Looks like I still have some homework to do. I am in the market for an 04 9700c (i guess) I see some VERY low lease rates. Where did you lease from? jborsum what is your payment?
Anyone look at Costco? CarsDirect?
I REALLY want one of these, but need to be informed before I go to the dealer
I just took delivery of my new GX470 9700c - loaded with back up camera, without KDSS. I checked with a number of dealers to close a deal before the year end (tax purposes) and was told no stock, everything at least 4-6 weeks out for delivery. I came upon my new truck when a deal did not go through. I did not not get even close to the deals I am seeing on this board- $500 under MSRP - The dealer DID NOT negotiate, they had a list of people to call to sell the vehicle. Are you guys really serious about getting $5g's off the sticker? I just can't believe this.
Yes, very serious. Ill show the papers too. Its not the "too good to be true" thing either. I HAVE the truck. You just have to find the right area to look in. Seems that FL and CA seems to be a good place to look.
Thanks zmega for the tip. Since deals were hard to get the last couple of weeks, I hope that the new year will bring prices down for those of us who are yet to buy. Happy New Year everyone and enjoy the GX 470!
jfortino, I shopped all 3 dealers in my state and the best I could do was $3K off MSRP. The other 2 wouldn't come close. You have to either live in FL or CA or be willing to do your deal over the phone/fax/FEDEX and have the car shipped to you to find a huge volume dealer to get that kind of deal. The dealer closest to me was by far the smallest in my state and they really had zero interest in bargaining at all. They even told me that they weren't a large volume dealer and didn't need to make those kinds of discounts.
I have been able to negotiate a very good deal on a GX but the dealer is telling me that they put Lojack on every single Lexus they sell and it is not an option to get it without this feature. They also said it is $695 to install this feature. Has everyelse that purchased a GX been required to pay for this or are they trying to get another $695 out of me?
That's the dealer getting you for extra cash. That's why you're getting such a good deal, he's stuffing and you'll likely get stuffed some more on the paperwork.
Tell him to show you the dealer cost and you'll pay that or you'll buy elsewhere. Unless even with the extra $695 that deal is better than you can get elsewhere. Just be vary careful that you don't get stuffed on some paint sealant and other junk at the closing.
It's a common tactic for them to say that "we don't sell cars without this, it's for your protection, it's not negotiable." EVERYTHING is negotiable. Just tell him you won't pay it and get up and walk out. See what he does.
These deals are certainly not doable in my book. On Lexus.com you can calculate lease deals and in order to get to some of the prices I see here you'd need to put $5000 or more down or have a dealer begging for you to take a GX off his hands. Since they sell quickly here that isn't going to happen anytime soon. Each $1000 off is worth only about $20 a month anyway give or tak a dollar depending on interest rates. I paid $2k under MSRP and leased at $740 per month with zero down, zero security and zero turn in fee at lease end - 12k miles per year. Lease acquisition fee was $400. Annual finance rate was about 4.25%. Sticker was $51k.
If a lease is done as low as $600 per month - all-in with sales tax - on a $53k GX then before sales tax, you are paying about $20k over 3 years for the car itself - with no interest factored in. If the car residualizes at 60% (a bit high these days as most are in the mid-high 50's at best) you'd have a $31,800 lease buyout. Think about what that means. The present value of $31,800 today is about $28,000 and the present value of $20,000 of streamed lease payments is about $18,000 using a 4.5% discount rate (back of envelope - I don't have my HP with me). Maybe I'm a bad negotiator but I can't get $7k off of MSRP on a GX. It wsn't easy getting $2k off. There were 4 others who wanted my GX and they were willing to pay sticker. But I have an LS430 lease that's up in two months and I've been a customer since 95. Absent that leverage I would have paid MSRP. It's the law of supply and demand.
