Honda Pilot Lease Questions

bjorgens

I've been working with a dealer using the $259/mo lease deal for the VP. But he just recently quoted me $289/mo for the SE model. I'm going in tomorrow to "crunch the numbers", but the down is only $2500 as opposed to the $1999 for the VP special.

It seems like a good deal in that I'm getting the RES, moonroof, and higher quality interior for $30 extra a month, but does anyone think I could be leaving money on the table? I'm in Seattle... thanks in advance for the help!

velociraptor1

Thank you. That is what i thought about the tax. It almost looks like the down payment is reducing capcost. I am now worried about the vibrations at 70mph that i felt in the vehicle i test drove that was a 4wd. I will test drive a few before i pick one. Thanks

velociraptor1

Hi

I am trying to find out if this is a good deal for a 2008 Honda Pilot 2WD VP. Please let me know

Purchase price: 25K and change (incliudes tax tag and title and processing Fee)
MF:0.00014
Downpayment- 1500 (includes 1st month payment)Dealer tells me it also includes TAX tag and title-Confused here.
Miles-12K
Residual: 51%
Monthly payment of : $244
They will throw in Wheel locks and Mudflaps

steevo

The tax should be either up front or in the lease...The numbers dont make exact sense the way they presented them. My guess is the actual selling price, the cap cost, is really 23000 which is awesome. Then you are paying tax and tags up front that equal 1500. Probably the real numbers arent this round but you get the idea. Maybe the sell price is 23500 and the other 500 comes from the 1500 up front? Its a numbers game.
Either way, sounds like a winner! If you roll the 1500 in the payment is 286.

dwynne

As we keep saying over and over - don't play price with the dealer,

You negotiate the price of the Pilot up front - you want to be about $1,500 under invoice or less when you include the dealer's doc or prep fee. Then plug that into the lease calc and see how the payment works out.

With the silly low interest rate on these lease do not put down $2.5k of even $2k for this lease. Pay at MOST the first month's payment at signing and that is all - cheap the rest of your money in the bank.

Dennis

lease_bill

I agree with the above post.

if you are waiting for new model - don't expect any deals for a while.

Have you looked at new Nissan Murano? They just rolled out new model and lease deals are insane compared to leftovers from previous design. Dealers know that lots of folks will want new model, so they are not prepared to lower the price. In addition - there's no special financing.

Same was the case when Honda re-designed Acura TL about 3 years ago. They were offering leases in $500+ range for new one, while previous model could have been had below $400 year befor.

bjorgens

Dennis -

I understand and agree with your point about wrapping the down payment into the lease - I am planning on doing that. But I was hoping people had a sense of the $289 for the SE being a good deal compared national $259 deal on the VP. Can I ask the dealer outright on what the invoice is?

dwynne

You can get the invoice price here on Edmunds, KBB, and carsdirect.com (and other places) - so no need to ask.

The $1,500 lease incentive should apply to either model Pilot. With just about no interest on the lease the difference in payments will almost be the difference in invoice amounts / 36 + tax. You should be able to get either model for $1,500 or more under invoice and the cheap lease - you can also look at the EX model (priced in between). With the VP lease special going on since January some dealers may not have many VPs to choose from but similar dealers apply to all Pilot models.

If a dealer you are working with has a bunch of SE or EX models but few VP models then they might deal lower in relation to invoice - less dealer money on those than they would on the VP. The only way to know is to look at their inventory and to ask. Once you have nice numbers on each model you can decide if the increased price and payment or worth it to you or not.

