Lease Questions - Ask Here

eaweg · July 2001

Hey Car_Man,

I'm new to the town hall and one thing I've noticed is that you get figures from BMW FS regarding leases...is there a place where I can see the terms or do I have to go to the dealer? I am particularly interested in the 330Ci model...I believe BMW's leases are usually for 36 months with $2500. What's the latest?

hooops · July 2001

I'm sure Carman can answer this better than I, but I believe Carsdirect.com
by default uses ALG residuals and money factor residuals or those provided
by the bank they partner with (I think its BancOne). The residuals provided
by Manufacturers' finance companies are typically higher and the Money
Factors are typically lower, especailly when they know dealers are trying to
get rid of their existing inventory.

I believe you can still get the lease financing you wish through a manufacturer's
finance company when using carsdirect.com. You would have to check with
carsdirect.com, but I believe after you set up your order, you can request from
a vehicle specialist the financing you desire. At least this is what I was told
when I spoke with carsdirect.com. I will use them in the future for leasing cars
providing their price is at or near invoice. The only reason I didn't use them is
that the Jetta GL pricing they quoted on their site at the time I looked was to
far above invoice for me. When I was looking at corollas their price was at invoice
and if I would have purchased a corolla, I probably would have used carsdirect
providing I was able to get the lease financing through Toyota Financial.

ripkenfan · July 2001

Wondering what you think of the new xc lease offer from Volvo: 39 mo lease, $469 per mo, other charges are capitalized cost reduction of $1,295, and acquisition fee of $495. Cars have sunroof, metallic paint, premium & touring package and gross capitalized cost of $38,850. Appreciate your thoughts.

CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

Hi again shaker58. I would be glad to help give you an idea of what the lease programs for these trucks should look like this month. All of the following lease programs are for these manufacturers' captive finance companies. If you were to lease a 2001 Land Rover Discovery SE7 for 3 years with 12,000 miles per the lease money factor and residual value should be .00190 and 52%. If you were to lease a 2001 Toyota Sequoia Limited you would have to use Toyota Financial Services' 3 year standard lease money factor, which I believe is presently around .00320, and a 12,000 miles per residual value of 59%. Lastly, if you were to lease a 2001 Acura MDX (Non-Touring & Non-Navigation) for 3 years with 15,000 miles per the factor & residual should be .00260 & 63%.

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CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

Yes Joe, the .00275 lease money factor is supported. It is considerably better than Chrysler Financial's standard lease money factor of .00335 for that term (around 6.6% versus around 8.04%). If you decide to lease the 2001 Jeep Grand Cherokee Laredo 4WD that you are interested in with 12,000 miles per year the residual value would increase to 45%. I don't know exactly what CFC's 10,000 mi/yr residual value for this truck would be, but I assume that it it probably around 46%.

In answer to your next question, because you live in Chrysler's New York Zone, you would be eligible for $4,000 Lease Cash on this SUV instead of the $3,000 that is available on it in most other areas. This Lease Cash can be used to reduce the vehicle's capitalized cost, which will lower its monthly payments.

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CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

Joe, I think that the your payment calculations may be off because I thought that you were talking about the Montero and not the Montero Sport. Sorry about the confusion. Mitsubishi had a special 4th of July lease promotion on the 2001 Montero Sport that ran through the 10th of this month. I have not seen their subsequent program for this vehicle yet, but expect to at some point over the next couple of days. Please feel free to check back with me then. As far as the information that you are getting from Cars Direct not matching up with what I am telling you goes, keep in mind that I always provide consumers with data on the lease programs being run by manufacturers' captive finance companies. Most Web sites that provide residual value data use ALG's residuals, which are only estimates and not what manufacturers actually use to calculate leases on cars and trucks.

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CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

Yes, Leland, Ford is providing lease support on the 2001 Explorer. There is a significant difference between the lease programs for the 2-Door Explorer Sport and the 4-Door Explorer. It would be a big help if you could let me know which one you are interested in. Thanks. Talk to you soon.

