Lease Questions - Ask Here

ddelise

Hello -

Can I get the current money factor, residual, aquisition fee, and incentives for a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT? If it matters, I do want the DVD player (not sure if that will effect residual).

I am looking for 36 or 39 month lease at 12k miles/year, and am located in Tampa.

And if you have the info - I can use the same information for the 2005 Odyssey EX-L and 2005 Sienna XLE.

Thanks!

Damon

ny_diva

Thanks Gold...I wasn't sure & that price sounded so excessive. At this point..I'm not sure what I'll do but I sure as heck won't drop that on a down payment for a freakin' nissan. Not worth it.
Thanks for the reply.

kyfdx

Regarding this message...

Car_man Sep 19, 2004 11:23am

Is the MF really .00004, with four zeroes? Or should it be .0004 with three zeroes?

Either way, the Crossfire is an incredible lease deal relative to its MSRP.

regards,
kyfdx

copper

Thanks Carman.

From your experience, is there a chance that the MF and res% will change for October?

Thanks,
Copper

upndwn

Down money is to be minimized.

It only reduces the lease payment. You do not reduce the residual, so the buy out at lease end doesn't change. It brings the monthly price down, but that can be bad.

Say the car is totalled. Gap insurance pays the balance, you are out of the lease and the down money is gone.

scanty

that cap cost reduction hasn't been settled by legislation, or litigation.

The great thing about a lease is that the depreciation of a vehicle is agreed to contractually. So if you were to put money into the lease, and then have the car get stolen or totalled, it should be a simple pro-rated calculation from the insurance company to determine which party gets what percentage of the claim.

mister22

I have extracted from this forum and a local dealership that this model has a residual of 55% over 39 months with 12k per year. A nice salesman at a regional dealership said it's in the books as 54%. Any help here? Also, is it true that to get the base leasing money factor thru Infiniti of 0.00179, I would need to place a security deposit since I'm not a prior Infiniti owner? What should the security deposit usually be? What is a fair documentation fee? Thanks.

lstufleb

I would like to know more about leasing, but after seeing all of these posts, I am clueless!!!
I'll make it simple, I am interested in an '05 Ody maybe an Acura MDX, why would I lease vs. purchase?

copper

This board is a privilege, not a right. Please show some courtesy.

Copper

lstufleb

Sorry

hartt

Looking for the residual and money factor for a 3 year lease with 15K a year.
I'm located in No.KY.
Thanks again.

masstrent

I leased an Infiniti G35x with premium, wood, satellite radio, and splash guards today for $355/mo. - 42 month lease. MSRP is $36,720, money factor is .00167 & residual is 57% for 10k miles per year (only have 10 mile daily commute) - price is $31,000. Looked at Infinit TL and Mazda 6, but neither offered this type of deal for this class of car. Boston area.

masstrent

Security deposit should not be more than $350. You can get them to waive the security deposit with a cap cost reduction of roughly the same amount, but the money factor gets worse so it doesn't make sense.

sarabay

Sounds like a very good deal. Did you have to put any money down up front?

topgun7

I thought there is another situation where buying is actually come out ahead. If you buy a vechicle with over a certain weight and use it for business, you can write off the entire purchase price in the first year as long as it is less than $100000 as business equipment. Most of the big sport ute qualify for the weight. Is that true?

jdubbs1

Been reading here for a while and wanted to thank everyone for their knowledge. Picked up my new '05 Altima here in NJ yesterday. Just a base model 2.5S - automatic. Sticker was $20,380. I had $600+ remaining on my '01 Altima lease which Nissan took over and my new payments are $260/month including tax, with only first payment and MV fees down - total of $350 out of pocket. Rolled all the other fees into the lease. The sales price we negotiated was $16,770 so I think I could've done even a little better w/my payments but am pretty happy with what I got. What's everyone think and thanks again.

timfink

I am 91 years old and drive about 5000 miles a year. What are pros and cons of leasing vs buying at my age.

redhaze737

Would someone be so kind as to give me the residual value for a 2005 Kia LX Sorento. 48 months and 60 months please. I used to be able to find the Black Book online but don't seem to be able to anymore. Does anyone know of a site for that?

