Buying or leasing a new car in late 30s/early 40s

[kevolven]

Have any of you had any experience with buying or leasing a car recently? There is apparently I decrease in 36-45 year old women when it comes to leasing a car and I was wondering why.

Do you think there is a reason why? Have any of you looked at leasing a car recently and changed your mind and could explain why? Or do you have any other things that I should know about before leasing a car?

I don't know about you, but I usually turn to my OH for this stuff so I'd love to hear your process when it comes to getting a new car.

I recently came to the end of my PCP lease and had to choose between getting one on HP or another PCP. (I couldn't afford the final balloon payment of nearly 8k funnily enough!)
I would have preferred to go down the HP route and of course eventually own the new car, but it was considerably more expensive and I have a wedding to save for.
In the end I sold my old car and let We Buy Any Car settle the finance - prices for second hand cars are very high so I got a lot for it. I put down a deposit on a decent 4 year old car on PCP and it's 50 quid a month cheaper for me.
Although I would have preferred HP, leasing was a good way for me to get a decent newish car.

I think of leasing like renting a house and getting a loan like having a mortgage. Always better to buy if you can get a loan and the car will be yours at the end