Dennis

CarMan@Edmunds

Hi bostonfred. Let's take a look at the deal that you were offered. The dealer invoice price of a 2008 Honda Pilot EX-L 4WD without navigation or the entertainment system is $30,918. Plus Honda is currently providing a $1,000 cash incentive on leases of this model through Honda Finance. That brings the total cost down to around $29,918. The selling price that you were quoted is even lower than this. It is unusual that the dealer would sell it for that far below invoice. Perhaps they are running your deal through an independent bank and using the $3,500 dealer cash that is available on the Pilot instead. Either way, the monthly payment that you were quoted looks great to me.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi jjk20. I just worked up a sample lease payment on a 2008 Honda Pilot VP 4WD for you. According to my calculations, if you were to lease one at dealer invoice minus the $1,000 cash incentive that is available on leases of this model through Honda Finance, your 36 month, 12,000 mile per year, zero down, pre-tax monthly payment would be around $288. the payment for an identical lease with a waived security deposit is $292. Once sales tax is added to this it will bring it over $300 per month, but still probably a little below what you were quoted. Make sure to find out exactly what selling price the dealer that you are working with is using to calculate your lease payment. If I was in the market for this truck right now, I personally would shoot for a price of around $26,396, which is equivalent to $500 over invoice after taking the dealer cash into account.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi rgustafs. Yes, the money factor and residual value that you mentioned in your post are right in line with Honda Finance's current program for the '08 Pilot EX-L 4WD with navigation but without the entertainment system.

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CarMan@Edmunds

No problem, love2driveinct. What you were told is correct. Honda Finance's new money factor for this truck is indeed .00030 (plus $1,000 lease cash). The $864 acquisition fee that you were quoted is strange. Honda Finance's base fee is only $595. That means that the dealer that you are working with is marking up the fee by $269 to add additional hidden profit to your deal. Thanks for taking the time to share the quote that you were given with everyone. You're right about the Cayenne. It is an amazing vehicle, but it's expensive. For the money there's no better truck out there right now than the Pilot.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi jjk20. I just worked up a sample lease payment on a 2008 Honda Pilot VP 4WD at $500 over dealer invoice and came up with a 36 month, 12,000 mile per year, zero down, pre-tax payment of around $302. With the security deposit waived, this payment would rise to around $306. It is difficult to say what this truck's payment would be including sales tax in your area, but shoot for these payments before tax. I used a reasonable selling price of $26,396 to arrive at them.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Hi jimcufsemall. In February, Honda is providing $1,000 dealer cash on leases of the 2008 Pilot EX-L through Honda Finance or a whopping $3,500 dealer cash on Pilots that are financed, paid for in cash, or leased through an independent bank.

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jroyhonda

08 Pilot VP AWD
I have a jeep trade owe 1k more than it is worth
honda dealer will pay off the entire trade

quoted $305 for 3/36 (this includes the 3% tax in VA)
1,995 due at signing

i think from doing my own math that this is about right - if you factor in my 1,000 i carry over from my jeep (which sucks but i am paying 7.5% and i can roll i into almost 0%)

comments? should i badger any more. We started at $343 a month with same due at signing

markinbalto

hi. I am not up like some people on this list about money factors and other lease terms.
however I was still hoping to get a good deal on a pilot vp 4wd lease
this is what I got in maryland at tysons corner honda
2500 upfront-includes tax tags and 1st month.
35 payments of 275
thanks for your help

CarMan@Edmunds

Hi jroyhonda. You never mentioned the selling price of the Pilot that you are interested in, but it is a very important piece of information. One should always find out exactly how much they are paying for the car or truck that they want prior to agreeing to lease it. If I was in the market for a 2008 Honda Pilot VP 4WD right now, I personally would shoot for a selling price of $26,395 ($500 over invoice minus the $1,000 cash incentive for leasing through Honda Finance). Using this price, I come up with a 36 month, 12,000 mile per year, zero down, pre-tax monthly payment of $302 (assuming that you qualify for Honda Finance's top credit tier and pay a security deposit at lease signing). So the payment that you were quoted looks good.

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CarMan@Edmunds

Greetings markinbalto. If you are not familiar with exactly how leasing works, it wouldn't be a bad idea to 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.