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CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

La_max, Acura finally has released residual values for the 2002 RSX. Not surprisingly, Acura is not currently providing any sort of lease support on this brand new model. So if you want to lease one through American Honda Finance Corp. you will have to use their standard lease money factors. Fortunately, AHFC has the lowest standard factors that I have seen in a while, so this isn't all that bad. Their lease factors and residual values for this car will vary depending upon how long you wish to lease it for and how many miles per year you want to be able to drive without a penalty. If you let me know these two pieces of information, I would be happy to let you know what I think their lease program should be like for this car.

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CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

Welcome to the Town Hall, eaweg. I have not seen an advertised lease for the 2001 BMW 330Ci for the month of July yet. Fortunately, their July lease program for this model is exactly the same that they were running last month, so their old advertised lease on this car should still be valid. Last month they were advertising a 36 month lease with 10,000 miles per year on the 2001 330Ci for $449 per month with $2,500 down. BMW usually places advertised leases for many of its vehicles in major newspapers, such as the New York times. If you keep your eyes peeled, you should be able to find them there.

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CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

Hi ripkenfan (let me guess, you live in Baltimore

). Volvo is providing quite a bit of lease money factor support on the 2001 V70 this month. Specifically, their money factor on the V70 XC is equivalent to an interest rate of slightly over 2.5%, which is pretty good. Generally speaking, manufacturers' advertised lease payments usually seem to leave a little meat on the bone so to speak. There is a good chance that you will be able to lease this vehicle for slightly less than the advertised payment if you comparison shop a little bit. Still, this is a very reasonable price for a very functional car (or truck as some call it).

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eaweg · July 2001

Car_man, I know I will probably get the booger-eating-moron award for this question but I will ask anyway. Are the leases for BMWs usually that of the bare-bones model? Take for instance the 325ci...will it come with some package or upgrade or will I have to add another $2500-$3000 to the price to get the sport package etc.? Also, will it be better to wait for a 2002 model or jump on a 2001 right now as far as leasing is concerned?
Thank you in advance!

lelandc · July 2001

I am interested in the 2001 (or 2002 if you have info) 2 dr Ford Explorer 4WD. I am interested in a 24 month lease with 15K per year. Please provide payment, residual, and money factor if you would be so kind...

Leland

peccles · July 2001

Car Man,

I am confused on why people should be concerned
with a high residual value at the end of their
lease as indicated in the Advice column. If
the value is higher than the book
used value when the lease is up, I would think
you have can negotiate it to book value. The
dealer won't be able to sell it for the high
residual value and would probably rather have
you keep the car rather than having to spend
money on it before selling it. It seems to
me you would want to negotiate a lease with
the lowest monthly payment which should correspond
to a higher residual value. There is always one
more negotiation when the lease is up and you
are considering buying the car. Am I missing
something?

CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

Eaweg, that is not a silly question at all. Yes, the advertised lease that I posted is based on a model without any additional options. If you decide to lease one with several additional packages or options then it would cost more per month. It's tough to say how much it will cost to lease a new 2002 version of this car when it is introduced. Even though the '02s will have higher residual values, I doubt that they will have as attractive lease money factors available on them. So cars like the 2001 BMW 330i that have attractive lease money factors on them now may end up costing the same or more for a 2002 version. On the other hand, most other 3-Series variants don't have much in the way of lease money factor support available on them and it is very possible that the 2002 models would actually cost less to lease than a 2001 right now.

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CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

Lelandc, I believe that the lease rate and residual value for a 2002 Ford Explorer XLT 4-Door 4WD if leased through Ford Motor Credit for 2 years with 15,000 miles per should be around 1% (this is equivalent to a lease money factor of about 0.00042) and 54% respectively in most areas.

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CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

Well, peccles, some banks are willing to negotiate the lease-end purchase prices of leased vehicles and others are not. While it seems as though it this is a more common practice today than it was years ago, lease-end price flexibility is still certainly the exception rather than the rule. Ultimately the decision about whether to negotiate the price or not falls into the hands of the bank that you are leasing through and individual dealers really do not have much authority to alter your purchase option.

