Lease Questions - Ask Here

CarMan@Edmunds

You're very welcome, tsb.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Thanks for the suggestion, Steve. I'll mention it to management. Talk to you when your Jeep lease is up.

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CarMan@Edmunds

No problem, andyhiggs. Knowing about the dealer cash on Accord Coupes will definitely help you out. To be honest with you, I've always liked the way the coupe looks better than the sedan anyhow, both with this generation and the previous generation Accords. Of course, as a man with a family, my coupe days are long gone.

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djs2005

I am negotiating the purchase of a leased vehicle from a private party. The private party has purchased another vehicle, and as they are near the end of the lease term, they are trying to sell the lease vehicle. The car is in great shape, well maintained, and is offered at a fair price.

Since the private party does not own the vehicle, I technically will be purchasing it from Nissan, the lease/title holder. Is this a crazy idea, is this possible?

I am wondering what incentive Nissan has selling it to me now rather than sticking the other party with excessive miles, wear and tear, deposits, etc. and then selling it later at a higher cost.

I want to be fair and pay the actual lease end cost, but not more. On the other hand, I am not going to hand over a cashiers check unless I can get the title in return.

Thoughts, suggestions, or am I just looking for trouble?

Thanks!

CarMan@Edmunds

Welcome to wonderful world of leasing, soulslinger. Let's work up a sample lease payment on the vehicle that you are interested in for you. According to my calculations, if you were to lease a 2005 Ford Freestyle Limited AWD with an MSRP of $32,730 and a selling price of $29,504 through Ford Credit right now for 2 years with 12,000 miles per, its zero down, pre-tax monthly payment should be around $362. The payment for an otherwise identical lease of a 2005 Freestyle SEL AWD with an MSRP of $30,195 and a selling price of $27,301 should interestingly enough be around $363. Your dealer is right, because the SEL has a lower residual value, even though it is a less expensive vehicle its monthly payment will be within a couple dollars of the Limited's payment. There's nothing wrong with leasing this vehicle for 2 years. Ford actually has a very low lease rate on that length lease of the Freestyle. of course, you will end up paying more for depreciation by leasing for 2 rather than three years though.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hello paulsaz. Here is the information that you are looking for. If you were to lease a 2005 Volvo S40 2.4i with an automatic transmission through Volvo Finance this month for 36 months with 12,000 miles per year, its base lease money factor and residual value should be .00175 and 54%, respectively for residents of every state but New York. The numbers for an otherwise identical 48 month lease of this car should be .00175 and 44%.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi jdkx2. The VPP selling price that you were quoted looks reasonable to me because the $1,500 customer cash incentive that Nissan is providing on this truck can not be used in conjunction with its special lease program. You never mentioned how long this lease is for or how many miles per year you need to be able to drive this truck. these are important numbers because Nissan's lease program for it varies by term and mileage. Still, the lease money factor that you were quoted looks to be a little on the high side to me, which is surprising considering that you qualify for VPP pricing. Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp.'s current base lease money factor and residual value for a 3 year, 12,000 miles per lease of a 2005 Nissan Titan King Cab LE 2WD should be .00136 and 53%, respectively. Using these numbers, an MSRP of $30,710, and a selling price of $27,689, I estimate that this truck would have a zero down, pre-tax monthly payment of around $377.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi suv_shoppin. I personally feel as though it would be in your best interest to have the dealer that you are getting your new vehicle from cut you a check for your trade rather than using the proceeds from it as a down payment on your lease. I always advise consumers against making any sort of down payment when leasing. I do so for two main reasons. The first is if your vehicle is totaled in an accident or stolen during your lease, 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 your lease-end purchase option price for your new SUV would be exactly the same, regardless of whether you had put $12,000 down, or had made absolutely no down payment at all.

As far as the truck that you are interested in goes, the MDX is a very nice SUV and it does have a third row of seats, but there are trucks out there with third rows that would probably cost you less to lease than it would, such as the Honda Pilot.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Testykaren, The XC90 has been fairly well received by consumers and as a result, Volvo has not had to provide much in the way of lease support on it. It is difficult to say whether Volvo will introduce any more lease support on this truck in the near future. If I had to make an educated guess, I would say that I don't expect there to be any dramatic change in this model's lease program in the next couple of months.

I would be happy to calculate a sample lease payment on the vehicle that you are interested in for you, however in addition to its selling price I also need its full MSRP, including the destination charge, in order to do so.

