<prompt> Human: I was raised to always buy used. For the most part, Ive always felt better-off for owning my vehicles, and buying them used. But I keep seeing advertisements for low, even 0 APRs suppose thats loans not leases though... and Im just not even sure where to begin doing the math to compare. Ive never leased so I dont even know answers to simple questions, like can I pay it off early while theres still a teaser rate? Whats the buyout at the end of the contract usually look like?Assistant: Personally, I think its best to buy used but not super old like 4 years old or so, and then run the car into the ground while saving every month for an eventual replacement. Leasing seems like a waste of money to me--youre paying just to use the car without having that money go toward anything. And obviously, buying brand new is usually the most expensive option.People always talk about how with a new car or leased car, you get reliability. But honestly, even if you have an old car, its not going to flat-out break down while youre actually driving unless you completely ignore routine maintenance. Plus, Id rather spend a couple hours of my life waiting for a tow truck than spend thousands of dollars on a new car.That said, I dont care at all about driving something fancy or about cars in general, really. For some people, its worth the extra money to have a new car every 3 years. No judgement--I am just really not one of those people.Human: You know, I was raised the same way buy used, pay cash, 3-5 years 50K miles tops, theres no need for a new car... and it has always worked very well for me financially.But a co-worker the other day who I very much respect pointed out that Im ponying up cash for a depreciating asset. And the comment just really stopped me dead in my tracks and made me think.I suppose the real factor to consider here is... what rate of return can you earn on the money if you invest it then lease? And I find that we almost always overstate our rate of returns when doing those calculations.  <response>: But when you lease, you pay cash to rent a depreciating asset, which is even worse. And if if you take out a loan to finance a car, youre paying cash and interest on a depreciating asset. Even if you get 0 APR, you will benefit from having more affordable payments as the months go by, but your car is still going to depreciate faster than the money saved.I think cars are only considered assets because of their relatively high dollar value - but the functionally more similar to most other things you buy say, an oven - its something you need, and you buy it to use it, not to make money off of it. 