Aloha

CarMan@Edmunds

Sorry for the delay in my response, kssod1. Sometimes when community members slip a post in during one of my posting frenzies they fall through the cracks. There is a great article on how to calculate lease payments that is available here at Edmunds.com. Click on the following link to check it out: Calculate Your Own Lease Payment. It should answer any questions that you have on this subject. The calculation of sales tax on leased vehicles varies from state to state. I would be more than happy to try to give you an idea of how taxes would be calculated on this truck if you were to lease it in your area if you let me know where that is. If you are in a state that provides a tax credit for vehicles that are traded in, then you may want to consider trading in your Odyssey and financing the MDX that you are interested in. To be honest with you, even though Acura is providing a little bit of lease support on the MDX for a change, its special lease money for this model is still .00221 right now. This is equivalent to an interest rate of right around 5.3%, which as you can see is worse than the finance rate that you have been quoted. If I was in the market for this vehicle and could afford the higher monthly payment I personally would probably finance rather than lease it.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Many welcomes, dadyo . Thank you for the additional informaiton. Let's work up a sample lease payment for you. According to my calculations, if you were to lease a 2005 Audi A4 3.0L Cabriolet 2WD with a full MSRP of $40,620 and a selling price of $40,120 through Audi Financial Services this month for 3 years with 12,000 miles per, its zero down, pre-tax monthly lease payment should be right around $617. Let me know if you have any other questions.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hey mzinzi. Here's the info that you're looking for. If you were to lease a 2005 Subaru Legacy 2.5 GT Sedan through its captive finance company right now for 36 months with 15,000 miles per year, its base lease money factor and residual value should be .00060 and 48%, respectively. The numbers for an otherwise identical 39 month lease of this model should be .00065 and 46%. I believe that its 12,000 miles per year residual values are 1% higher than its 15,000 miles per residual values.

If you were to lease a 2005 Saab 9-2x Aero through Saab Financial Services Corp. this month for 2 years with 15,000 miles per, its base lease money factor and residual value should be .00126 and 71%, respectively. The numbers for an otherwise identical 3 year lease of this car should be .00125 and 59%. SFSC's 12,000 miles per year residual values are 1% higher than its 15,000 miles per residuals.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Sarabay, you definitely should not have to pay full MSRP for a 2004 VW Passat right now. In fact, if there is any competition for your business in your area, you should be able to get this car for very close to invoice minus any available dealer cash. Specifically Volkswagen has $2,500 dealer cash on the 2004 Passat GLS 1.8T sedan this month.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hello mia. I am sorry to say that I have not seen the lease programs for any of the 2005 models that you mentioned. In fact, I don't believe that the the '05 FX's are even available at dealers yet. If these models are available in October, I should be able to give you an idea of what their lease programs are like then if you check back with me a few days into the month. Talk to you then.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Don't worry about it, scanty. I know the feeling . As one might suspect with this car, Nissan is not provising any sort of cash or lease support on this car. If you were to lease a 2004 Nissan 350Z Coupe Enthusiast through Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. right now for 36 months with 12,000 miles per year, its base lease money factor and residual value should be .00235 and 55%, respectively. The numbers for an otherwise identical 39 month lease should be .00235 and 54%.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi Dick. Unfortunately, it is usually very expensive for consumers to get out of leased vehicles well before their scheduled end. In order for you to terminate your current Toyota Highlander lease, you have to purchase it through the bank that you are leasing it through. Not only is it possible that it will cost you more to do so than this truck is currently worth on the open market, but the bank that you are leasing it through may require to make all, or at least a large portion of your remaining payments on it.

As far as negotiating a good selling price on your new vehicle goes, the exact deal that you are able to get will depend upon which model you are getting. As one might imagine, certain models are discounted much more than others. If you tell me what model or models you are considering as a replacement for your Highlander, I would be more than happy to try to give you an idea of what sort of price to aim for.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hello CWC. You may be assuming too high a selling price in your calculations. While manufacturers' advertised leases do often assume higher selling prices than those that a knowledgeable consumer would be able to negotiate on their own, some sort of discount is probably factored into this deal. The 9-2X is selling for way below full MSRP in most areas. Furthermore, Saab is providing $2,000 lease cash on '05 9-2X Linear models that will enable you to negotiate an even lower capitalized cost on this car.

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CarMan@Edmunds

No problem, poetpindar. You certainly posted a detailed message this time . I don't remember if I mentioned this to you earlier, but BMW is providing $1,500 dealer cash on the 2004 BMW 325i this month. This money will help you to negotiate an attractive capitalized cost if you were to lease this car. In your most recent post, you stated that this car has a full MSRP of $37,195 and a selling price of $35,115. After taking the dealer cash into account, this is only a discount of $580. If there is any competition for your business in your area, you should be able to negotiate a more attractive selling price than that. BMW Financial Services' base lease money factor for this length lease of this car should be .00220. It would increase by .00010 if you were to have your car's security deposit waived. BMW FS' base lease acquisition fee is $525 in every state but New York, where it is $800. If you are being charged more $525 and you are not in New York, your dealer may be marking-up BMW's base acquisition fee to add additional back-end profit to your deal. If I was in your situation, I would try to negotiate a lower selling price and acquisition fee.

