Jmaster911

As some of you will know, my wife and I are soon to move to Dallas, tx. Infact our I-130 was just approved today and I have the dreaded medical tomorrow!!

Anyway, I am looking that the possibility of leasing a car when I get to Dallas and wondered what the average mileage is within the states. I know the UK is about 12,000 miles pa but I would imagine the US will be significantly more than that due to the vast distances involved.

Your personal experiences are appreciated.

ugacrew

It's the same here with regards to how many miles you can place on a leased car. You may end up putting more on your car because the commutes in Dallas can be long like every other large city. You may end up racking more miles than your lease can handle. Also, because of the size of the country you'll be limited in making long distance road trips. To be honest, I recommend purchasing a car instead of leasing. Go here for a good explanation of why.

BritGuyTN

figure 19k per year where you are

I work from home and live in a very urban area so essentially i just pootle around but still rack up 12-14k per year. i nthe Uk it was about 9k

krizzy

I do 104 miles a year to the shops and back....its the other buggers using my car that rack the miles up....

Dan725

And that would be conservative for that area. People drive big distances in the DFW Metroplex - land of highways the size of freeways, and with Mcmansions everywhere, you'd probably do 19k just popping to the shops and doing the school run everyday!

Until you know exactly where you are going to be living and working, I certainly wouldn't want to be leasing a car.

Bob

I don't drive much as I work a few miles from work, but I still average around 10-15K a year...a bit further when we lived up in Maine and we lived even closer to where the missus worked

Jmaster911

Thanks for the advise, I think leasing may be a non starter.

Given your experiances and the fact that the wife says she wants to go on at least one road trip per year that could really hike up the miles (example Dallas to Allentown where her parents live is 3000+ miles return)

krizzy

We had a lease with unlimited miles on it....from GMC....it added about $100 to the car...

USBound

we don't travel much really... I use the train to get to work... we EASILY do 15k/year... in fact... more like 20k for the past 3 years....

you know that hurts... not thought about it before... but thats 60k miles... at roughly 10mpg... at an average of $2:50... $15k... bugger.

Big D

I agree when i was in dallas i did about 25k a year and that was an average commute.

Says a lot when its not unusual for used cars with over 100k miles at franchised dealers

Dan725

Thats not usual, must've been an unpopular model they wanted to shift. Its financial suicide for a dealer to offer a lease on those terms.

lapin_windstar

I commute on public transport, didn't think I drove much except for occasional weekends away - an dbugger me if I didn't rack up almost 20,000 miles last year. How TF did that happen?

Steerpike

Don't do a lease. One of the great things about being here in the US is that you can go on fantastic road trips. I'm not into driving much locally if I can avoid it, but about once a year, I jump in the car and go on a 3,000 mile journey and love it - everything from the roadside diners to the wide-open stretches. Here's a couple of trips I took in 2004: California/Arizona/Utah/Nevada (I ran out of picture-taking enthusiasm towards the end!) and California/Arizona

floridakiwis

Most lease agreements here in the US are very restrictive when it comes to mileage. I guess that is how they make their money by the overage charges (bit like cell phones).

We have friends that have a lease program on a vehicle, and when ever they want to do a trip they get a rental car because they can't afford the outrageous overages the lease company charges.

Living in Florida, working within the same county, we are averageing over 20K per vehicle.

Poppy girl

I am in California and recentaly had this dilema I found that to lease you are looking at anything from 16,000-25,000 pa I did get 30,000 from VW but to be honest for me because I drive on average 700-1000 miles a week I decided to buy my car and got the new Mercury Milan 08 I get 48.5c per mile from my company, so in my case it was worth buying.