In short, the best way to get a good deal on a leased vehicle is to negotiate as low a selling price as possible that you want and then have the dealer that you are working with calculate your monthly payment using Honda Finance's buy rate lease money factor. If I was in the market for a 2008 Honda Pilot VP 4WD right now, I personally would shoot for a selling price of around $26,395. This is equivalent to $500 over dealer invoice minus the $1,000 cash incentive that Honda is providing on leases of this truck right now. Honda Finance's buy rate lease money factor is .00030. Using these numbers, the approximate monthly payment for a 36 month lease of this truck with 12,000 miles per year, with nothing down would be around $302 before tax assuming that you qualify for Honda Finance's top credit tier and pay a security deposit at lease signing.

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bujatoki

Car_man, thanks in advance for the advice.

Lowest lease I've been able to find for a 2WD VP is ~$300/mo. for 3yr./12k miles. This includes NO down payment and normal drive off fees of around $600. Let me know if this is a good deal or perhaps wait until March to see if there will be further incentives???

k_grote

I'm trying to deal on a 3yr/12K 2008 Honda Pilot SE AWD lease.

The best monthly payment I've been able to get is $334.97. This price includes tax title and license.

Invoice: $30,500 selling for $28,200.

1) First payment due at signing, nothing else.
2) $18,160 cost to purchase at end of lease.
3) Money factor is .00030 and residual is 54%.

Please advise as the dealership is a no hassle no haggle.

I do have a trade but I have not told the dealer yet. Would I be at an advantage or disadvantage to trade my current car? It's worth about 3K.

Thanks!

nettaxi

that sounds like a good deal
the no hassle no haggle dealership even better
what dealer are you dealing with
thanks

forschreiber

Any word on what the March lease programs are going to be for the Pilot EX-L?? (no nav or ent)

dwynne

I don't think they can get any cheaper - 0.3% and 0.7% lease rates. It is possible they would increase the dealer incentive for leases, but no telling. I am thinking the lease deals will go away in favor of SALES incentives since leasing means they have to sell each Pilot twice - one to lease it and again when it comes back at lease end. They may not drop them for March, but I would say soon.

If *I* were in the market to lease a Pilot I would get it done before 3/3/08 when the current offers are set to end.

Dennis

rgustafs

I got them down to a great price on an EX-L with Nav: $29,895 (with running boards and rear splash guards installed). This price was confirmed good on a leased vehicle. I was then told if I came over tonight they could take another $500 off the price.

I didn't feel like driving all the way to Bowie unless I knew we could make the deal. I asked for them to check with the finance people for a good breakdown on an AHFC lease since I qualify for super preferred and am a current customer in good standing. I wanted numbers for a 36mo/10K lease. This is what they sent me.

36 months payments $553.26 money factor .00355 Residual 51% MSRP $36,280

Um, WTH? They must be on drugs. I replied with the correct MF of .0003, and I was told I was incorrect. THANK GOODNESS I did not drive to Bowie.

Jerks.

shar7

Hi all, I have spent a lot of time reading thru your posts.... very informative and helpful. I am a college instructor and one of the units I teach is auto buying. I like to bring "real life" experiences to the classroom and this site certainly helps! Having just brought home a newly leased Pilot, I am hoping that I got a decent deal:

2008 Pilot SE 4WD Cherry Pearl

MSRP = $33,360
3 yr/36K miles
Tier one money factor: .0003 (.72% interest rate)
Resid Val = 54% ($18,160)
Monthly Pymts = $378.24 includes 8.25% sales tax & $595 acq fee
Paid upfront = $482 for first paymt, lic fees

What I'm curious about is this: upon visiting edmunds.com, I found that the TMV is $28,462 for this vehicle. So I went to the dealership, insisting on this price for my lease. The salesman said that I was looking at a "buy" price, which includes certain incentives ($3500 cash to dealer) that are not combinable with lease deals. He said that he couldn't possibly come down to what I was asking, and at the deal he gave me he was only making $400. I am wondering if this is true-- Is the BUY price sometimes going to be cheaper than the LEASE price? A few years ago, we were able to use the GM rebate of $3500 for my husbands Saturn as a cap cost reduction, but is dealer cash different? THANKS in advance... your feedback will be very useful to both myselft AND my students! shar

regdunlap

SHAR7

Great idea to teach this "real world" topic. Where do you teach?

