Lease Questions - Ask Here

steine13

"Keep in mind that if your new GS is stolen or totaled your insurance will pay of the lease bank and you lose your $7k or whatever you put into the front end of the lease."

Is it really true that the insurance company only pays off the lease and the customer is on her own?

I would think that the insurance company pays whatever the replacement cost is.
GAP insurance covers the difference to the amount owed, if any. And with most leases, this will be the case.

But if I prepay a lease and the car gets totaled the next day, I would think that I get whatever the car was worth at the time, and have to pay off the lease from that.

Right?

Whatever the answer, I agree that money down isn't a good idea on a lease.
-Mathias

dwynne

With a lease or a loan, the insurance is set to satisfy the bank first, not you. So if your car is stolen or totalled, the insurance company has to make the bank happy - not you. True, they are supposed to pay current value - but with the instant depreciation you get as soon as you drive it off the lot that may quickly be enough to only make the bank happy.

GAP coverage exists in case the current value the insurance will pay will not satisfy your debt to the bank. There is no coverage I know of to insure you will not lose any money you have in the car.

I have never done a single payment lease, but I ASSUME there is some provision in case of a total loss for the bank to refund some money to you. Maybe all they get is the residual and you get whatever is left from the insurance pay out? So the more you use or drive the car the less that is returned?

In any case, if you do a sign and drive or just pay the first month's rent then if the car is totalled on the way home the worst that could happen is you could be out one month's payment money. You hand them $7k and you might never see all of that back again in the event of a loss. Much better to put the $7k in the bank and withdraw a portion of it (1/36th?) each month to make your payment seem lower than to hand over the money.

Dennis

dwynne

Just FYI car_man, on MAC leases they currently will waive security in exchange for a MF increase of 0.00015

Dennis

janjon

Thank you Car_man. The list price is $28810. They said they would sell to me for $26633.

hbomber

Ahh okay, thanks. Yeah I wouldn't advise anyone to lease through us bank, considering I price out their lease termination cars everyday.

dwynne

The rates and residuals are usually good at USB (or can be), but since they switched from in-house end of lease to a 3rd party bunch things have REALLY taken a turn for the worse. They will not deal, they are rude - very rude - to both customers and dealers, and are generally a bad bunch to have to deal with. Hopefully USB will get enough complaints that they will drop them in favor of someone more customer and dealer friendly. If you just want to pay the disposal fee and turn the car in I suppose they are still OK. Someone has to fill the gap when the captive banks are giving out silly high numbers on popular cars and trucks.

Dennis

jq31

Hey Car Man -
I know it's a bad idea to put money down on a lease, but does that include money you get for your trade-in? I expect to clear about $5k on my trade-in which would reduce the lease payments by about $138/month. Isn't that a good thing? Here are the lease details:
3-yr lease, 15k miles
MSRP: $31,840
Lease-end value: $14,646
Adj cap cost: $26,171
Lease factor: 0.00145
Monthly pymt: $398.29 (includes 5% tax)
If I trade-in: $260ish

briana

No, it's better just to have them cut you a check for the 5K, putting down cash or money off of a trade is the same thing. You're still putting money down as a cap cost reduction. Although a lower payment is nice, if your car is stolen or totaled you will be out that 5K. If you put nothing down you lose nothing.

I just leased a car and put only a grand down and my payment is 530. Definitely higher than I want it to be, but I'm safer that way. And 530 of the 1000 I put down was my first payment, so it's not so bad. Good luck.

CarMan@Edmunds

Yes, cindi0401, Ohio is indeed one of the states that the $1,250 lease cash is available on 2005 Chevrolet Trailblazer EXT models. GM's current lease program is only scheduled to run through July 5th through and I don't know what it's new July program will be like yet.

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CarMan@Edmunds

You're welcome again, rblnr . I believe that Subaru's June lease program has expired. I have not seen what its new July numbers look like yet, but I would be happy to calculate a sample lease payment for you using the new prices that you mentioned if you post a reminder in this discussion for me towards the end of the week. Talk to you then.

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CarMan@Edmunds

You're very welcome, David.