Thanks for the information. I will say it again, the stock of these SUV's are very low, and they are a very hot commodity right now, I cannot belive anyone getting $5k of the price of the vehicle, I don't care where they are...By the way, I absolutely love this SUV. The finest SUV i have ever driven. I test drove them all but the LX -
If you go to fleetrates.com you'll see lease deals of $500 per month (pre tax/doc/del etc) on GX470's with mid $52k msrp's. But they are 10% down leases - so about $5k down - and they are also 51 month deals with 10k miles per annum. These deals are the ones advertised but they will customize a lease deal to a shorter period, more miles, zero down etc. In effect they discount the GX about $4500 as they get their supply from Souther Cal where there is an oversupply. But you will have to pay shipping and insurance - figure $1200-1500 to ship it to the east coast if you live here as I do. In the end I didn't think the small savings was worth the risk of inconvenience, an unknown entity and the shipping etc. I don't throw away money but I'm a realist when it comes to these things as well. The conventional 3 year lease I priced with them was about $80 per month cheaper than what I paid locally but the shipping etc would have eaten into that. Plus I would have had to pay that upfront and if it wasn't a Lexus finance lease you had a host of turn-in issues to deal with. Life is too short - imo - but if the desire for this or any other car they sell is great and one is reaching or willing to take the risk, then maybe it is a way to go.
By the way I had the 2000 LX. Awesome SUV and a bigger feel. The GX is great also and I'm very happy with it. Best of luck.
GX's are in tight supply but discounts are available. You should be able to get something this month or next. As others stated Florida and Southern Cali are the biggest areas for movement on MSRP. Others have noted a Florida dealer with a pretty steep cut off the price. And I believe the person who had 5K off sticker had two cars that were sold as he went to purchase them. I was offered Lojack at a similar price and declined, also the paint sealant(very low key) the one thing I was startled about was the price of an automatic starter(I believe around $700) when I inquired. I've had them on Ford trucks but does it get that expensive with these computer chips these days. Also that fleetrates site is an unknown to me. They could not negotiate with a dealer near me and I would never have a new vehicle shipped cross country like that without inspection first. Not to note the problems people have posted in the past. I was quoted around $800. for transportation.
I don't think discounts are not believed. That is always a geography thing. Edmunds TMV is zipcode based. But sub $600 leases on a $50k vehicle are a financial impossibility. Just do the math. Someone posted a high $30s residual on a $53K GX after 3 years. The same poster also said the price may be lower if you were buying at lease end rather than turning the GX in. HUH? Anyone who's ever leased a car knows the lease is based on the money factor and that residual and the residual is a rock price not a flexible one. But a high 30's residual with a 4% or lower interest rate is what you would need to get a sub $600 lease. It also means that the GX will retain over 70% of its MSRP and nearly 80% of its negotiated price (assuming the types of discount people are bragging about) and on top of that this is an unknown Lexus - as of now - to the financial world. There isn't a financial institution in the world that would take that risk at these interest rates with a well known car let alone a new model with no history. So how can that lease be believed. If that was to be believed a 2007 GX will be in the $70k+ range when it becomes available. If the residual was to be believed than the bank financing it would be putting a 20%+ interest factor into the lease rendering the sub $600 lease an impossibility. Leasing is a check and balance between interest rates and residuals. They both move in the same direction. If rates go up or down then so do residuals. If it didn't work that way the whole world would lease (in a down interest rate market) and no one would buy because the latter would be far more expensive. It would be the opposite in an up interest rate market. I do believe that certain people are getting $5k off in regions where the GX is in oversupply. But such a discount is worth $100 or so a month in savings and not $200+ a month on a lease. A $53k GX selling at MSRP with a reasonable interest rate - say 4% with a 6% or so sales tax rate - will lease for 3 years at a bit less than $800. So negotiate a $5k discount and you'll be a bit less than $700. Put $2000 down and you'll be in the $640-$650 range. I'm a bit too well versed in finance to believe some of the lease deals I've read here.