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gwprice · July 2001

Carman- Do you have the MBCC residual and money factor on an 02 ML 320 for 36 mos at 15K miles?

Is it true that MBCC artificially inflates residuals to increase sales? It seems their residuals are typically higher than banks and other lease sources. Thanks.

vikd · July 2001

Carman-
Thanks for the heads up...went back to the dealership but they were less than accomodating about providing the actual price on which the lease would be based so we will not do business with them (you probably saved us some decent cash!).
Now looking at a 2001 Maxima SE for a smaller family hauler. Could you provide us with the mf and res for 36mo/12k and any other special lease programs Nissan has going. Also, would the 2002 be a better buy when it comes out in a couple of months?
Thanks again for your time.

bill124 · July 2001

Any advice on terminating a 4 year mitsubishi eclipse lease began in 12/00? I really want a new BMW 325 or 330 convertible. Do you just call up the dealer and say I want out and see what they say? The good news is my mileage is now at like 6,000.

la_max · July 2001

Car man,

I would be interested in either a 24 or 36 month lease with 12,000 miles per year. If you could, please tell me the lease factor and residual for the regular RSX and the Type-S. Thanks.

CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

Yes, gwprice, Mercedes-Benz has released a lease program for their 2002 models and I have had a chance to take a look at it. If you were to lease a 2002 ML320 through Mercedes-Benz Credit Corp. for 3 years with 15,000 miles per right now, you would have to use a lease money factor of .00329 (assuming that you qualify for MBCC's best credit tier) and a residual value of 63%. As far as MBCC inflating residual values goes, it's tough to say whether they do or not. Mercedes-Benz strongly denies that they support any of their residual values. However, the fact remains that in many instances the MBCC residual values for certain models are significantly higher than those that are published for them by an unbiased source like ALG. I guess that only time will tell whose residual values are correct. My guess is that the actual future value of most Mercedes models will be slightly lower than their residuals for them, but higher than ALG's residuals in some cases.

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CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

I am glad that I was able to help you out, vikd. You were smart to stop dealing with the Ford dealer that would not tell you the price of the Explorer that you were considering leasing. How is anyone supposed to tell how good a deal they are getting without knowing how much they are being charged?

OK, now let's take a look at the lease program that Nissan is running on the Maxima right now. If you decide to lease a 2001 Nissan Maxima SE through Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. in July the 3 year 12,000 miles per lease money factor and residual value should be .00200 and 51%. Also, keep in mind that Nissan is providing $500 Dealer Cash on this car that may be used in conjunction with their special lease program. Make sure to take this into account when negotiating the price of the car that you want to lease. Given the fact that Nissan is making some improvements to the 2002 Maxima, I doubt that you will be able to get as good a deal on one if you tried to lease an '02 when it first comes out.

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CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

I am sorry to say Bill that it is probably going to be very expensive for you to get out of your Eclipse lease over 3 years prior to your scheduled termination date. Don't even bother calling up the dealer that you leased the car from, they no longer have any authority to work with you on your lease. Instead, place a telephone call to the bank that you are leasing through, which most likely is Mitsubishi Motors Credit Corp. Ask them exactly how much money it would cost you to buy-out your Eclipse lease now. Once you have that figure, compare it to the amount of money that you realistically expect to be able to get for your car by selling it on your own or trading it in on a different vehicle (whichever you plan to do). The result will basically tell you how much it is going to cost you to break your lease early. I have a feeling that it is going to be quite a bit of money.

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CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

Thanks for the additional information, la_max. OK, the 2 year 12,000 miles per lease money factor and residual value for a 2002 Acura RSX leased through American Honda Finance Corp. this month should be .00310 and 71% respectively. Also, the 3 year 12,000 miles per lease money factor and residual value for a 2002 Acura RSX leased through American Honda Finance Corp. this month should be .00260 and 64% respectively. There should not be any difference between the residual values for the regular RSX and the RSX Type-S.