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buzzboik

Anyone willing to share Leasing specifics? I am new to leasing and need a little help about the specifics in figuring out what the charges should be...What to negotiate to ect.. We're looking at the 05 Honda Pilot with the DVD system. Thanks

lmacmil

When I figure a lease using Car_man's MF and residual for a Camry, I get a way lower payment than on the Toyota Financial Services website using the same MSRP and cap cost?

CarMan@Edmunds

Stymiee, vehicles' residual values are basically set in stone and individual dealers do not have the authority to alter them. Banks' money factors are a little different in that dealers do not have the authority to lower them, but they can mark them up to bake additional back-end profit into deals. This is why it is important to know what the actual lease program is like for the car or truck that you are interested in. These numbers will be the same, regardless of what dealer you lease from. I would be more than happy to tell you what the actual lease money factor and residual value are for the 2005 Pilot right now, however in order for me to so I need you to tell me how long you want to lease it for and how many miles per year you need to be able to drive it.

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CarMan@Edmunds

You're welcome, mond. I am glad that you enjoy this discussion so much. Good luck with your Z4 and please let me know if you have any other questions.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Dennis, how long do you want to lease this vehicle for and how many miles per year do you need to be able to drive it? Let me know and I will tell you what its lease program is like.

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CarMan@Edmunds

You're very welcome, prisch. Congratulations on your order. I am sure that you are counting the days until your new car arrives.

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CarMan@Edmunds

I am glad that you enjoy this discussion so much, Dave. I can tell you what this truck's lease program is currently like in most of the country, however you are in Toyota's Gulf States region. As you may or may not be aware, Toyota's Gulf States region is a distributorship. As a result, its lease program is often different than Toyota's main lease program, which varies by region as well. Unfortunately, I have not seen Toyota's current lease program for your area. In most of the country, Toyota Financial Services' base lease money factor for all 2005 Highlander models is .00116 for leases up to 36 months. Its residual values vary depending upon exactly which model you want. If you let me know the exact Highlander that you are interested in, as well as how many miles per year you need to be able to drive it, I will try go give you an idea of what its residual value should be.

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denatoo

Any advise on disputing wear & tear charges being billed after turn in ($2200.worth). We leased w/Bank One & at the lease end turned the van in at our local Ford dealership (where we leased)There were minor scratches, but nothing worth $2200. Plus, they are charging tax on the w&t items, is that legal? Unfortunately, we don't have any photos or any report from Ford regarding the "damage". What, if anything, is my recourse? Thanks for any infor you can provide.
Dena

nickmo

thanks, the MSRP is $37,210, i believe the price they were quoting me was about $32,600 or so. That was without haggling at all.

robertash

I used to have an Excel file to calculate lease payment. Now I can't find it. Might you have this file?
Thanks,
Robert

robertash

I have seen many dealers use calculaters that build in additional fees. If you are using the same mf and res at the same cap cost they're be no difference.

rjorge3

Hi Carman, I hope you can help me understand one item on my lease agreement. I see one item called "Rent charge" on my Audi Financial Services form that I quite not understand and I failed to ask when I got the car. By the way I followed your advise and put no $ down. I almost did since one of my friends a month prior leased his A6 with $4,000 down!!!!! big mistake don't you think?

The specs of the lease agreement read as follow:
2005 (B6) Audi A4 1.8T, Quattro, 6 Speed Manual, Special Edition, Cold Weather Package
MSRP of Car $31,170
Agreed value of car $30,315
42 month lease, 15,000 mile/year, money factor I believe was equivalent to a 2% apr
I live in NJ. Sales tax is 6%

A) Gross Capitalized Cost $31,116.40
Capitalized cost reduction -0-
c) Adjusted Capitalized Cost $31,1161.40
d) Residual Value $16,208.40
e) Depreciation and any
amortized amounts $14,953.00
f) Rent Charges $ 1,372.82 ??????
g) Total Base of monthly Pmt $16,325.82
h) Lease Pmts 42months
i) Base monthly amount $388.71
j) Monthly Sales/Use tax N/A
k) blank
l) Total monthly payment $388.70 (this includes tax)

And lastly here is the itemization of $ due at signing:

* First Monthly Payment $388.71
* Acquisition fee $575.00
* Title fee $219.00
* Documentation fee $167.50
* New tire fee $ 7.50
Total at inception $1,357.71

Carman help me understand what is the Rent Charge. Also, did you think I got a nice deal. I got the car in January 11 of this year.