Does anyone own a GX 470 without the 3rd row seat? Is the 2nd row seats comfortable with AC flowing to back from the front vents? I really don't want/need the 3rd row seats, I am more interested in the cargo cover because of what I'll be hauling around. Any help is welcomed!
It is also hard to believe that the SoCal deals are there! I live in San Diego. I talked to Lexus Carlsbad and they only have 1 GX in stock. a few more on the way, but no over load! So basic economics states if the demand is high and supply is low, the dealer will get what they want.
So I ask... where is this magical 5K off MSRP. Give me a dealer name!!!!
What's amazing is they want you to believe they negotiated that discount and got such a low lease payment as a result. How totally illogical that is. It means the SUV has to be heavily discounted to sell NEW today but will be very valuable relative to all other cars as a pre-owned vehicle three years from now. In fact, based on these lease deals it will have about a 15% higher retained value than just about any other Lexus model or any other car/suv built today by any manufacturer. The 58% residual shown by another poster, which works out to about a $30k residual is reality. The rest is fantasy.
But on Fleetrate.com you may find you are able to get $4-5k off but don't expect a $570 all-in lease as a result unless you are putting money down (which of course is a prepaid lease payment in the first place) and signing up for 4-5 years. They do use Southern Cal dealers as I was in contact with them. Those dealers though may not be in your area.
I would ask all the people who claim to have these real-steal-deals to provide some verifiable data. I would also suggest that prospective buyers thoroughly investigate the history of the individual behind the website listed in the above post. The information is out there, and it ain't pretty!
How do you verify. If someone says they are paying $48k for a GX with a $53k msrp and the lease residual after 3 years and 36K miles is $38k how do you prove them wrong. Common sense about the impossibility of such a deal is a totally different story. But common sense fails to prevail in courtrooms a bit too often.
I saw the story on fleetrates, which in part is why I would think long and hard about ever going that route. The other part is the inconvenience of it all. Nevertheless if they are purely a broker lining up buyers and sellers then the deals they show should be doable if one wants to take the risk. Personally I wouldn't take it.
ljflx, my point was, if these deals are in fact real, a quick call to the dealer or financial institution involved will verify that those selling prices/lease rates either are or not available through them.
With respect to the web broker(?) in question...I would only give money to a state licensed auto dealer, not some anonymous website run by folk with a well checkered past, was my point.
As I have stated before I got 3750 off at the end of last year. Impossible on the East coast at that time. I guess I got lucky. I was never intrested in leasing. Fleetrates.com is good for So Cal buyers who can actually go and buy the cars at the dealership.
Dealers don't have to have big inventory to give large discounts. They love to pre-sell vehicles at any price they can. In So.Cal big discounts are to be had if you do your homework. Car buying services such as Costco, Autobytel, AAA,etc. have pre-negotiated discounts with dealers and they vary by service. Get some referrals though various buying services and check out some dealers in the areas of Cerritos, Mission Viejo, Tustin, etc. Deal only with dealers that will show you their invoice and the pre-negotiated price list with the buying service.
All of the dealers in my area sold out of the GX's on 12/31/03 due to the rush of self employed people waiting for the last second to get a tax break. Now the dealers are pre selling incoming stock. Bigger discounts should be had after the stock gets replenished--who knows how long that will be.
They love to presell them in NJ to. They just don't discount them much. Nor does it make any sense to discount something that is in high demand. I think we all learned that in business 101. If you got a decent sized discount maybe it is because the dealer isn't confident the demand will hold and he doesn't want inventory to build. But in NJ - where I am - they had no problem selling even the last of the the pre camera ones and the dealers are not expecting demand to slow. On the contrary as more and more word gets out about how good an SUV this is demand seems to be increasing.
Everyone is missing the point about sizable discounts(excluding dealing with sales people).When you deal with auto buying clubs,associations and legitimate referral services they have pre-negotiated purchaser mark-up over dealer invoice for each model they sell. It does not make any difference whether the car is in stock, you are put on a wait list or you order one!!
