Crazy experience leasing a New 2015 CR-V in May 2016 in CA

sellnsue

Hi All! Sorry for the length of this and thanks for reading. Here goes: After reading comments about getting good deals on 2016s due to making room for the 2017s, my husband and I read that there are some really good deals on new 2015s if you can find any. Made sense to us, so we located a new 2015 CR-V EX-L w/Nav., MSRP is $30,525, $2000 up front (covering 1st month, taxes and fees). Over the phone the salesperson would not disclose any lease payment calculations, but did say that the price can be lowered to $27,984 and confirmed to me that there was more room to deal. Went in to the dealership and found that the salesperson was gone, but had left a note about what we had discussed. The new salesman went checking to see if the car was still available and came back saying that it had been sold at 11:00 that afternoon (!!??) I mentioned that it had been available around 4:00 that afternoon and that I'd been told that they actually have 2 such cars. I mentioned that the salesperson on the phone actually lowered the price to $27,984 over the phone. The sales guy left again and and came back saying that it had not been sold and that he found a key to one of the cars, but didn't know where the car was (too many cars in too many places). Said that they locate the cars on the property using the button on the key fob and that it wouldn't sound off if the car's battery was dead. He actually tried to infer that we could take the key fob and look through the upstairs, lot across the street and their lot ourselves. Also said that they weren't able to lease the 2015s. I told him that I'd already been quoted lease rates for 2015s at other dealers, that the original salesperson had known that we wanted to lease it, and asked if there was someone in the back that could try to locate the car. He went off again looking for the car or the other 2015 same car that they had. Came back having found the duplicate car, but couldn't find the key to that one. Said we could look in the windows of that one if we wanted.

Part 2 (it gets better): While looking at the locked car in the lot, our salesman left and a new guy came to deal with us. We ended up at his desk trying to get some lease payment figures on either 2015 vehicle. What he ended up saying is that there's a 2016 CR-V LX nationwide lease going on at $219/mo. for 36 months. Told him that we didn't want that model; we wanted the 2015 EX-L w/ Nav. He asked if we really needed navigation and asked us if we knew that we could get navigation on our cell phones :O He then proceeded to talk fast and scribble out a payment calculation starting with the special lease payment due on the 2016 CR-V LX, $219/mo. He used the MSRP of $30,525 on the 2015 one that we wanted despite our saying that the price had been lowered over the phone to $27,984. He said that the price of the car doesn't matter and that Honda based their leases on the MSRP, so lowering the price had no bearing. He ended up with a monthly payment on a 36 mo lease (12,000 mi per year), $2,000 cap reduction, of $550 or thereabouts. We couldn't believe it and asked what money factor he used. He said that he didn't know and this was an estimate and he wouldn't know exact figures till he ran a credit report on us if we decide3d to lease the car. I had been told a money factor of .00165 for another dealer's 2015, with a residual of 57%. I'd also been told a money factor for a like 2016 model of .00080, with a 62% residual. This guy said that he didn't know the money factor and the residual is fixed by Honda. Ends up the $550 monthly payment figure was on a 2016 and he didn't ever figure the 2015. He was really pushing a 2016 and kind of ignored the 2015 one that we wanted. Hubby and I had already estimated the 2015 lease payment ourselves and we knew that the payment would be higher, but that the residual would be lower. What we didn't tell the dealer was that WE don't make the monthly payment ourselves, but we WILL be buying the car at the residual, so the lower residual from a new, older car was important to us, knowing that the car's features were fewer than those of a 2016 or 2017. We ended up walking out. We asked him for his payment notations, but he wanted to keep them for if we came back.

In reviewing what people are paying for leases on this forum, the payments are no where near $550/mo.

Questions:
Does anyone know if Honda will lease a new 2015 car in May of 2016?

Does it help at all to have the price of the car lowered (e.g. $30,525 lowered to $27,984) in calculating a lease payment?

Wouldn't a lower car price result in a lower residual?

We would so appreciate if someone could comment on what we ran into and confirm or answer the above queries. Thank you so much.

Michaell

Wow.

The numbers you provide are correct ... the MF on the 2015's is .00165 and .00080 for the 2016's.

Yes, the selling prices matters in a lease. The residual value is based on the MSRP, but a lower selling price means the amount of depreciation you pay is lower, resulting in a lower payment.

My guess is that dealers aren't getting any more help from Honda on the 2015 models, which is why both dealers want you to lease a 2016.

Overall, I suspect deals are better on the 2016's, due to the higher residual and lower money factor.