August 24, 2007

  • Can anyone provide some advice/suggestions as to leasing a car?  All the cars I've owned have been purchased with cash and this would be the first time considering a lease.  I've been checking different manufacturer websites for lease deals but they all seem to be similar.  $2k-$3k down and $200-$300 a month in payments. Are the lease terms negotiable despite what's posted on the sites?

    Thanks in advance.

    Edit: My credit score is 742 if that makes any difference.

Comments (9)

  • everything about a lease is negotiable. down payment + monthly payments combined should total about half the value of the car on a 3-year lease. don't be afraid to get quotes from different dealerships and play them off each other. get a quote from dealer A and go to dealer B telling them to beat A's quote. then maybe go back to A and tell them to beat B's quote. watch out for total mileage allowed and how much per mile over.

  • I figure with the car business everything is negociable.

  • preferably, id rather not put anything down on a lease because god forbid you get into an accident or something happens to the lease, your deposit goes out the window.  So I'd try to stick with the zero down.  dealerships want you to lease more than finance, so they can always work numbers out with you.  Just have a number you are comfortable spending per month and make them work around your figure. 

  • it depends what kind of car you are going to lease and you can always negotiate on lease cars. for my bmw they wanted me to pay $3g down pay, 1st and last months payment, deposit, tax & license. But i gave them $2g cash total and said you guys deal with it and i want my payment to be under $400.00 w/12 thousand miles a year.  =) and they gave me exactly what i wanted. =) hehe

  • edmunds.com has all the info you'll ever need... why lease & not finance? unless you plan on changing cars every 3 years, or u can write it off as a business expense, leasing isn't really a great option... also remember if you drive a lot, you should definitely finance & not lease.

  • i don't know much about the leasing option.. i wish i had before i bought my car. my friend is leasing her audi.. and she says that's the best way to go because the fastest way you can dispose your money is on a car. the only downfall would be that they give you a certain number of mileage that you can't exceed..

  • all depends on your credit:

    720 -750 you will get a tier 1 interest rate and that will of course bring down the interest. (Remember even though you don't have a 700+ credit rating, you can ALWAY negotiate the interest rate too. There is this thing called a "buy rate" which the bank offers. And the dealership always adds on 1-3% on that buy rate to make more money. (so try to find out what the buy rate is or get it financed yourself through your own bank)

    ALWAYS ALWAYS negotiate on the price of the CAR
    German cars: you can take all the way up to 11-13% off the MSRP

    Jap cars: You can take off max 8-10% that's if you're lucky.

    If there are rebates, etc on the car. Remember you can take that rebate on TOP of the percentages that I have mentioned above. (so if there is a $3000 rebate, it's $3000 + the precentage that you can take off the msrp)

    NEVER EVER EVER negotiate on the monthly payment.
    Because all they have to do is increase more payments(term of lease) to bring down the monthly.

    AND PLEASE PLEASE do not lease a "popular" car. I.E. new BMW 3 series. Lease a car that there is a high supply of. You wont get a deal worth shit. (SUPPLY AND DEMAND)

    i hope this helps you out. you lucky choi is your friend. otherwise i would not disclose all this info to you.
    HA HA HA

  • Leases are tricky because the dealers usually emphasize the monthly payment or the down payment (look, the payment is so low! it's got to be a good deal) - sort of hiding the true cost of the lease, which in itself is harder to find out than for a purchase. Basically there's a chart that says how much the car is worth now and how much it will be worth at the end of the lease term. That difference is, let's say, X. The dealer wants you to pay X+Y to cover interest and profit. Then they split that into the down and monthly payments.

    So really, IF you are prioritizing the monetary value, that's the number you want to think about. You can probably get what a reasonable X value should be from the web and then tell the dealer what terms you want. Go in on August 30th/31st and you should be able to get a great deal from some desperate salesman looking to bump his monthly numbers.

    Also, it helps to get cars that maintain their resale value since X will be smaller for those cars. e.g. do not lease a Hyundai. Japanese or German.

    Of course, if what you care about is a lower monthly payment (compared to financing) for a nice car, want a new car every three years, and/or can expense the payments, then maybe you don't care as much about what X is. btw, all those are completely legitimate priorities that put getting the best value into 2nd place. Then again, if value was the only priority, then buying a car with cash (or ultra low financing) and owning it for seven years would be the way to go.

    DO NOT do a "here's my down payment and desired payment and you guys deal with it" if you have any concern about not being completely ripped off. Not that you automatically would, but that's giving the dealer the keys to the kingdom and not a lot of dealers are not that virtuous.

    And don't worry too much about the down payment "what if accident happens" issue. The leaser should require comprehensive insurance on the car that will protect you. And them.

    Like spicy said, check out a site like Emdunds for more details.

  • *pointing up* dukpoki use to work at a dealership...

Comments are closed.

Post a Comment