What's the recommended maximum down payment a person should put down on a lease of a new car?

lawrencepl1

A dealer said that my 2007 Infiniti G35x was worth $9,500 in trade in value, which I know is a great number. I had done my home work using Edmunds' and Kelley Blue Book's what's my car worth calculators, and they both gave the same estimate at trade in of around $7,000. So I know the $9,500 is a great offer. Unfortunately the car that dealer represents isn't exactly what I'm after, but at this moment that is irrelevant to my question about down payment.

I also just read in an article on this website that when leasing a car, a person looking to lease a vehicle shouldn't put more than $2,000 as a down payment because of its lost value if I total the new car within months of owning it. Is this true?

If it is and knowing how much I could potentially get in trade in value for my car, should I be looking at purchasing a new car versus leasing it?

kyfdx

lawrencepl1 said:

A dealer said that my 2007 Infiniti G35x was worth $9,500 in trade in value, which I know is a great number. I had done my home work using Edmunds' and Kelley Blue Book's what's my car worth calculators, and they both gave the same estimate at trade in of around $7,000. So I know the $9,500 is a great offer. Unfortunately the car that dealer represents isn't exactly what I'm after, but at this moment that is irrelevant to my question about down payment.

I also just read in an article on this website that when leasing a car, a person looking to lease a vehicle shouldn't put more than $2,000 as a down payment because of its lost value if I total the new car within months of owning it. Is this true?

If it is and knowing how much I could potentially get in trade in value for my car, should I be looking at purchasing a new car versus leasing it?

In general, I agree with most of the article. Pay your first payment and non-taxable government fees upfront, and roll everything else into the payment.

But, that doesn't preclude you from leasing, just because your trade is worth $9500. You can pull $1000 out of that trade value to pay the upfront amounts, and have the dealer cut you a check for the other $8500. It's two separate transactions. The dealer is buying your car, and you are leasing the other one from IFS (who buys the car from the dealer).