shar7

Having just gone through negotiations for the exact same pilot, I would say your offer is fantastic. The absolute best we could find was $378/mo including 8.25% sales tax. I put down $480 for 1st pymt and lic fees. They told me that the invoice price I was asking for ($28,400) was not available for lease deals... said they could not possibly base the lease on that price, b/c that was a BUY ONLY price. Also said that prices will vary from region to region as manf varies incentives based on location. Someone please advise, b/c if I've been lied to, I will raise holy H... As for your offer of $335... jump on it fast. BTW, where are you located, and what's the sales tax in your area?

shar7

Yes, Great subject to teach ... but very complicated, I spend more time trying to understand all this stuff and sort thru truths and myths before taking it to the classroom. I teach in Rochester NY.

shar7

Hi Car man... I knew about the $3500 dealer cash, but the salesman said it was not combinable with leases. Is this only b/c we leased thru Honda? How else would you be able to set up a lease (you mentioned an independent bank... he never said this was an option for us)? We got $1200 under invoice, and that was the lowest they would go.

dwynne

That is correct, they are currently giving dealers $3,500 on SOLD Pilots but less ($1k or $1.5k depending on who you ask) for LEASED Pilots. The leases are so cheap and insane MFs that you sort of see the point.

When the buy incentives was $2.5k and the lease $1k I ran the numbers and it worked out cheaper to lease, then buy than to just buy (it depends a lot on the rates you use for the loans, however). With the $3,50 buy incentive it is cheaper to just buy if you want to end up owning the Pilot. Some states has 2.9% for 60 months for a few days this month and this could be combined with the $3,500 dealer incentive - makes for a white hot deal.

The lease deals are still attractive to me because in 3 years you can decide to buy and keep the Pilot or move on to something else. If gas is $5 a gallon and the Pilot resale is terrible, then you just turn it in and get something else. Most folks like driving a new vehicle every few years, but they buy and then get ripped on their trade every time. If they checked into leasing, for sure and these low rates, they would see they could drive new cars all the time and save money. Someone that buys and drives the car until it is worn out, of course, need to be buying up front.

Dennis

dwynne

The AHFC lease is at 0.3% or 0.7% effective rate. If you did a 3rd party lease you would be looking at 5.25% or more. You would also be looking at much more real world residuals, like 46% or so. You would have to run the numbers to see, but I would think you would find that paying $2,500 more but having a higher residual and nearly no interest nets you a lower payment.

Dennis

shar7

Wow, just ran those numbers (5.5% interest rate and 46% resid) and came up with $474+ per month. I guess I am better off leasing thru Honda, even if paying $2500 more. I was just really curious how the person a few posts back (who leased the same model as me) ended up with $335/mo. Seems too good to be true, made me question the deal I made!! Thanks Dennis.

mattnday

CarMan - I have been out shopping Pilot's and Ridgelines for a week now.

The info in this site has been invaluable. Here is my question:

Does Honda have a seperate Business Lease Rate(I have heard yes and no from different dealers) and is there a 25000 mile cap on Honda Leases?

Basically I need 30000 miles per year and I am getting different info from every dealer.

Please advise as the dealer who is willing to go $1000 below invoice(He is also 2 hours from me) is saying Honda wont except those terms. While my local dealers who are $1000 more all say that we can do prepaid mile with no issue.

Thanks in advance.

rgustafs

I am a nervous wreck. I chickened out on the Pilot, and I am not getting ready to sign a deal on an Acura RDX. (I don't need a big car again, but will be sad to give up my 05 Pilot.)