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CarMan@Edmunds

No problem murphy11. Congratulations on your new ride. Enjoy! I'll talk to you in a coupe of months when you want to get that Pilot.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Congratulations on your new car briana. It sounds like you got a good deal. Some consumers have successfully gotten dealers to unwind deals a day or two after they have been completed, but these situations are few and far between. Consumers definitely do not have 48 hours to change their minds after they lease a new vehicle. I am surprised that the BMW dealer that you spoke with told you that. Perhaps they were irritated that you didn't buy from them and they were messing with you or perhaps they were hoping that you could somehow talk your way out of your Audi, which is very very unlikely.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Scanty, Honda's lease program on the 2005 S2000 is definitely very attractive right now. There must have been tons of them out there for Honda to introduce this program. Not only is the first time that Honda has offered any sort of special on this car, but it was introduced at a time (the summer) when manufacturers are usually scaling back on their support on convertibles. I do not believe that American Honda Finance Corp. offers leases on vehicles with fewer than 12,000 miles per year, but you should ask your dealer just to be certain that is the case.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Don't worry about it, cajnboy. It happens all the time. OK, if you were to lease a 2005 Mazda6 i Hatchback through Mazda Credit on or before July 5th for 36 months with 12,000 miles per year, its base lease money factor and residual value should be .00122 and 44%, respectively. The numbers for an otherwise identical 48 month lease should be .00165 and 36%. When negotiating your lease on this car, keep in mind that Mazda is providing $500 lease cash on it. This money will help you to negotiate an attractive capitalized cost. I don't believe that Mazda is providing any specific incentives for leasing this car through an independent bank, like Volvo often does, but if you were to lease this car through a bank other than Mazda Credit you would be able to take advantage of this car's normal customer cash, $1,500, instead of the $500 lease cash. The customer cash on this car cannot be used on leases through Mazda's captive finance company.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hello getty. In order to figure out whether it would be a good deal for you to assume this lease, you should compare its monthly payment with how much it would cost you to lease a similar brand new Jetta right now. The current Jetta is a much better car than the previous generation, so if the payments are even close I would go with the new one if I was in your situation. If you look up the full MSRP and an approximate selling price for a similarly equipped 2005 Jetta, I would be more than happy to work up a sample lease payment on it for you. For other Jetta owners' opinions on this car's engine, stop by the following discussion: "Volkswagen Jetta".

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CarMan@Edmunds

You're welcome sevenfeet0. The employee purchase price that General Motors is allowing consumers to buy at now is considered to be vehicles' selling prices and is not a cash rebate. For the purpose of calculating a lease payment, this price would be used as your vehicle's capitalized cost and its MSRP would be the same as it always is. This means that to arrive at this vehicle's residual value, you would multiply its residual value percentage times its normal MSRP, including destination charges and the MSRPs any options that you are getting.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi wkohler. Most manufacturers' captive finance companies, Like VW Credit, are usually pretty reasonable when evaluating vehicles for excess wear and tear at lease-end. You probably would be charged for a cracked rearview mirror case, but I wouldn't do anything more than fix that until you have VW Credit inspect your vehicle. Different banks have different lease-end processes, but most will have an inspector come and take a look at vehicles a month or two prior to the scheduled ends of leases. If at that time you find out that you will be charged for anything, you should be bale to have it fixed on your own before turning your car in. I suppose that it would be possible for you to find a company or dealership that is willing to purchase your leased Beetle from you instead of you just turning it back in, but in most instances the purchase prices of leased vehicles are higher than they are worth on the open market.

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CarMan@Edmunds

The salesperson who your wife spoke with hit the nail right on the head, sevenfeet0. While dealers obviously like the huge amount of showroom traffic that the Employee Purchase Program is generating, heck GM sales were up 45% year over year in June, dealers and especially salespeople hate the fact that they are getting such small grosses by selling through this program. On some vehicles that normally sell for around invoice, like the Chevrolet Cavalier for example, dealers are more than happy to get the 5% kickback that GM is giving dealers for sales through this program. However on other models that GM dealers have been getting decent grosses on, they can't stand this program. Furthermore, most salespeople are getting hosed because they only get a $75 kickback from GM plus whatever their dealership gives them for a mini for selling through this program. The smaller grosses on new vehicles would definitely prevent dealers from overallowing for trades, and will cause many to try to make up some of their lost profit on trade-ins. Furthermore, while the marking up of lease rates was usually isolated to European dealers in the past, GM dealers are trying to add additional back-end profit to deals by marking up lease rates a point or two. This is completely legal and most banks allow some sort of mark-up on lease rates or money factors. If you know what the base lease rate for the vehicle that you are leasing is, you can usually call them on their attempt to mark it up and get them to use the base rate to calculate your monthly payment. Threatening to take your business to a dealer that is not marking up rates often works.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Thanks for the info, briana. Different banks have different policies on this matter. While some banks allow the purchase of additional miles on a per-mile basis at lease signing, apparently Audi Financial Services and as a result probably VW Credit, do not.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Don't worry about it, tgp1810. It happens all the time. Here is the information that you are looking for. If you were to lease a 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt through GMAC on or before July 5th for 3 years with 15,000 miles per, its base lease rate and residual value should be 3.5% and 52%, respectively. The numbers for an otherwise identical lease of a 2005 Chevrolet Malibu should be 3.0% and 53%. When negotiating your leases on the '05 Cobalt, keep in mind that GM is providing $500 lease cash on it. This incentive will help you to negotiate an attractive capitalized cost. GM is providing $1,000 lease cash on the '05 Malibu, but only in certain areas (near Michigan).