I was looking at the consumer reviews and some of the postings about many problems experienced by owners of the GX. I put 30k miles on my vehicles annually, and so far about 2k on my GX. I love it, no problems - ride is great, excellent comfort for driving, and excellent performance (terrible gas milage-although I knew this going into it). My question is this- Are the problems discussed on this board wide spread, or are they isolated to a few owners?
Probably more of a post for the GX470 board rather than here. I know about 5 owners locally and none have any problems. I even found out last week that my sons dentist has a 2003 GX. These things are popping up everywhere I turn here in NJ. For what it's worth I asked the service department at my dealership if there have been many problems and they said that there were virtually none.
That's why I said for whatever its worth. But a long time ago they did tell me there were a few problems with water pumps on the 95 LS400 which were covered under warranty. I never had any such problem but they were pretty forthright about it back then.
Just wanted to inform on my deal. Ordered the GX yesterday with a purchase price of 46,650; sticker 49,500. That includes navi/Lev sound. Spoiler, Tow hitch, and mat etc. We didn't want the 3rd row since there are no kids and no reason for it. Contrary to what the dealers tell you you can get it without the third row, but you have to place an order and it will take time to get the car. We are expecting delivery in march or april, but for 2k on a useless option it was worth it. Also, there is practically no inventory here and the dealer claims that every GX they are getting has been presold for months in advance and if you want one you must place an order. It seems we got a decent deal for a car in such high demend.
i am about to sign a lease on a 2004 gx470 with nav/entertainment/ml/3rd row for 48 mos @ 709 a month that is 0 down 0 drive off 0 everything. includes tax licens and registration is this a good deal? i have never leased a car before. ps. 1500 miles a month.can someone tell me if this is a good deal? the car is msrp @53,000and i got it for 49200.00
If you go to lexus.com and use the finance and then payment estimator you'll see that Lexus Finance will do a $49200 capital value lease (O down) for $687 per month with 15k miles per year and $671 per month with 12k miles per year. But they don't have an 18k mile option on-line though I know they will customize further as I have a 20k per annum lease from them right now. I used the NJ 6% sales tax rate so if you live in a state with a different rate the prices will change slightly. These are calculated on an excellent credit rating basis. The lease price incorporates the sales tax based on the zip code you put in - so the calculated price is the full lease price.
Try this link and remember to fill in your credit rating. The acquisition fee is the cost of the lease application and is not a down payment or dealer fee.
OK now - we had about 7" of snow here and its about a 7 air temp and about -20 with wind. I can handle all that but the fact that southern cal has lower GX prices to boot makes it all unfair.
What was the guy saying about low 600's on the GX. I'd have to assume it was a longer lease and had a good sized down payment. Lexus finance is doing the deals at 4.6% so that's a pretty good rate and not one that is topped so easily. You probably need to drop the price to a 43k or $44k cap cost to get a low 600's deal on a 3 year lease using that payment estimator. That price is of course unheard of as are $570 lease deals.
The GX handled the snow with ease just in case you ever get some down there in San Diego - one of my favorite California cities by the way.
I'm trying to decide if I should lease instead of buying. I change cars every 4-5 years and I usually put between 15k to 18k miles per year. It seems that you have leased most of your cars. Can you give me any advice?
I know there will be other opinions, but I like to lease. I too like to get a new car every 3 or 4 years. So... I put next to nothing down, and drive what peaks my interest at the time. At the end of the lease, i have nothing to show for it except 3 or 4 yearas of driving something I really like and payments less than $1000!
Here's a simple way to figure it financially without getting into sophisticated present value calculations.
