system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
[ELI5] Why do people lease cars instead of buying them?
gpt
You have a monthly allowance of $10. Your friend just bought a new Gameboy and wants to sell his old one for $50. He says, he'll loan you the $50 but wants you to pay him $10 a month up to $60 after 6 months to make up for it. OR He will let you use the Gameboy for 6 months if you pay him $5 a month. At the end of 6 months, he'll let you give it back or buy it for $40.

If you take the loan, you're paying more per month, but at the end of the 6 months you have a Gameboy of your own. (Total of $60) This is called equity.

If you lease it, and pay the $5 a month you get a Gameboy for only $5 a month! But at the end, if you want to keep it, you end up paying more for it than if you took the loan. (If you keep: $70, if you give it back, you paid only $30 but you don't have the Gameboy anymore.)

Now, imagine this same situation but you know that Gameboy SuperAwesome 2 is coming out in 6 months and you really want it. If you took the loan, now you're stuck with an outdated piece of gear. It works, but it's not Gameboy SuperAwesome 2. If you leased, you can now lease the Gameboy SuperAwesome 2 at the same deal.

Basically: Short term with the intent of NOT BUYING, you're better off leasing.

If you plan to buy, don't lease unless you have a good reason for it. It's more expensive in the long run to lease, then buy.