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi luvboxrs. You are in good shape if your leased Toyota Land Cruiser is indeed worth thousands of dollars more than it would cost to purchase at the end of your lease. Getting a dealer to buy your truck from you will prevent you from having to pay an excess mileage penalty and possibly give you tome money to use as a capitalized cost reduction, aka down payment, on your Lexus lease. I would be happy to calculate a sample lease payment on the GS 430 that you are interested in for you, however in order for me to do so I need you to provide me with its full MSRP (with the destination charge and any options added in) and its selling price. Given the fact that Lexus is scheduled to introduce its new July lease program some time this week, it would be best if you posted this information for me late this week. Talk to you then.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi cyclone4evr. It is difficult to say what Honda will do with its new July lease program for the Pilot. Its June program is scheduled to continue through July 5th. If I had to make an educated guess, given the fact that Honda has been escalating its incentives on the Pilot recently I would say that it will try to at offer a program in july that allows it to at least offer consumers the same lease payments that they can get on this truck now, or possibly even enhance it. Of course, there is no guarantee that this will be the case. I would be more than happy to give you an idea of what the new July program is like for this truck when I see it. Post a reminder in this discussion for me towards the end of the week and I will fill you in on what I have been able to find out. Talk to you then.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Greetings mnjoe. Through July 5th, General Motors Acceptance Corp.'s base lease rate and residual value for a 3 year, 12,000 miles per lease of a 2005 Cadillac STS V8 should be 4.45% and 59%, respectively. The lease rate for an otherwise identical lease with 15,000 miles per year would be the same, but the residual value would be 56%. As you can see, GMAC publishes lease rates instead of money factors for the vehicles that it leases. You can convert its published lease rates into approximate money factor equivalents by dividing them by 2400. Using the prices that you provided in your post, an MSRP of $61,685 and a selling price of $54,488 I estimate that this car would have a 3 year, 12k payment of around $672 and a 3 year, 15k payment of around $720 without any sort of cap cost reduction and before tax.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Mathias, I believe that insurance companies usually pay the replacement costs of vehicles that are totaled to the banks that they are being leased through and any capitalized cost reduction that was made is usually kept by the bank. Pre-paid leases are different than large down payments and any unused portion of the pre-paid lease should be refunded.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Thanks for the info, Dennis. Most captive finance companies will waive vehicles' security deposits in exchange for a .00010 or .00015 increase in the money factor. It's good to know that Mazda's increase is .00015.

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scottinky

I currently own a 2003 Pathinder. I know it sounds crazy, but right now my payment is nearly 600 per month. I was thinking of selling the truck and leasing a new Sienna (first baby two weeks old) through my LLC. If I sell the truck outright, I am about 6-7K flipped. Trading it is not an option. What kind of numbers and I looking at for payment, and is it worth it going from buy to lease? I have 3 more years on my loan.

CarMan@Edmunds

You're welcome, janjon. According to my calculations, if you were to lease a 2005 Nissan Murano S AWD (let me know if this is not the exact model that you want because it makes a difference) with an MSRP of $28,810 and a selling price of $26,633 through Nissan Motor Acceptance corp. right now for 36 months with 15,000 miles per year, your zero down, pre-tax monthly payment should be around $294. If you need to drive more than this, you will have to purchase additional miles on a per-mile bases. Many banks will allow their lessees to purchase additional miles at lease signing at a discount from what they would have to pay for them if they had waited until lease-end to pay an excess mileage penalty.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Jq31, my advice not to make any sort of capitalized cost reduction when leasing definitely includes using the proceeds from trade-ins as a down payment. If you like the convenience that trading in vehicles provides, you can always have the dealer that you are working with cut you a check for the proceeds from your trade rather than applying the money towards your new lease. Lowering your lease payment is a good thing, but so is money in the bank.