Thanks in advance for your response.

R

petoz

I am looking to do a lease (either a 42 or 48 month) on a 2005 S4. Does anyone know what the current (mid march 2005) money factors and residual values are for this type of a lease? I am counting on a 15k per year mileage allowance.

Petoz

njl

Car Man...

Again another request...

I'd like to price a 2005 Mercedes E320 lease. Could you please provide me the current money factor and residual for a 39 month, 15K miles/year lease.

Thanks!

CarMan@Edmunds

Hi jmpellet. Doc fees are not specific to leases. The dealers that charge them do so on all deals. While most dealers charge some sort of doc fee on deals, this charge really is nothing more than additional profit. If the dealer that you are interested in purchasing your new vehicle from charges a large doc fee, consider it to be part of your vehicle's actual price and take it into account when you comparison shop. There is an entire discussion on this subject in this forum already. Click on the following link to check it out: "Documentation Fees".

Acquisition fees are set by banks and are not negotiable. They often vary by state, but the reason for this variation has nothing to do with regulation by states, but rather the bank's perceived risk of doing business there.

When you pay your first month's payment at lease signing on a 24 month lease, you will only have to make 23 more payments over the life of your lease.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hello jeffsauls. Here is the information that you are looking for. If you were to lease a 2005 Saab 9-3 Arc through Saab Financial Services Corp. right now for 3 years with 12,000 miles per, its base lease money factor and residual value should be .00049 and 49%, respectively. When negotiating your lease on this car, keep in mind that Saab is providing $2,500 lease cash and an additional $500 bonus cash ($3,000 total) that will help you to negotiate an attractive capitalized cost.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi nikjc. Wow, the salesperson who you dealt with certainly was full of it wasn't he (or she)? You're right, vehicles' capitalized costs are essentially their selling price minus any sort of down payment that you make. The dealer who told you that the capitalized cost of a 24 month lease of a 2005 Nissan Altima is not negotiable was not correct. Now, they may not want to sell this car for less than the selling price that Nissan's current advertised lease payment is based on, but that does not mean that they are not allowed to. Furthermore, Nissan's current lease program is scheduled to run through March 31st.

At least the lease money factor and residual value that you were quoted are right on the money. Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp.'s current 2 year, 12,000 miles per base lease money factor and residual value for the 2005 Altima 2.5 S are indeed .00060 and 59%, respectively. The numbers for an otherwise identical 3 year lease of this car should be .00127 and 59%, respectively.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hello Eric. BMW has not published its lease program for 2006 models yet. Furthermore, it is very difficult to predict what automakers future lease programs will be like. As a result, I unfortunately can not give you an idea of what the lease program will be like on your ordered car at this time. Please feel free to check back with me in April though and I should be able to help you out.

As far as your trade goes, just tell then that you want a check for your Porsche rather than using the proceeds as a capitalized cost reduction for your deal.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hey exoman1. Congratulations on your new truck. I've always been a big fan of the Toyota 4Runner. Enjoy!

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi Mike. I personally would never ever lease a vehicle without knowing how much I was being charged for it. There is a big difference between the total cost of a vehicle leased at full MSRP and one that was leased with a decent discount. I can not calculate how much this car should cost to lease per month without knowing its selling price. I would be more than happy to calculate a sample lease payment on it for you if you let me know what it is.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hello stymiee. While the method for charging sales tax on leased vehicles varies from state to state, I cannot think of a state that charges tax both at lease signing and on each monthly payment. Perhaps there is someone else here who has leased a new vehicle in Connecticut who could shed a little more light on this situation.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Greetings andyhiggs. If you were to lease a 2005 Nissan Altima SL through Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. right now for 3 years with 12,000 miles per, its base lease money factor and residual value should be .00127 and 57%, respectively. None of the options that you are interested in adding to this car would have an impact upon its lease program. They would only increase your car's MSRP and selling price. The $1,500 customer cash that is available on the 2005 Altima cannot be used in conjunction with the aforementioned lease program. I am not sure whether the $500 college grad cash can be, but I suspect that it can.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hey funky1020. I am not personally all that familiar with the market for the X3 in your neck of the woods, but I can tell you that if no down payment was used to reduce the capitalized cost that you were quoted it is much better than full MSRP. You may want to stop by the following discussion to see how much other community members have paid for similar trucks recently: "BMW X3: Prices Paid & Buying Experience". One question I have about this deal is how does the $3,392.36 that is due at lease signing break down? At lease signing on this truck, you should have to pay its first month's payment of $465, a security deposit of $500, and BMW Financial Services' lease acquisition fee of $625 (this charge is a little higher in New York).