Let's say you can buy the GX for $50K and the sales tax is 6%. Your total cost is $53K. Now if you are earning 4.5% interest on your money you are also passing up future income. So if you compound your money annually then after three years your total out of pocket is $60,482 to buy the GX up front (just hit $53000 x 104.5% three times on a calculator). Now lets say you can lease it for three years at $740 per month, 0 down and security (you get the security back anyway if there is a small amount) and a $600 lease acquisition fee. The buyout or residual is 58% of the MSRP (note: residuals are always based on MSRP and not on the price you negotiate the GX for - so let's say the MSRP is $52k) or 30,160 plus a 6% sales tax for a total $31,970. So your total payments plus residual buyout with all sales tax included is $600+$26,640+$31,970 or $59,210. However you have also lost earnings power on the $27,240 ($26,640+$600). On average over 3 years you would have had $13,320 + $600 available to earn interest annually. So you are forsaking interest income of $1,965 in the lease payments you make ($13,920 x 104.5% (three times) - $13,920). That makes your total lease cost come out to $61,175 ($59,210+$1,965) vs an out of pocket buy of $60,482. The difference is $693 or essentially the lease acquisition fee. Is it worth $693 to lease and then have an option to buy after three years? If you can negotiate the prices in this example I'd say yes for sure. If you don't like the GX or there is something better or if a new GX is much better in three years, you can change course without the aggravation of selling or trading in (where you always lose out). Look at the $693 in this example as an insurance policy. By the way many people make the mistake of comparing the total lease cost to that $53k initial buy figure and fail to take into consideration the lost interest income the purchase costs them. Thus they tend to think the lease is costing them many thousands more but this is a big mistake in the way they view it.
Naturally there are many other variables that come into play. You may be able to negotiate a better buyout in three years than the lease document says (though this is very rare with Lexus) or you may get a higher return on your money than 4.5%. The bigger the return the more a lease is favored and the less the return the more a buy is favored. Then there are tax issues to consider as well. If you can tax deduct your car it is easier and more advantageous to lease (unless you qualify for that special 6,000 gross weight deduction which the GX should allow) rather than buy and depreciate. If you keep it simple as I did earlier you can easily make the decision on lease vs. buy.
Lastly there are many more sophisticated ways to look at a lease vs. buy involving present value calculations on an HP calculator. But many of these look at the deal through the lenders eyes rather than the buyer. The example I gave is a buyer view and the one most of us face. I do have a business so I always lease for tax purposes. But I also lease my non-business car because I like to have the latest and greatest car improvements. As well many calculations do work out similarly (in the high-end segment) to the example I gave.
By the say I never had a problem turning in a car and I never take a lease with a turn-in fee. If you lease through Lexus finance and take another Lexus in three years they'll never give you a problem unless you had a serious accident or are way over the lease mileage allowance.
You can't get at the residuals on the Lexus payment estimator. But you can see the difference in residuals on Lexus models. The GX470 is much lower than the LX470 or LS430 mainly because it is new and unproven. That's why a post by someone saying the GX residualized in the high 30's was such a joke. I went into that payment estimator and put in the same principal capital cost for a GX, an LS430 and an LX470. I used $53k, with an excellent credit rating and a 36 month lease with 12k miles per annum. The result - the LS430 was $676 per month, the LX470 was $707 per month and the GX was $863 per month. Clearly the LS430 is residualizing quite high and the proven LX470 is not far behind. The GX470 has a way to go because it is so new. Now you could never get an LX470 for $53k (and I'm sure that the residual will change a bit to the downside as you add principal) but the payment estimator is just a cold calculator with residual percentages and interest rates built in, so it doesn't have the logic to reject the capital cost. Interesting. If you are LS430 shopping (as I will be in less than two months) a lease is probably a no brainer.
Just finalized a deal to purchase a '04 GX470 with all the good stuff minus RSES. -Silver Pine/Ivory I get it in ten days. Final number...$48,000.00 plus tax, license, and fees. I think I got a deal, but I could be wrong. GX470's are hard to come by in Boise, ID and Cal dealers said they don't sell to ID anymore. New rule I guess. MSRP was $52,269. Good luck to you all and thanks for sharing your information. Go Pats!!
I think the best rule is that if you are going to keep a car at least five years, and put a lot of miles on it, it is best to buy. Under five years and lower mileage----lease!