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CarMan@Edmunds

I don't know the specifics of your deal, scottinky, but $600 per month for a Nissan Pathfinder is not that outrageous if your loan is short enough or you didn't put much money down. I am assuming that this is a finance payment and not a lease payment. I would be more than happy to try to give you an idea of how much the Toyota Sienna that you are interested in would cost you to lease if you provide me with a little more informaiton, including its full MSRP, selling price, how long you want to lease it for, and how many miles per year you need to be able to drive it. Also, Toyota's current lease program is scheduled to run through July 5th, so it would be best if you want until late this week to provide me with this informaiton. Thanks and talk to you soon.

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stew24

Car man, this past April, I leased an Infiniti G35 coupe through IFS.(15K/42mo.) I traded in a Nissan Murano with $4K in negative equity which was rolled into the deal. The payment is a little higher, but I'm OK with it. My problem is that with my wife driving a M35 sedan, and our 2 kids being a little bigger, I felt I could drive a G35 coupe without much problem. Not so!, .. I've found I really need to get back into a SUV for a little while longer. I really want to trade in my 2.5 month old G35 coupe for an Infiniti FX35. I just found out Infiniti has a summer special going, in the following quote:
Infiniti’s Limited Engagement Summer Event is a great time to purchase or lease a new Infiniti, and you won’t have to wait until the end of your current lease to do it. Here’s how it works: Return your current Vehicle and finance or lease a new Infiniti through Infiniti Financial Services (IFS) and Infiniti will waive the remaining lease payments on your current lease contract.

Waiver up to 5 maximum lease payments
A break on mileage (no pro-rated mileage charge)
A waiver of up to $500.00 in excess wear & use charges *(does not apply to excess mileage fees)
A waiver of security deposit on a new IFS lease

My current payment is $615, and the payoff is $39,500. I'm figuring the dealer will low ball me to the tune of only $30,000 allowance in trade value, but with the above program waiving 5 of the lease payments I figure this would net me an extra $3,075 and the remaining difference would be roughly $6425. I am further figuring that if I can negotiate the selling price of the FX that I want from its $43,260 MSRP down to $40,500 and then add the negative $6425 to that for a final cap cost of $46,925 that I should be able to get an acceptable payment on a 42 or 48 month lease. Will you please tell me if the calculated scenario makes sense, and if so, what a 42 and 48 month FX35 lease with 15K miles per year through IFS would be, with the security deposit being waived, as I understand there is a slightly lower money factor when security deposit is waived. Thanks

jq31

Thanks Car Man and briana. I was afraid you'd say that. But you make sense.

skobola

Carman, my new BMW 325i will come next weekend to the US, so can you please post new MF and residuals for it. Also, because I made a deal that I may also opt for a 330, 525 and/or 530 off the dealer's lot, I would also appreciate those numbers as well (if they are different from the 325's). I intend to lease for 36 months with 30k miles per year; however, if some other time periods are better, I would appreciate if you can tell me so. Of course, I will be able to back off the deal if I do not like the numbers, so it is important that I know the real numbers, that is, the ones made by BMW FS. Thanks.

janjon

Thank you So Much Car_man. After reading "confessions of a car salesman" on Edmonds.com and reading your response, I find it is very clear they played all those games with me when they saw me on the lot. Frustrated, yes, however I had also spoke with another dealership and was given numbers much closer to what you quoted me. I guess I will take my business to the dealership that is 50 miles away opposed to the dealership 10 miles away. Anyway, I appreciate your advise.

skobola

Also, what are the BMW FS inception, acquisition and all other "fees" that they impose on leases. Here in Miami, BMW dealers are almost newer applying those but rather boost them up to a max allowable fees in order to make more profit, so it will certainly be good to know the real numbers and see how much they will try to add up on those. Thanks.

jeeplover1

I am at the end of a lease with BankOne. I am over my mileage 60,000. I like the car but want to by a new one. Jeep is offering a 1000 turn in rebate. If I go directly to the dealer with my leased car will they buy it from BankOne and take it as a car they can resell? or will they expect me to turn it in and pay the $8000 extra mileage penalty?

cark

Hi Car_man, happy 4th!