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bill124 · July 2001

Many thanks. I have called Mitsu Motor Credit. They said to call back in a few days. Actually, I made a mistake. I picked up the car in 12/99 and only have 6,600 miles. Does that change your view much? I realized my mistake when you pointed out that based on my e-mail I had over 3 years left. Thanks again.

uter · July 2001

Car man,
A family member has an X5 that will finish a two year lease this winter. It has the 4.4 L V8, sport package, xenon headlamps, but no navigation system. If the vehicle has 20,000 miles at lease end, what would guess the buyout would be? I'd be interested in buying it if I could convince him to buy and turn around and sell it to me.

viewer_x · July 2001

Car_man,

I'm comparing/contrasting the TL-S and Passat GLX 2wd. Can you help me with the current money factors and residuals for 36/39 months with 15,000 miles per year? I live in WA state if that makes a difference. Also, any thoughts on what will happen with the 2002 Passat given the longer warranty?

Thanks.

mmcbride1 · July 2001

Just ask him what the buyout is. It will be quoted in the lease contract.

I just went through this with my sister a few months ago. She wanted to buy my 1998 4Runner but I was leasing it. If I had bought it and then sold it to her, I would have had to pay sales tax on it. Only the lessee or a dealer can buy the car directly from the finance co. So what I did was go to the dealer that I was getting my new car from. For a fee (I paid $300, but it could be up to $500 or so, it just depends on the dealer), the dealer will buy the car from the finance co. and sell it to you at the same price, so the lessee doesn't have to pay sales tax, only you do. You probably need to use whatever dealer your family member will be getting the new car from. But that will work just fine.

kizzilbash · July 2001

I've got a pretty unusual lease situation, and I'd be thankful for any input. I'm self-employed and have been for about eight years, however my income is from investments rather than a formally structured salary. Thus, in the rather cold light of finance approval, I have no job and no salary (even though my total annual *income* should be fine).

The next unusual part - I've never gone through the finance approval process before. I have always bought outright, and thus gone a looong time between purchases (currently almost 11 years). However, I now find that I would really rather not wait so very long or tie up so much of my money, so I'm looking to lease. The lease application in question (BMW) specifically requests a "salary" figure in addition to the "income" figure, and I expect that "Salary = $0" is probably not going to get me approved, in spite of my sound investment decisions. :-) A friend suggested a pre-paid lease, though I suspect that BMW would want something in the way of salary even for this (and it ties up a lot of cash for a three year lease).

Any thoughts or advice?

K.

gwarren · July 2001

Car_Man,
Just when I thought it is over I start again. Took possession of the Lexus RX 300 three weeks ago for my wife and we love the vehicle. My lease on a 99 Chrysler Sebring Convertible will be up in two months. I know this is preliminary but, as I am going to have to have the car preinspected soon I imagine the process will start again. I have several questions:
1) First Chrysler has a service "ITS" that has set up an appointment with me to come and inspect the vehicle, this prior to my having to have the dealer inspect after. I have never had an outside service do an inspection previously, what if anything do I need to be aware of?

2) My current Sebring Conv. lease was for 36 months, and I am seriously considering leasing another Sebring Convertible (now they are LXI, rather than the JXI). It seems that all of the Ads utilize a 48 month lease rather than 36, is this the new Chrysler way? I would not trust leasing a Chrysler past the original warranty of 36 months. Or is this the only Lease term sponsored by Chrysler Financial.
3) As a current Chryler Leasee, I assume that there will be some benefits to Leasing again from them. I am also interested in the Limited (only because I really like the new Silver blue color) and this is currently only available on the Limited.
4) Does it pay to wait for the 2002's to come out before looking at any of the lease particulars.
5) the basics:
I am pretty certain that under current economic condidtions I should be able to get a purcahse price around invoice.
So with a 36 month, 12,000 miles per year what are the factors.

Thanks for your input
Gary

patrikk · July 2001

I am currently in a lease (99 Mits Montero Sport) with 11 payments left on a 36 month lease. I was allowed 45K total miles and I have 65K currently.

I am dying to get out of this lease because I no longer want to drive an SUV. I originally needed the storage space for work, but have since changed jobs.