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CarMan@Edmunds

You are absolutely correct, upndwn. Saab is providing quite a bit of lease support on the 2004 9-3 right now. There is a great article on how to calculate lease payments that is available here at Edmunds.com. Click on the following link to check it out: Calculate Your Own Lease Payment. It should answer any questions that you have about how to estimate your monthly lease payment, but please let me know if you still have some questions on the subject after reading it.

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sarabay

I've been offered $20,962 with $1,000 loyalty rebate to purchase with VCI at 5% interest by a dealer.

But one question I have is when you are given a price for the car, should it be the same if you lease or purchase? I've been told it is not by the dealer--that they cannot give me the same price on a lease as a purchase. I've also been told that Edmunds invoice price on the 2004 GLS 1.8T automatic Passat is incorrect, by the same dealer. He is telling me what I am seeing as $22,396 is really $23,400. This whole process is making me tired.

CarMan@Edmunds

Greetings ny_diva. The two most important numbers to negotiate when leasing are your vehicle's selling price and its lease money factor. Remember that the selling prices of leased vehicles can be negotiated, just as if you were paying cash for them. Take a look around here at Edmunds.com and figure out exactly how much money you want to pay for this truck prior to visiting any dealers.

As far as the lease money factor goes, I can give you a good idea of what that should be like. American Honda Finance Corp.'s 3 year base lease money factor for a 2004 Acura MDX without the navigation or rear entertainment systems is currently .00221. Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp.'s current 3 year base lease money factor for the 2004 Nissan Murano SE is .00165. If you are being charged any more than this then your dealer may be marking-up your vehicle's money factor to add additional back-end profit to your deal.

I noticed that the lease payment that you were quoted required a substantial down payment. You definitely should not put any money down when leasing. Consumers can and should lease vehicles, only having to pay the first month's payment, a security deposit that is equivalent to that payment rounded up the the nearest $50 increment, and the lease acquisition fee for the bank that you they leasing through at signing. I advise against making capitalized cost reductions on leased vehicles for two main reasons. The first is if your leased vehicle is totaled in an accident or stolen and never recovered during your lease term, your insurance company pays off the bank that you were leasing it through and your down payment essentially disappears. The second main reason is that down payments on leased vehicles do nothing to reduce their lease-end purchase prices. So it would cost you exactly the same amount of money to buy this leased MDX at the end of your lease, regardless of whether you had put $5,000 down or had not made any down payment at all.

Nissan is not currently providing any cash incentives on leases of the 2004 Murano through NMAC so you do not need to worry about taking them into account in your offer.

I would be more than happy to work up sample lease payments on both of these vehicles for you, but in order for me to do so, I need you to provide me with their full MSRPs, selling prices, how long you want to lease them for, and how many miles per year you need to be able to drive them. Once I have this additional info I will be able to help you out.

I think that this answered most of your questions, but I am please let me know if you have any others.

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mia

I've received the following offer on an '04 FX35 AWD with Tech & Touring Packages:

36 mos./12K per year lease
.00179 MF
56% residual

Monthly payment =$599 incl. 8.75% NYS sales tax. [$551. + $48.]

Upfront $ = 1st mo. + DMV fees + $795 Bank fee.

MSRP = $43,840. Selling price = $39,340.
Based on my calculations the dealer is selling this vehicle for approx. $1k over invoice.

Needless to say he's in a rush to close this deal ASAP as he says that once the month is over so are the low rates.

Can I do better than $1K over invoice?

Thanks so much!