Thanks ljflx, rkrzyston, redhawk2 and steve, for your input. As always you guys are very helpful. I'm not good at math either so I think I'll stick to buying :-)
Seriously, I might keep the car longer than my usual 4-5 years if it turns out to be as good as the LX470 in terms of quality.
I'm trying to work out a >3.5K off MSRP deal. Similar to trdid's deal. Wish me luck.
Comments
What's your monthly payment?
Anyone look at Costco? CarsDirect?
I REALLY want one of these, but need to be informed before I go to the dealer
Thanks
Randy
I shopped all 3 dealers in my state and the best I could do was $3K off MSRP. The other 2 wouldn't come close. You have to either live in FL or CA or be willing to do your deal over the phone/fax/FEDEX and have the car shipped to you to find a huge volume dealer to get that kind of deal. The dealer closest to me was by far the smallest in my state and they really had zero interest in bargaining at all. They even told me that they weren't a large volume dealer and didn't need to make those kinds of discounts.
Tell him to show you the dealer cost and you'll pay that or you'll buy elsewhere. Unless even with the extra $695 that deal is better than you can get elsewhere. Just be vary careful that you don't get stuffed on some paint sealant and other junk at the closing.
It's a common tactic for them to say that "we don't sell cars without this, it's for your protection, it's not negotiable." EVERYTHING is negotiable. Just tell him you won't pay it and get up and walk out. See what he does.
Comments?
These deals are certainly not doable in my book. On Lexus.com you can calculate lease deals and in order to get to some of the prices I see here you'd need to put $5000 or more down or have a dealer begging for you to take a GX off his hands. Since they sell quickly here that isn't going to happen anytime soon. Each $1000 off is worth only about $20 a month anyway give or tak a dollar depending on interest rates. I paid $2k under MSRP and leased at $740 per month with zero down, zero security and zero turn in fee at lease end - 12k miles per year. Lease acquisition fee was $400. Annual finance rate was about 4.25%. Sticker was $51k.
If a lease is done as low as $600 per month - all-in with sales tax - on a $53k GX then before sales tax, you are paying about $20k over 3 years for the car itself - with no interest factored in. If the car residualizes at 60% (a bit high these days as most are in the mid-high 50's at best) you'd have a $31,800 lease buyout. Think about what that means. The present value of $31,800 today is about $28,000 and the present value of $20,000 of streamed lease payments is about $18,000 using a 4.5% discount rate (back of envelope - I don't have my HP with me). Maybe I'm a bad negotiator but I can't get $7k off of MSRP on a GX. It wsn't easy getting $2k off. There were 4 others who wanted my GX and they were willing to pay sticker. But I have an LS430 lease that's up in two months and I've been a customer since 95. Absent that leverage I would have paid MSRP. It's the law of supply and demand.
By the way I had the 2000 LX. Awesome SUV and a bigger feel. The GX is great also and I'm very happy with it. Best of luck.
Thanks
So I ask... where is this magical 5K off MSRP. Give me a dealer name!!!!
But on Fleetrate.com you may find you are able to get $4-5k off but don't expect a $570 all-in lease as a result unless you are putting money down (which of course is a prepaid lease payment in the first place) and signing up for 4-5 years. They do use Southern Cal dealers as I was in contact with them. Those dealers though may not be in your area.
I saw the story on fleetrates, which in part is why I would think long and hard about ever going that route. The other part is the inconvenience of it all. Nevertheless if they are purely a broker lining up buyers and sellers then the deals they show should be doable if one wants to take the risk. Personally I wouldn't take it.