I am looking at VW's & Audi's (A4) and my local dealer offered to buy me out of the lease when i told him I planned to wait a year before buying a new car because of my current lease status. My lease contract states that in order to get out early, I need to pay the remainder of the payments plus the mileage penalty.

My questions are as follows. Thanks for any assistance.

How does this actually work if he buys me out. Will the audi dealer simply add the above costs to my new loan?
Is this a practical option or will I essentially be paying for 2 cars simultaneously?
Has anyone ever done this successfully?
I thought about selling the car and trying to pay off the remaining payments and the residual, but I'd lose a ton of money since the car is only worth $15-16K and my buyout is approx $21,000.

CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

You're welcome, bill. I am sorry that I didn't have happier news for you. Yes, the fact that you have one less year left on your lease than I thought that you had certainly improves your situation, however it is still probably going to cost you money to break your lease at this point.

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CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

Hi uter. It sure is hard to believe that the BMW X5 has been out for two years already. It's difficult to say exactly what this truck's lease-end purchase option is right now. Given the fact that they leased this vehicle when it was fairly new to the market, I would guess that it had very strong residual values at the time. As a result, its purchase option price may end up being higher than what an equivalent X5 would sell for on the open market today. I suggest that you have your friend place a telephone call to BMW Financial Services, or whichever bank they are leasing it through to see exactly how much money they can buy their truck for. From time to time some banks are willing to negotiate their lease-end prices for certain vehicles. There is no guarantee that their bank will be willing to do so, but it certainly is worth a shot.

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CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

I would be happy to help you out, viewer_x. Let's compare the current lease programs for these two cars. If you were to lease a 2001 Acura TL Type S (without Navigation) through American Honda Finance Corp this month for 36 months and with 15,000 miles per year, the lease money factor and residual should be .00260 and 56% respectively. If you were to lease a 2001.5 Volkswagen Passat GLX through VW Credit for 36 months and with 15,000 miles per year in your area, the lease money factor and residual should be .00235 and 56% respectively.

As far as the 2002 Passat goes, my guess is that the enhanced bumper-to-bumper warranty will likely increase its popularity at least initially. In turn, I suspect that Volkswagen will not provide as much support on 2002 Passat leases initially.

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im_brentwood · July 2001

Patrik:

Basically its' just like trading in a car that you owe $$ on, the negative equity has to go somewhere, generally into your new Lease or finance contract or out of your checking account...

We do it all the time.

And, Car_Man, Yup, they have been out 2 years now. I just saw one with 60K miles on it at the auction!

Bill

patrikk · July 2001

When you say "We do it all the time", do you guys do this with a full year left on a lease, or is this typically done with just a few months left?

Is it a practical option or am I crazy to do this and essentially pay for 2 cars at the same time?

CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

Congratulations again on your Lexus RX 300 lease, Gary. You certainly are a thorough shopper. Many banks use independent inspection companies to check out their leased vehicles prior to their termination date. Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. recently had an independent inspection company take a look at my wife's Pathfinder right before her lease was scheduled to expire. I don't remember the name of the company off of the top of my head, but they were very fair in their evaluation of the truck. I really don't think that you have anything do worry about when the inspection company comes to check out your wife's Sebring.

That is interesting that all of the advertised leases for Chrysler that you have seen use 4 year terms. All of Chrysler's official advertised lease payments are based on only three year lease terms. Perhaps the ads that you saw were for specific dealers or dealer groups rather than corporate ads. Traditionally, Chrysler Financial has offered lease support on 24 and 36 month lease terms. However, now other than in their Detroit region, they are not offering any supported lease money factors on the Sebring as all. In lieu of supported rates, they are providing Lease Cash. As a returning Chrysler Financial lessee, I believe that you should be eligible for an additional $1,000 Lease Loyalty Cash that can be used to reduce the capitalized cost of your next lease. Given the lease cash that is available on this car right now, you definitely should not have any trouble leasing one near invoice, or even below. If you decide to lease a 2001 Chrysler Sebring Convertible Limited through Chrysler Financial prior to September 4th, you will have to use a 3 year, 12,000 miles per lease money factor and residual value of .00335 and 45% respectively. It is hard to say what the 2002 model's lease program will look like when it comes out, but have a feeling that there won't be much of an advantage, if any, lease payment wise on the 2002 model.

