in poor health so he may not be able to drive more than 3-5 years, but wants a nice car. Lets say 37K to buy all-in. This same car would be approximately 430month to lease.Heres the question: I want to lease this car because paying 430mo is much more palatable than dropping 37K on a brand new car, especially considering her parents may not even be able to drive in 3-5 years. We could use that money to invest in the market or just beef up our emergency fund since were planning on having a kid in the next couple years. My wife and her dad want to buy, simply because they like the idea of just owning the car outright and conventional wisdom is that its cheaper to buy instead of lease. Assuming that we have the funds to buy out-right, does it make sense in this scenario to lease instead of buy?TLDR: Parents need a new car, may not be able to drive in 3-5 years. Does it make sense to lease vs buy?Assistant: Background on her parents: Have no money for retirement for a variety of reasons. For reasons that I wont get into, they will need another car very soon. Father-in-law is in poor health so he may not be able to drive more than 3-5 years, but wants a nice car. Lets say 37K to buy all-in.Just for perspective, to an outsider, this sounds insane. Her parents are broke, yet youre going to buy them a THIRTY-SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLAR car?Human: Seriously, this sounds insane. Assistant: Yes I fully understand how insane this sounds. Its a situation that is probably worthy of a lengthy post on rrelationships, but what Im trying to get at here is the merits of leasing over buying in this kind of situation.Admittedly and sadly, this is a classic case of keeping up with the Joneses. Her parents friends all have fancy cars and houses that theyve accumulated over the years. Meanwhile her parents are driving hand-me-downs and cant afford to go on the same fancy vacations. It hurts my wife to see them as the ugly ducklings of their group of friends, especially when my wife and I are doing well. It pains me as I like to consider myself somewhat financially prudent, but when I put myself in her shoes I would most likely do the same for my parents.  <response>: My personal advice: tell them to suck it up. Poor people dont get handed luxury cars just because they have rich friends.My advice that actually pertains to your question: spend a boatload of research time on leasehackr.com. There is a ton of knowledge on there regarding how to lease the right way. Tell them they will get a new car once the right deal comes around. I agree with you that buying in this situation doesnt make sense. If the beggars get a car, they dont also get to dictate how you pay for it. 