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CarMan@Edmunds

You're welcome, lovebmw330i. OK, so this car has a full MSRP of $38,500 and a selling price of $34,500. There is a difference of $4,000 between these two numbers. I hate to say this, but this is not a very good deal. BMW is currently providing $4,200 dealer cash on the 2005 330i. This means that the dealer that you are working with is actually selling you this car for $200 over full MSRP, which as you can imagine is not a very good deal.

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CarMan@Edmunds

You're welcome, pa32tl1.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Thanks dawnp1. If you let me know the full MSRP of the exact truck that you are interested in as well as how long you want to lease it for and how many miles per year you need to be able to drive it (throw the selling price in your post again as well) I can work up a sample lease payment on it for you.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Njl, I would be more than happy to give you an idea of what the current lease program is like on the car that your father is interested in. General Motors Acceptance Corp., GM's captive lease company, publishes what are known in the industry as lease rates instead of money factors for the vehicles that it leases. You can convert its lease rates into approximate money factor equivalents by dividing them by 2400. GMAC's current base 3 year, 15,000 miles per lease rate and residual value for a base 2005 DeVille should be 3.5% and 46%, respectively. When your father is negotiating his lease on this car, make sure he keeps in mind that GM is providing $3,750 lease cash on it that will help him to negotiate an attractive capitalized cost. GM is also providing additional bonus cash on this car in certain regions. If you let me know what state your father is in I can tell you if there is any available in his area.

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CarMan@Edmunds

No problem, paulsaz. Yes, Volvo Finance's lease on the 2005 S40 is considered special and cannot be used in conjunction with the dealer cash that is available on this model. It can be used with the loyalty cash though.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi easternguy. According to the latest information that I have seen, if you were to lease a 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited 4x4 through Chrysler Financial right now for 36 months with 15,000 miles per year, its base lease money factor and residual value should be .00285 and 55%, respectively. The numbers for an otherwise identical 39 month lease should be .00285 and 54%. Using these numbers, an MSRP of $40,630, and a selling price of $33,122, I estimate that this truck should have a 36 month, 15,000 miles per year zero down, pre-tax monthly payment of around $458 and a 39 month payment of around $444.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi smithunc. I am sorry to hear that you are unhappy with your current Acura TL lease. While I personally would probably rather drive an Audi A6, the Acura TL is a very nice car and it will probably cost less to lease. It is usually fairly expensive to get out of leases well before their scheduled end dates. In order to do so, you need to purchase the vehicle that you are currently leasing from the bank that you are leasing it through. It often turns out that it costs more to do so than your vehicle is worth on the open market. Furthermore, many banks expect consumers who end their leases early to still make all, or at least the depreciation portion of their remaining lease payments. As you can see, this can get very expensive.

You can determine approximately how much it will cost you to get out of your current lease by comparing its purchase price to its value on the open market at this time. You should place a call to the bank that you are leasing your vehicle through to find out its exact price. Once you know exactly how much money it is going to cost you to buy your leased vehicle you need to compare it to its current value on the open market. You can find out approximately what your vehicle is worth by looking up its Edmunds.com True Market Value in the Used Vehicle Pricing section of this site. You also may want to stop by the following discussion: "Real-World Trade-In Values". One of our most knowledgeable community members, Terry, frequents that discussion and he is often kind enough to give community members who give him an accurate description of their vehicles with his opinion on their value. Don't forget to check to see if you are still on the hook for your remaining lease payments. The difference between your leased vehicle's current value and how much it will cost you to buy it plus any remaining lease payments that you are obligated to pay will equal the cost of getting out of your lease right now. You may find that the cost of getting out of your TL lease is too high to justify getting the A6 that you want at this time.

I would be happy to give you an idea of what sort of lease payment you should expect on the A6 that you are interested in, however in order for me to do so I need you to provide me with its full MSRP and selling price.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi md241. A used car dealer can not assume your lease. In order to get you out of your current lease, your dealer must purchase your leased vehicle from the bank that you are leasing it through. If you have a significant number of months remaining on your current lease, it will likely be very expensive to get out of at this time.