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needsans · July 2001

Answering all these questions must take all day. Here's my situation. I leased a 2001 Acura CL Type S last summer. Good car, great value. I did my homework at the time and made a good decision then. Now - my income has increased substantially as have my tastes in cars. I am in love with the Boxster S and am thinking of ordering one for December/Spring 2002 delivery.

I don't need both cars, and would like to dump my Acura. I also figure I'm "underwater" on this lease and recognize there will undoubtedly be a net cost to terminate early. In calculating this cost, is it as simple as comparing my "lease payoff balance" (which I assume is approximately the present value of my future lease payments, plus PV of residual value, using the initial money factor) to what I think I can sell the car for?

I called America Honda Finance with this question - they were pretty rude and just said "you are obligated for all future lease payments," and were not helpful beyond that. Do you have any rough numbers on what this Acura will realistically sell for (nav, 10k miles)?

Thanks, and do they pay you enough?

im_brentwood · July 2001

Depends.

A lot of times, if the lease is nearly up, its' often cheaper for the customer for us to just work the last few payments into their deal. Otherwise, its usually cheaper to pay the difference between payoff and Trade-In Value, particularly when there's quite a way to go in the lease.

I.E:

Car has a current Trade-In Value of $18,000. Payoff is $21,575. Customer has 25 Payments of $385/mo left. In this case, $385x25=$9,625 while us buying the car for $18,000 only leaves the customer with $3,575 in costs to terminate. Granted, $3,575 aint chump change, but it sure as heck beats $9,625!

Now, say that car is due off lease in 2 months. Say that Current Trade-In is, again, $18,000. But the residual is $21,575, PLUS those payments...etc.. Better to work $385x2 ($770) into the deal vs $3,575+$770!

Bill

gwarren · July 2001

Thanks again Car_Man
To set the record straight the RX 300 was for my wife the Sebring Convertible is for me.
I can see why they are advertising 48 month leases That is so they can advertise at a reasonable price. Based on the Money Factor of .00335 and 45 % residual, even if buying for invoice and still getting the $1,000 loyalty applied to Cap Cost reduction the monthly would be $470.00 + tax. That car is definitely not in that category. They will have to increase the Residual and Lower the Mony Factor to get favorable Lease rates.

Will follow back in a while, as I am not due until end of September

im_brentwood · July 2001

$470?

Sheesh!

Can you say Audi TT? BMW 325ic? Z3? =O

Bill

November · July 2001

I'm not sure if this is the right place to post this, but since I'm in the process of negotiating a lease, I just thought I'd share some info, which I haven't seen much about on Edmunds. Some of the money factors discussed here can only be obtained if you have a certain Beacon score. If yours is below a certain amount, you won't qualify for some of the best money factors. Having just bought a house, and being told several times I had great credit, I wasn't going to check my score for a car lease--I was just going to let the dealer pull it. Last week, I read you could go to www.myfico.com and for $13, pull your own credit report AND Beacon score (which is a relatively new service for consumers). When I did, I discovered a credit card I had paid off and cancelled had reported a delinquency charge recently on my report. It brought down the entire score by at least 50 points (maybe more)and it was only a late charge for $31. In fact, I had never received this statement that was sent after I paid off the card, and didn't even know about it. I spent the better part of a day calling back and forth to Equifax, the FICO score people and the credit card company to get it fixed. It still took a week, due to red tape, but I got it fixed before any dealers have pulled it. If you are calculating your lease payments using a specific money factor, check your own scores and make sure everything is correct before you get into the finance office and discover that the payment will be higher because of your Beacon score. Believe me, it's well worth the $13 fee. Of course, now I have to spend another $13 to see what the corrected score is, but I'd rather know what it is, so the finance people at the dealers don't have that advantage.

fladriver · July 2001

Seems many mistakes on credit reports stay there because we are unaware of the mistakes...good advice.