So you guys are WAY WAY more active than the RDX peeps. Can you help with this post: RDX lease help needed ASAP

MANY THANKS!

rgustafs

I solved my own dilemma. Once again, I am foiled by the Commonwealth of VA.

jefflitz

Was in a dealership today since it was the last day of the current financing deal, and something didn't seem right about the final numbers so I decided to hold off, but now I'm wondering if this might end up working in my favor if I'm lucky.

Here was my offer:

VP 4WD
MSRP = 29630
Invoice = 26896
Selling Price = 26130 (so basically $234 over invoice after the dealer incentive)
54% residual = 16000
money factor = .0003
Lic/[non-permissible content removed]. = 143
Acq fee = 595
IL Tax = 6.25% = 1639

ZERO down with only the 1st pmt due at signing, so everything rolled into the financing.

Mo. Pmt. = $365 (w/ taxes and all fees rolled in)

When I ran these numbers through the leasing calculator @ leaseguide.com, I was getting much lower number, around $325, so I walked. After doing a little research, I realized that IL is one of the few states that requires you to pay taxes on the full selling price of the vehicle, not just the usage of the vehicle over the lease term.

So in the end, once I corrected the taxes, the calculation matched the dealerships, and overall, this appears to be a pretty solid deal (other than IL state taxes).

Before I left the dealership, when the salesman could tell I wasn't sure of the calculation, he mentioned that I could apply for Honda Financing before the deadline and lock in the money factor on the potential lease, in case it goes up tomorrow (quite possible). He said then I could still work the deal at that rate. My question is, if Honda raises the money factor and effective rate, but offsets that by increasing the incentive to say $1500 or $2000 instead of $1000, could I hypothetically work the deal to include the new incentive while being "grandfathered in" under the previous MF?

One more question, in a state like IL or TX or the others that require up-front taxes, if I decide to purchase at the end of the lease, would I have to pay sales taxes again, or would I just have to essentially finance the residual value and no taxes since I would have already paid taxes for the full value on the front end with the lease? I'm kind of thinking I will have to pay again because it's a separate transaction (I hate IL taxes).

(Sorry for the long post.)

kyfdx

My question is, if Honda raises the money factor and effective rate, but offsets that by increasing the incentive to say $1500 or $2000 instead of $1000, could I hypothetically work the deal to include the new incentive while being "grandfathered in" under the previous MF?


Nope.. you wouldn't be able to use last month's MF and this month's incentive... You'd either get the entire February lease program, or the the entire March lease program..

One more question, in a state like IL or TX or the others that require up-front taxes, if I decide to purchase at the end of the lease, would I have to pay sales taxes again, or would I just have to essentially finance the residual value and no taxes since I would have already paid taxes for the full value on the front end with the lease? I'm kind of thinking I will have to pay again because it's a separate transaction (I hate IL taxes).


You'll have to pay tax again, because the first purchaser is Honda Finance (who you lease from). You are the second owner, so must pay tax again. That's why you see a lot of balloon note programs in Illinois, where your name is actually on the title. That way, if you want to buy out the car at the end of term, your name is already on the title, so no further tax.

Really.. considering the tax situation, and the extra $2500 off if you buy the vehicle, I'd rather buy than lease, in your situation.. Maybe they'll come back with some cheap financing this month..

Good luck,
kyfdx

dwynne

I agree with kyfdx, if I lived in a state that had tax on the whole car like (IL and TX) I would take the $3,500 incentive and buy the car. Get a cheap loan from your credit union, online bank, or perhaps the dealer and you will come out well ahead.

The big advantage to leasing is the bank takes the risk on future value. If gas is $5 per gallon in 3 years you will not be able to give away your Pilot. If you lease, you don't car you just turn it in and it is AHFC's problem. Another advantage is the tax break of only paying tax on the depreciation or the payment and not the whole car. Living in a state where you pay tax on the whole car negates that advantage. Normally you also pay less per month for the same vehicle. Again, even with the silly low lease rates if you knock another $2,500 off the price of the car and get a decent loan rate you are not THAT far off from the lease payment. If you want to end up owning the Pilot anyway, with your double tax state, you are WAY better just to buy it up front.