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CarMan@Edmunds

I am glad that you enjoy this discussion so much, ncdriver1. Welcome aboard. Let's take a look at the current lease programs for the vehicles that you are interested in. If you were to lease a 2005 Mazda3 S Hatchback through its captive finance company right now for 36 months with 12,000 miles per year, its base lease money factor and residual value should be .00161 and 52%, respectively. The numbers for an otherwise identical lease of a base 2005 Mazda6 Wagon Grand Touring should be .00164 and 42%.

If you were to lease a 2005 Subaru Forester X through its captive finance company right now for 36 months with 12,000 miles per year, its base lease money factor and residual value should be .00100 and 48%, respectively. The numbers for an otherwise identical 39 month lease of this model should be .00100 and 46%.

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CarMan@Edmunds

That's what I've heard, mvs1 . NMAC's base lease money factor for 36 and 42 month leases of a 2005 Murano SL AWD is .00118. If you were to have this vehicle's security deposit waived, it would increase by .00015, exactly to the .00133 that you were quoted. Its base money factor for a 39 month lease of this vehicle with a security deposit is currently .00199, which would be exactly the .00214 that you were quoted without a security deposit. As you can see, the numbers that you were given are good. The selling price and monthly payments that you were quoted look good to me as well.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi jeff15. Volvo is providing a ton of lease cash on the 2005 S80, but only on leases that are through banks other than Volvo Finance. Specifically, it is giving dealers $8,000 for 2005 S80 models that are lease through any bank besides Volvo Finance. It sounds as though this is what is happening with your deal. Since you are not leasing this car through Volvo Finance, it wouldn't matter if I told you what its lease money factor and residual value should be like for this model. I can tell you though that I am not surprised about this car's low residual values. That is right about what I would expect the 4 year residual to be like for an '05 S80 T6 right now.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hello djs2005. Most banks will not sell leased vehicles to anyone other than the individual who is leasing it. In order to purchase another person's leased car or truck most likely they would have to purchase it from the bank that they are leasing it through and sell it to you. Another option would be to have a dealership that sells this brand facilitate your purchase of this car by buying it from the bank that it is being leased through and selling it to you for a minimal charge.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Welcome to the wonderful world of leasing, buzzboik. Since you are new to the world of leasing, you definitely should check out the following informative articles that are available here at Edmunds.com prior to visiting any dealers: 10 Steps to Leasing a New Car and Calculate Your Own Lease Payment. Once you have checked out these articles, make sure to stop back here is you have any additional questions.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Lmacmil, the problem with trying to calculate a payment for a vehicle that will be leased through Toyota Financial Services is that unlike most banks that allow lessees to residualize most options, TFS' residual value percentages are based upon vehicle's base MSRPs. As a result, not all options can be residualized and vehicles are often more expensive to lease than one initially believes they will be.

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jdkx2

Car_man, thanks for your input.

I plan to lease for 3 years with 15K miles per year. The VPP is the employee purchase price. There is no special lease support for the Titan from Nissan so I wonder if the $1500 rebate would be applicable and further lower the cap cost. If the rebate is not applicable on financing through NMAC would I do well to finance through a bank and perhaps get the rebate that way or is the rebate a goner on this kind of deal?

In Texas the tax is 8.25%. Does that increase the pretax monthly payment by 8.25% or is it something else. The tax issue is certainly confusing.

Thanks again for all of your help.

lovebmw330i

Car Man can we leave the calculations out for this example and just use comparable lease prices for similar cars.
Based on the other posts of what people are paying for leases, the price the dealer quoted me for a 330i is what people are paying on a 325i.
Doesn't $486/month tax included for a 2005 BMW 330i with Sports Package and Automatic sound like a good deal? None of the other dealers in South Florida could even come near this price for the identical vehicle! The second best offer was $551/month with tax=+$2,340 more.
Thanks

jbtwo

What are the money factors and residual on a 2005 Mercedes ML350 Special Edition?

smith83

Car Man, thanks for the information. It looks like I owe $32,600.00 on the TL and am being offered $30,000.00 for the trade. I will go ahead and pay off the difference to get out of the car.

With regards to the new lease, the following are what I am considering:

1) Audi A6 3.2, MSRP $48,670.00, Cap Cost $47,162.00.

2) Lexus ES 330, MSRP $37,415.00, Cap Cost $35,469.00.

3) Lexus GS 300, MSRP $45,679.00, Cap Cost $44,779.00.

Each one would be 3 years, 15k miles per year. I would definitely qualify for the best interest rates available.

Thanks.