CarMan@Edmunds

Greetings mangas75. I am sorry to say that I agree with the dealer's assessment of your situation. It is usually very expensive for consumers to terminate their leases well before their scheduled ends. You may be able to roll some of the amount that you are upside down on your BMW lease into a loan or a lease of a new vehicle, but banks typically will not loan much more than the full MSRP of the new vehicle to consumers. As a result, in order for you to roll a significant amount of negative equity into your next loan, which is never a good idea by the way because it just causes you to be even more upside down on your new vehicle, you have to get a new vehicle that has a lot of incentives available on it. This is definitely not the case with the Jeep Wrangler. If you need a new SUV, you would be better off with something that has a higher cash incentive on it. Ideally you would ride out your current lease until you are very close to or at its scheduled end though.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Sorry to hear about your unpleasant experience, lemmer. It definitely does not sound as though this dealer is being very straightforward with you. You probably would be better off shopping around and getting your RX-8 from a different dealership. Good luck and let me know if you have any other questions.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi again dadyo. Just as Audi is not currently providing any sort of lease support on the A4 Cabriolet, BMW is not currently providing any lease support on the 3-Series convertible. Neither of the lease programs on these cars is that great.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi sharkala. Thanks for providing such detailed information in your post. Acura is currently providing a little lease support on the MDX, but only for leases of up to 36 months in length. I will provide you with info on that length lease because I personally feel as though it makes the most financial sense to go with that term. Let me know if you still are interested in the numbers for a longer lease and I will try to find them out for you. According to the latest information that I have seen, if you were to lease a 2004 Acura MDX Touring with navigation, but without the rear entertainment system through American Honda Finance Corp. this month for 3 years with 15,000 miles per, its base lease money factor and residual value should be .00221 and 57%, respectively. The approximate zero down, pre-tax lease payment for this term, using a truck that has a full MSRP of $41,745 and a selling price of $38,800 should be around $556.

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CarMan@Edmunds

So you're still looking for a minivan, huh, Damon? Let's take a look at the current lease program for the latest object of your desire. If you were to lease a 2005 Dodge Grand Caravan SXT through Chrysler Financial in Florida this month for 36 months with 12,000 miles per, its base lease money factor and residual value should be .00175 and 53%, respectively. Don't even bother with a 39 month lease of this van, the lease program is much worse for that term. When negotiating its capitalized cost, keep in mind that DaimlerChrysler is currently providing $1,000 lease cash plus another $1,500 bonus cash for deals through Chrysler Financial, $2,500 total, that will help you to get a better price.

I haven't seen the new lease programs for the '05 Odyssey or '05 Sienna yet. I suspect that I will see that information when the new October programs are introduced in another week. Please feel free to check back with me a few days into the month and I will be more than happy to fill you in on what I am able to find out.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Yep, Chrysler Financial's base lease money factor for 2004 Crossfires with automatic transmissions is indeed .00004, with four zeros. It's about as close to 0% interest as you can get on a lease. Not too shabby.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Copper, Volvo often changes its lease program on a monthly basis. I suspect that there is a very good chance that this truck's program will be different next month, especially given the fact that it is the beginning of a new quarter. This doesn't necessarily mean that it will be worse. Whether it is or not will depend if Volvo enhances its lease money factors on it enough to offset any drop in its residual values.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi mister22. Individual dealerships do not have any authority to alter banks' published residual values. So if a dealer tells you what a vehicle's residual value is, they are probably telling you the truth unless they have made some sort of mistake. Infiniti Financial Services' current 39 month, 12,000 miles per year residual value for the 2004 FX35 2WD is 54%.

The vast majority of banks require consumers to make a down payment when leasing. Some banks will waive their lease security deposit requirement for loyal customers or in exchange for a slight increase in a vehicle's lease money factor. I believe that Infiniti requires a security deposit that is equivalent to your vehicle's payment rounded up to the nearest $25 or $50 increment. Infiniti Financial Services also charges an acquisition fee of $550 on leases in most states. You will have to pay this charge at lease signing or have it added into your vehicle's capitalized cost. Documentation fees are nothing more than a way for dealers to add additional profit to deals. Treat them as part of your vehicle's total price.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Welcome to the wonderful world of leasing, lstufleb. Edmunds.com has a several easy to understand and informative articles on leasing. Here are links to a couple of them: 10 Steps to Leasing a New Car, Leasing Glossary. Reading them should give you a much better understanding of this subject. Check them out and let me know if you have any questions.

In answer to your specific question on whether it would be better to purchase or lease a new Honda Odyssey or Acura MDX, I can tell you that neither of these vehicles currently has much in the way of lease support on it. As a result, their lease programs are nothing to write home about. They aren't terrible, but they definitely are not good enough for me to tell you that leasing is definitely the way to go.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi there hartt. Let me begin by saying that Ford publishes what are known in the industry as lease rates rather than money factors for the vehicles that it leases. You can convert its lease rates into approximate money factor equivalents by dividing them by 2400. Regardless of what form it is in, Ford's current lease program on the F-Series is not very good. Ford Credit's 3 year lease rate for a 2004 F-150 Regular Cab FX4 4WD is 8.25% in most areas. The corresponding 15,000 miles per year residual value for this truck should be 47%. When negotiating the capitalized cost of this truck, keep in mind that Ford is currently providing $3,500 lease cash and $1,500 bonus cash on Ford Credit lease and finance contracts, for a total of $5,000 in cash incentives on it. This money will help you to negotiate an attractive price.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Congratulations on your new car, masstrent. Thanks for taking the time to share the details with all of us. It sounds like you got a very good deal. Enjoy.