With respect to the web broker(?) in question...I would only give money to a state licensed auto dealer, not some anonymous website run by folk with a well checkered past, was my point.
steve_ Nov 15, 2003 3:21pm
Steve, Host
Thanks
Ummm...well ok, but, as you know, you can trust those guys about as far as you can throw them.
ps. 1500 miles a month.can someone tell me if this is a good deal? the car is msrp @53,000and i got it for 49200.00
Try this link and remember to fill in your credit rating. The acquisition fee is the cost of the lease application and is not a down payment or dealer fee.
http://www.lexusfinancial.com/estimator/lfs/pe_zip.jsp
What was the guy saying about low 600's on the GX. I'd have to assume it was a longer lease and had a good sized down payment. Lexus finance is doing the deals at 4.6% so that's a pretty good rate and not one that is topped so easily. You probably need to drop the price to a 43k or $44k cap cost to get a low 600's deal on a 3 year lease using that payment estimator. That price is of course unheard of as are $570 lease deals.
The GX handled the snow with ease just in case you ever get some down there in San Diego - one of my favorite California cities by the way.
Let's say you can buy the GX for $50K and the sales tax is 6%. Your total cost is $53K. Now if you are earning 4.5% interest on your money you are also passing up future income. So if you compound your money annually then after three years your total out of pocket is $60,482 to buy the GX up front (just hit $53000 x 104.5% three times on a calculator). Now lets say you can lease it for three years at $740 per month, 0 down and security (you get the security back anyway if there is a small amount) and a $600 lease acquisition fee. The buyout or residual is 58% of the MSRP (note: residuals are always based on MSRP and not on the price you negotiate the GX for - so let's say the MSRP is $52k) or 30,160 plus a 6% sales tax for a total $31,970. So your total payments plus residual buyout with all sales tax included is $600+$26,640+$31,970 or $59,210. However you have also lost earnings power on the $27,240 ($26,640+$600). On average over 3 years you would have had $13,320 + $600 available to earn interest annually. So you are forsaking interest income of $1,965 in the lease payments you make ($13,920 x 104.5% (three times) - $13,920). That makes your total lease cost come out to $61,175 ($59,210+$1,965) vs an out of pocket buy of $60,482. The difference is $693 or essentially the lease acquisition fee. Is it worth $693 to lease and then have an option to buy after three years? If you can negotiate the prices in this example I'd say yes for sure. If you don't like the GX or there is something better or if a new GX is much better in three years, you can change course without the aggravation of selling or trading in (where you always lose out). Look at the $693 in this example as an insurance policy. By the way many people make the mistake of comparing the total lease cost to that $53k initial buy figure and fail to take into consideration the lost interest income the purchase costs them. Thus they tend to think the lease is costing them many thousands more but this is a big mistake in the way they view it.
Naturally there are many other variables that come into play. You may be able to negotiate a better buyout in three years than the lease document says (though this is very rare with Lexus) or you may get a higher return on your money than 4.5%. The bigger the return the more a lease is favored and the less the return the more a buy is favored. Then there are tax issues to consider as well. If you can tax deduct your car it is easier and more advantageous to lease (unless you qualify for that special 6,000 gross weight deduction which the GX should allow) rather than buy and depreciate. If you keep it simple as I did earlier you can easily make the decision on lease vs. buy.
Lastly there are many more sophisticated ways to look at a lease vs. buy involving present value calculations on an HP calculator. But many of these look at the deal through the lenders eyes rather than the buyer. The example I gave is a buyer view and the one most of us face. I do have a business so I always lease for tax purposes. But I also lease my non-business car because I like to have the latest and greatest car improvements. As well many calculations do work out similarly (in the high-end segment) to the example I gave.
By the say I never had a problem turning in a car and I never take a lease with a turn-in fee. If you lease through Lexus finance and take another Lexus in three years they'll never give you a problem unless you had a serious accident or are way over the lease mileage allowance.
Good luck.
But you can find out over in Lease Questions - Ask Here.
Steve, Host
Seriously, I might keep the car longer than my usual 4-5 years if it turns out to be as good as the LX470 in terms of quality.
I'm trying to work out a >3.5K off MSRP deal. Similar to trdid's deal. Wish me luck.
tidester, host