And it's a trap at the end of the lease when you can't afford the payment due. If you can't afford to buy it, you can't afford to lease it.
There is no trap at the end of a lease, you turn in the car & get another one. People say "you don't own it", but you don't own any new car until the final payment. I have leased 3 cars for monthly payments that were hundreds less than what I would have paid had I bought. Leasing used to be a much better deal. My first lease was a 1997 Ford F-150 XLT extra cab. The residual was determined at 74% on a 2 year lease & my payments were about $275. To buy that truck, it would have cost me about $460 over 60 months. I don't keep any car more than 3 years so leasing is perfect for me. The trick is to be sure you get a car that has a high residual value so you are financing less. That 74% residual was extremely high. A ton of cars were coming off lease & not commanding the prices that the lenders had determined they would be worth. So, instead of people buying the cars, they turned them in & the lenders "lost" money on them. Residuals are now determined much lower & and it is rare to find a 2 year lease. My current vehicle is off lease in Sept. & I have no idea what I want to get....or if I will buy or lease.