I came back to thank you for providing me(us) with great deal of information. (Ford Explorer Sport-Trac, Explorer XLT & Lexus GS300). Ford's lease program was not even close to a basic lease program. For a plain '05 Explorer XLT, they wanted $380 per months (36/12K). I came up with $265 per month based on the information you provided.

I finally got an excellent lease on a '05 Pilot EX. I wrote a detail description of my leasing experience at Honda Pilot: Prices Paid & Buying Experience board. If anyone have any questions regard the Pilot lease, please ask away.

For anyone in NJ who is interested in purchasing or leasing a Honda. Planet Honda in Union, NJ is selling any Honda in stock at invoice less $2005. This offer is good until 7/5/05. (I received an e-mail from them and that the dealership where I got my Pilot EX)

Again, thank you Car_man.

p.s. If you don't mind I'm asking, what do you do for a living beside helping us at this board.

dwynne

If you buy the Jeep off of lease - or get a dealer to buy it - then there is no mileage penalty. You only owe for the excess mileage if you turn it in the lease bank (BankOne).

You are over by 60k or over your 60k lease limit? If you are over by 60k are your lease was for 36k or more miles than you have a really high mile Jeep and it may not be worth (to a dealer) what the buy out is on your lease. If that is the case, you will have to pay out of pocket or roll the negative equity into your next Jeep - not much better than paying the mileage penalty.

With leases you HAVE to get the proper miles included up front to make the deal livable. If you can't - or your situation changes - then what folks recommend is putting the extra mileage money in the bank each month. If you are allowed 1k per month and you drive 1,500 miles, then stick (500 x mileage penalty) in the savings that month. Then at the end of the lease, you will have the money to pay the mileage penalty - and not be looking to come up with $8k all at once just to turn it in.

Dennis

dfrederick2005

Hey Car_man, I have a quick question...

I am planning to lease a Golf GL 2005... (AT, silver, CD player, 4 years bumper to bumper warr.)...

MSRP approx. 16,645 (TMV=16,100)
residual 44%
interest rate %2.5
48 months

monthly payments correspond to $230 (including tax,titles etc..) w/ 0 downpayment...this is the best deal i have got so far...

What do you think about this leasing? any suggestions about leasing a vw golf and also price??

I need your advice..Thanks.

scottinky

Carman,

I think instead, we are going to consider trading the wife's 1995 C220 Benz on the van, and
let her keep the Pathy. We are only about 2300 flipped, and I am interested in the Sienna
LE lease for $269. will let you know what we decide.

hpowders

I made a good leasing deal on a 2005 545i in June. The car had to be ordered and should be here in 3-4 weeks. If BMWFS comes out with extra incentives on leasing this car in July since the vehicle is outgoing, can I get any new July incentives or am I locked into my June agreement?
I have a printout of my June deal from my dealer. I did not sign anything but I did pay for all upfront fees with my credit card. :confuse:

soulprincess

I leased a 2001 Kia Rio through Bank One and I've recently purchased a new car which I am financing this time. I have 5 payments ($600) left on my lease and I will be paying them off soon as I receive my new car this week. I have NO idea what I need to to with my leased car now that I'm getting a new one. I unfortunately have excessive damage on the car (a long dent in the side where I curbed the vehicle 3 years ago and I'm 18,000 miles over my limit...oops). I don't know what I will get charged for, how much it would be, and what is counted as wear and tear? I'm really worried I'm going to get stuck paying thousands of dollars when I give the car back to the bank. Should I give the car back now, or just wait 5 months to help my mileage because I won't be driving it? Would I need to pay the money upfront, or could I make payments? As you can see I'm totally clueless and need help!

