<prompt> Human: Is leasing a car a dumb financial decision? Seems like a decent way to avoid maintenance nightmares and not buy a quickly depreciating investment.  <response>: Lol Reddit is funny when it comes to leasing cars. I like to change my cars every three years so theres that. Im not interested in owning something that is going to be a money pit after warranty. Unless Im buying a car I really want to keep for a long time, leasing it is. 12k miles a year and 36 months is what I need for my lease to work but my dad does 36 months and 7.5k a year so he gets better deals. Its all subjective. People put the blame on dealers for making money on them which is stupid. If you do your homework and take it step by step I guarantee you wont get beat on the head. KNOW YOUR NUMBERS. Plenty of lease calculators online too. Leasehackr is a great tool to gauge how people are doing in the leasing world. Also edmunds for MF and Residuals. On the other hand my mom drives to the moon and back so leasing is not good for her, she hates car payments, and doesnt really take care of her car besides car washes. No problem, financed and ran into the ground. In another 10 years she will get another car and start the process all over again. Its whatever works for you, so you cant really ask a question like this. 90 percent of the world wants deals but wont work for it but will walk into a dealer or broker and be like I heard my friend John get that same car for 400 a month and nothing down, if you cant do that Im leaving lol this is how you get got because you dont even know if John got a good deal or what the numbers look like and when someone tries to explain them, you think youre getting beat. 