If you are terminating a lease early, read your lease agreement about what you're liable for...many states outlaw so called "hell or highwater" leases that would require all payments due even before maturity. To me, it makes sense to present-value the future obligations and pay whatever that turns out to be. Then again, it makes more sense to drive the car if you're paying for the depreciation anyway ...

kmurray66 · July 2001

Nationaly advertised lease on 9-5
Details:
MSRP: $37,765
Invoice: $35,310 (as per Edmunds)
Term: 36 months
Residual: $16,616.60 (44%)
Cap Cost Reduction: 0
Monthly Pmt: $428.58
Miles: 12k per year

While Adjusted Capitalized Cost and Money Factor Not provided, I backed into the monthly payment assuming money factor of zero and Adj. Cap Cost of $32,060 which is $3,250 below invoice. This looks like a great deal. Am I missing something?
If you leased this car and then bought it at the end of the lease, your total out of pocket cost (taxes excluded) would be $3,000 less than invoice.

s852 · July 2001

If they could sell for near MSRP, they would. Maybe they should reconsider their MSRP rather than offering those huge discounts off the over optimistic asking prices.
$38K for an aging 4 cylinder design.
Get real!!
There are so many more modern, more refined and more powerful cars avilable for less that $38K. Even at $32K it doesn't seem like a raging bargain next to some other cars of similar price.

papadecamille · July 2001

Car man,
You may remember me from a few months ago. Procrastination and work have "prevented" me from getting a car.
Anyway, could you please give me the MF and residual for an Audi TT Coupe 225 hp for 36 and 48-month leases at 12k and 9k miles per year?

I know the residual value is to be calculated by multiplying the residual % by MSRP, but is it MSRP including destination fee or not?

When applying multiple security deposits to a lease, is their sum subtracted from the negotiated price to arrive at the cap cost? Just as for a down payment?

Thank you very much.

CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

Yes, needsans, my position with the Town Hall is only part time. I also have a full-time day job in the automotive industry. You are right, answering everyone's questions and keeping an eye on my boards does take quite a long time, but I do my best. As far as the pay goes, no amount of money could possibly be enough for the valuable information that I am providing, right

. You hit the nail right on the head with your assessment of your current situation. In order to figure out how much money it would cost you to break your CL lease early, you will need to contact the bank that you are leasing it through (probably American Honda Finance Corp.) and ask them. Once you have this figure, compare it to what you realistically expect to be able to get for your car by trading it in, or by selling it on your own (whichever you plan on doing). Technically, you probably are obligated to pay AHFC all of the lease payments that you agreed to pay them in the legally binding contract that you signed. However, most banks will provide their lessees with some sort of price to get out of their contracts early. It's tough to say exactly how much money your CL is worth right now, because it is so new. I suggest that you pay a visit to the "Real World Trade-In Values" discussion over on the Smart Shoppers Board to and ask some of the helpful car people in that area how much money they think your car is worth. They often have access to auction results that would give them a good idea of what a relatively new used car like yours would be worth.

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P.S. Congratulations on the improvement in your financial situation!

CarMan@Edmunds · July 2001

Kmurray66, the reason Saab is able to provide such an attractive lease payment on this car is, as you guessed, they are providing extremely low lease money factors on it PLUS this month Saab introduced a new $5,000 Lease Cash incentive on all 9-5's. As you can imagine, this huge amount of lease cash makes a big difference in the lease payment. Saab is throwing lots of money at its cars, even though I personally am not that big a fan of Saabs and I still think that it's hard to go wrong with a 9-5 for only $429 per month and no money down.

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hsj1906 · July 2001

What do you make of leasing software such as expert pro lease and leasewizard?

hsj1906 · July 2001

I am looking at buying a 2001 Nissan Maxima SE. Do you have any information of the residual value for 36 months and 48 months? I've been quoted a money factor of .00270 on a 48 month term. Is this good or will the money factor be less on a 36 or 39 month term? Thanks!

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