Thanks for your help

Sara :confuse:

CarMan@Edmunds

Happy 4th of July, stew24! I am sorry to say that you are in a very difficult situation. It would be hard enough for you to get out of your leased G35 Coupe only 2 months into a 42 month lease, but on top of this you have rolled negative equity into this deal. It is likely going to be very very expensive for you to get out of your lease at this time. On July 1st, Infiniti introduced the early lease termination program that you saw. However, as you can tell from the details that you provided in your post, it only allows consumers who have five months or fewer remaining on their current leases out of them early for free. You have a little less than 40 months remaining on your current lease so this program doesn't really do anything for you. The only way for you to get out of your lease at this time would be for you to purchase your current car or trade it in to the dealer that you get your replacement vehicle from. You will be thousands of dollars upside down on it at this point. You are likely so upside down that I highly doubt that you would be able to roll all of your negative equity into your new lease. You probably would have to pay thousands of dollars in cash out of your own pocket to make a new lease happen. An even then you would be way overpaying for your new FX. If you provide me with the full MSRP FX that you want, I can tell you what your payment for it would be based upon full MSRP or say 105% (I'm not sure how much negative equity IFS allows lessees to roll into deals), but the payment on your new vehicle only tells half of the story because again you will have to pay thousands of dollars on top of overpaying for the FX to do this deal.

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CarMan@Edmunds

You're welcome jq31.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi skobola. BMW's June lease program was scheduled to expire on the 30th. It's I have not seen its new July program yet. I suspect that I will have an opportunity to take a look at it by the end of this week. Please feel free to stop back and post a quick reminder in this discussion for me then and I will be more than happy to fill you in on what I have been able to find out about the July program for you. Talk to you soon and have a great holiday.

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CarMan@Edmunds

You're very welcome janjon. It certainly can be frustrating dealing with a salesperson who wants to play games, but there are lots off good dealerships and salespeople out there. You are doing the right thing by thoroughly researching the vehicle that you want and the deals that are currently available on it and taking your business to a dealer that is willing to be more straightforward with you. Good luck and please let me know if you have any other questions.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Skobola, even though I do not know the specific details of BMW's new July lease program yet, I can tell you that BMW Financial Services' base lease acquisition fee is currently $625 in your area.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Wow, jeeplover1, you've exceeded your allowed mileage by 60,000 miles?!?! Sorry to hear about that. The only way that you can get out of paying a huge penalty for excess mileage is to purchase your leased Jeep from the bank that you are leasing it through. There is a chance that a dealer, it does not necessarily have to be the one that you originally leased this truck from, will purchase your leased Jeep from Bank One. However, it sounds as though this is a very high mileage vehicle that many dealers may not want to sell on their lots. If this is the case, the dealer that you trade it in to will just send it to auction, making it worth even less to than than a vehicle that they would sell in their own store. Even with the $1,000 trade-in bonus that DaimlerChrysler is offering on vehicles through July 5th, with such high mileage there is a very good chance that your truck will cost much more to purchase at lease-end than it is currently worth on the open market. If that is indeed the case, then you will have to either pay money out of your own pocket, roll negative equity into your next loan or lease, or both to get a dealer to take your Jeep as a trade. The amount that you are upside down on your truck will probably end up being less than the excess mileage penalty that you would have to pay if you just trade it in, so this is probably the way that you should go. Of course, your least expensive option would be to purchase your truck, and continue to drive it for another couple years before getting something new. If you decide to go this route see if Bank One will negotiate its lease-end purchase price. Some banks will do so on occasion. When you give them a call to see if they will work with you, don't mention how far over your mileage limit you are.

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kidsdad

Hi,
I see Chrysler is going to jump into the employee lease price for everyone. My kids currently drive a '95 Jeep Grand Cherokee limited w/ 100,000 miles. It has some dings but nothing majorly wrong as far as I know. We have seen some of the Jeep Liberty vehicles advertised in the paper for 2k down and monthly ranging from 89-109/month(for chrysler employees), depending on the vehicle. Our youngest will head to college in 2 years and will not need a car during the school year. Seems like it might be good to 'rent' a reliable vehicle for the next 2 years vs. taking a chance on the major repair/maintenance that may be needed on the current Jeep.

What do I need to be aware of in leasing (always bought before)? Milage shouldn't be a problem as the car will just be driven locally. I have also read something about GAP for accident coverage. Can you explain?

Thanks for your help,

CarMan@Edmunds

Hi dfrederick2005. Volkswagen's current lease program is only scheduled to run through July 5th. I suspect that you are not going to finalize this deal before then. If that is indeed the case, you will have to use VW's new July program to lease this car. I would be more than happy to give you an idea of what its new July program is like and calculate a sample lease payment on the Golf that you are interested in for you if you post a reminder in this discussion for me late this week. I should have an idea of what its new July numbers are like by then.

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