Leasing has some general benefits. I have already talked about it on my "Benefits of Leasing a Car" post. On addition to it, there are some factors that, when it comes specifically to Canada, it is worth to add to the list.
The following is just a list of factors that I think would affect the decision more direct of "Is it worth to own a car for the next 10 years or it is better to lease 2, for 5 years each?".
Salt is everywhere
Although most Canadian cities are far away from the Ocean, salt is popularly used to avoid roads getting frozen during the winter. For sure safety is a priority, but it is each one responsibility to get used to it and find alternatives, otherwise cars will get rusty.
Normal Anti-rust isn't expensive, but you need to do it every year. Usually, it costs around 100CAD + tax, and add to it that if your car will last 10 years, you'll end up spending an extra 1000 + tax in the long run.
Electronic Anti-rust is another option, but it generally starts at 600CAD + tax. and comes with a 10 years warranty.
Your car will "suffer" conditions not too regular in the rest of the world
Car manufacturers grant the vehicles to work under a wide spread of conditions that they test on different places of the planet. But the fact is that, as we are in Canada, we spend half of the year on probably what they consider "edge conditions".
Vehicles behave bravely, but the long-term performance of its components is just tested after years, where rolling 100.000Km is way different on the roads of Québec that the same amount of kilometers on the ones in Florida.
Just to mention a few samples:
- All car fluids and tubes thicken.
- The start engine suffers when the battery is really cold and can't start your car.
- Spark plugs loose a lot of performance during extremely cold conditions.
- The engine needs to make way more effort to reach the ideal conditions.
Much more can list, but I just focused on the ones that actually affect the life of the vehicle in the long term. It is hard to imagine that all cars will perform well after 8 years of regular use.
You are on top of a snowy/icy road, and so a lot of other
Although Québec, and Canada in general, Driving License Tests are very strict compared with the U.S., it is undeniable that the chances of having an accident during the winter increase considerably compared with the rest of the year.
We have all drove on the snow and we know how easy it is to get scratched, bumped or get a by ourselves or anyone during the winter. Snow removal equipment, snow trucks, fearless drivers on top of a snow layer... all of these represent a risk.
Even taking out the ice on a January morning, can get a pretty nice scratch on the body paint that will affect the resale value of your car in the future, unless you invest some money on fixing it.
Of course, there are exceptions, but my intention is to give an overall idea of the risks related to owning a new car in Canada compared with the Lease option.
