ELI5 - Leasing a vehicle in Canada?
This is kind of a basic question... but long story short I've bought/financed many cars in my time... I know the basic formula, MSRP, negotiate it as low as you can based on availability of the car (I usually use those carcostcanada type sites as a baseline), put a down payment/trade, aim for a lowest interest rate as possible... pay down the car and you eventually own it when it gets to 0.
I've never leased a car before but I have trouble wrapping my head around some concepts with it. I know that fundamentally its basically a rental where you're responsible for maintenance/damage... but:
Should you put a down payment on a lease? I've heard people say no, but why? Certain vehicles would have a pretty high lease payment with no down payment.
What exactly is the interest rate for on a lease? Why are you paying interest on something that isn't a loan? What is a "good" rate to look for on a lease?
Can you still negotiate the price in the same way on a lease as you would on a car? I always negotiate in terms of total price of the vehicle (pre-tax) and try not to get sucked into the "payment per month" game when financing... but lease payments sort of confuse me since you aren't actually paying toward the full price of the vehicle in the end, you're basically just paying to use it for a time right?
If you're trading something in do you get the same tax benefit as you do when trading in a car on a new financed/bought one?
FWIW this is just for a personal/family vehicle, no business use. We don't put many mileage on our vehicles anymore (wfh + I have a take home work truck) so I am thinking leasing maybe makes sense for us. We tend to trade in cars before they are fully paid off anyway (yeah yeah I know bad habit) but usually aren't upside down on them. I.E. right now our current car owing $32,000 with a trade value roughly $45,000, but may need to change it for a growing family (unexpectedly).