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CarMan@Edmunds

I am glad that you find this discussion so informative, jdubbs1. It sounds like you did very well. Congratulations on your new car and for stopping back to tell everyone about your deal.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi timfink. Leasing is ideal for people who drive from 10,000 to 15,000 miles per year. I am not personally aware of any captive finance companies that lease vehicles with only 5,000 miles per year, but there may be some independent banks out there that do. Not only is there a good chance that you will not use all of the miles that you are allowed to drive if you were to lease, but there is a chance that your driving habits will change within the next couple of years causing you to drive even less than the 5,000 miles per year that you drive now. If I was in your situation I would probably buy my next car rather than lease it.

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mister22

Hi Mia,

From my calculations, it seems that your selling price is 600 under invoice (39940). So you have done well there. Assuming that you are not rolling anything into the lease payment, I calculate your monthly lease payment at around 571.14 including your 8.75% tax (36 months at 12k per). That's about 1000 less over the lease term!! Given this information, I think there is still room to negotiate. True that MF may change in October, but probably not for the worse. Be confident and don't feel rushed, it's a big decision! Good luck.

green1

Hey Car-Man,

I saw leases on the 2004 Saab 9-2X and 9-5 wagon for $219 and $309 respectively before tax. Down payment was $2999 for each and residuals were surprsingly low at 11300 and 13600 respectively. Given the purchase prices of these cars, how is this possible? What is the money factor on these leases? Are these being subvented?

Maybe there's some fine print I'm missing but when I look at the Calculators it looks like I should have monthly payment of 500-600.

Thanks,

Green

lstufleb

Thank you for your response. I will check back with you in October to see if there are any new deals regarding the Odyssey. I have also been looking at the Sienna. I just don't know if I'm comfortable with any other mini van. However, with the price I'm considering paying for either of these vans, I have wondered if an Infiniti or Lexus SUV would make any sense. I need to do more research, if you have any thoughts please feel free to share them. Thanks again.

CarMan@Edmunds

Hi redhaze737. Kias in general have fairly low residual values. As a result, it is not a good idea to lease one for a long term like 60 months. The residual value for that term would be so low that you would practically be paying for the entire vehicle. You might as well just finance it at that point. In fact, Kia's captive finance company does not even offer 5 year leases. I can give you an idea of what this SUV's 4 year lease program is currently like. According to the latest information that I have seen, if you were to lease a 2005 Kia Sorento LX 4WD through its captive finance company right now for 4 years with 15,000 miles per, its base lease money factor and residual value should be .00059 and 39%, respectively.

I do not know where you can find Black Book values in the Internet, but you can find out the value of any used vehicle right here at Edmunds.com by looking up its "True Market Value" in the following section of this site: Used Vehicle Pricing.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Yes, sarabay, one should be able to negotiate the same selling price for the vehicle that they are interested in, regardless of whether they plan on paying cash for, financing, or leasing it. There is one big exception to this statement. That is it assumes that there are not a cash incentive on it and if there is that it is available on any type of transaction. The 2004 Passat is one of the models that this exception applies to. There is a lot of dealer cash for cash purchases of this vehicle, that includes if you were to finance it through a bank other than VW Credit and VW Credit leases, but none for if you take advantage of the 0% financing that Volkswagen is offering on it.

You really need to figure out exactly how much money you want to pay for this car and then comparison shop with a few dealers to see if they will sell it to you for that price rather than just continuously haggling back and forth with one dealer. For a cash purchase, if you want to finance this car through a bank other than VW Credit, or lease it, look up the dealer invoice price that is available here at Edmunds.com, add a couple hundred dollars to it, and subtract any available dealer cash. If you want to use the 0% financing just go with the invoice price plus a few hundred dollars. If the dealer that you are currently working with is not willing to sell you this car for that price, there are other dealers out there that surely will.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hey mia. The lease money factor and residual value that you were quoted for this model are right on the money. This is obviously a good thing. Infiniti Financial Services' base lease acquisition fee is currently $550 in every state but Rhode Island and New York where it is $795. $1,000 over invoice certainly is not a terrible deal for this model. Given the fact that there is dealer cash available on it, I would not be surprised if you were able to beat this price, but I am not intimately familiar with the market for it right now. You may want to stop by the following discussion to see what others have paid for similar models lately: "Infiniti FX45 / FX35: Prices Paid & Buying Experience".

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