Dennis

kyfdx

Also... you have to factor in the $595 acquisition fee on the lease...

So, now, it's $3095 cheaper to buy... If the tax is the same, buy or lease... I'm going to buy, in this case...

mkulikow

Well,

First post and have gotten a TON of useful information here about car buying and leasing tips. I just got a fairly good deal in VT, not awesome but VERY SMALL dealer so its still pretty good in my book and I get to feel like I support local business

Taking delivery of an 08 SE for $28,800 + tax and tags. Not sure if the $1500 lease incentive is still available in March in VT but even so the price was good. Payments on 3yr/45k mile leaves a 53% residual, I figured it would of been lower due to the 45k vs. 36k on the residual value so I'm assuming we got the 0.07% lease rate most likely due to the misses credit score. Her payment is going up ~$20 a month from her 04 EX 3yr/36k that we upped for 6 months waiting for another deal to come along.

Now I just need to go buy another Saab 9-5 Aero 3yr lease return so I can stay in $40k cars and never pay more than $15k.

- Kuli

jefflitz

Thank you all for the suggestions. Judging by my state tax situation, combined with the AHFC acq fee on the lease, it definitely looks more advantageous to buy. Too bad the incentive went down to $2500 on the VP today instead of $3500. I'm thinking I may take my chances and see if the incentive goes back up if Honda still has too much inventory when the '09 gets closer to coming out.

love2driveinct

Anyone have any numbers yet?

dwynne

The new specials are up on the Honda web page and they are showing no lease deals for the Pilot. They could still have deals but not show them, but more likely is that they are using the standard lease rates now (0.00255 or so) and leasing a Pilot is no longer attractive.

Things could change at any time, but I warned that they would likely remove cheap lease deals in favor or SELLING folks Pilots. Leasing means they have to sell it twice, which they have trouble doing the first time.

Dennis

mattnday

Shockingly their is no subvented leases available on Pilots. I went in today looking to close the deal and hoping for something better and got the sad news.

Fortunately, the Subara Tribeca still had a great money factor and $2000 incentive so I am going that route.

dwynne

I guess the moral to the story is that if presented with a nice deal - $1k or more under invoice for a Honda and 0.3% or 0.7% lease money it might be wise to take it and not worry about what next month brings .

They dropped the VP model incentive from $3,500 to $2,500 for March for purchases - so those folks that chose to wait to see if Honda would raise the incentives now will have to pay $1k more for a VP than they would have on Monday.

Honda will probably get more motivated to move the rest of the Pilots later in the model year, but we may not see sub 1% lease terms any time soon.

Dennis

robroth

I'm curious, I qualified for tier 1 when I leased my Pilot last month and got a MF of .0003 (0.72% interest rate). Is there some sort of credit category above tier 1 that gets you into the 0.3% interest rate that I've seen mentioned a few times here?

dwynne

AHFC was doing 0.00014 (0.34%) on 2WD Pilots and the rate you got on 4WD Pilots. So if you had chosen to lease a 2WD you would have received the cheaper rate, but the residual on 2WD is a few points lower so the net payment may have ended up close to the same.

Dennis

carabel

Hi Dennis,
Thanks for all your advise. I took a 36M/36K lease on a Honda 2WD VP this weekend for $259/mo + tax with 1400 total due at sign-in. I wouldn't have done this without reading your threads.

Carabel

dwynne

Congratulations on your new Pilot! What color did you get?

You deal sounds nice except for paying $1,400 up front .

Now that the VP incentive for sales has been lowered and the cheap leases are gone, be double glad you have your new Pilot.

Dennis

jerseyguy2

the cheap leases on the vp models still appear to be available in some regions or at least they were this morning when i checked the honda current offers website for zip code 07731.