Lease Questions - Ask Here

Mogulman · August 2001

Yeah..I read a bunch more. Any idea what the current money factor and Residual is on an Audi A4 1.8T Quatro, for someone with excellent credit?

I understand the calculations now.

I read about a bunch of fees that I should try and avoid. What fees am I going to HAVE to pay?

Mogulman · August 2001

I negotiated an Audi A4 1.8T Quattro.
Invoice=$27,173
MSRP=$30,165
I wanted to pay $28500(which is approx edmunds TMV). I agreed to pay $28,900, because the dealer had already added Tinting and 3M clear mask to the car. $400 sounded ok for that.

Then came the lease:
I got a money factor of .0032 if I didn't pay a security deposit. I was told money factor of .00305 with security deposit.
56% of MSRP for residual.

My cap cost ended up:
$28,900 (price of car negotiated)
$299.50 dealer handling fee, they tack it on to every car. I couldn't get them to take it off.
$6.50 Other Fee
$490 acquisition fee. Supposedly this is from the finance company. They told me that it includes Gap insurance. I didn't have a choice on it if I got a lease from them.
For a total Cap cost of $29,696.00
Residual was $16892.40
Sales tax is 3.7%

I got a 36 month lease at $523.42/month 12,000miles/year. Nothing down, except had to pay first month and 1% county tax which was a total of $651.46

The only other fee I could see on there is a $250 turn in fee, if I don't purchase the vehicle.

Anyway, if someone out there who is a wiz with leases can tell me if I screwed up or not, I'd appreciate it. Then I might do differently next time.

Thanks,
Jeff

confused07 · August 2001

Advice will be appreciated. I'm leaning towards my first car. I got 30 Grand saved up. Now here comes the questions...I go to school, and my monthly income you could say is about 600$ a month from my job. Now IF i decided to lease, I would put that 30 grand, and I should be able to pull out about 13% intrest on that per year. Which gives me a total income of 925$ a month. This is all canadian dollars by the way. Now over the span of the next 3 years...would I be better of purchasing a car for 20Grand and saving ten and putting it in intrest, or leasing the car all together...I've calculated it over 30 times, leasing always comes out on top, am I missing something ?? ?thanx

CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

Mike, it is tough to generalize about high mileage leases because each bank will charge a different amount of money per mile for excess mileage. Typically, when consumers who plan on putting a ton of miles on their vehicles lease they do so using 15,000 miles per year residual values and then purchase extra miles in advance. The cost per mile can be as low as $.10 to $.15 and often is higher than $.25 per mile. In order to evaluate if this sort of lease is affordable for you, you need to find out exactly how much money per mile it will cost you to purchase excess mileage in advance on the car or truck that you are interested in.

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CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

I am glad that you enjoy this message board so much, asaleem. Yes, different states calculate tax on leased vehicles differently than others. Unfortunately, you will not be able to lease the car or truck that you want in another state and avoid paying your home state's high tax rate. When you register your vehicle at home, you will be liable for your home state's taxes. This policy was created to prevent consumers who live on the borders of states with low sales tax rates from just crossing over to purchase their vehicles.

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CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

You are correct, la_max, the 2002 Nissan Maxima just recently want on sale. Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. has issued a lease program on it already. However, as one might suspect with such a new model, they are not currently providing any sort of lease support on it. So if you choose to lease one through NMAC this month you will have to use their standard lease money factor of .00320 for all lease terms. The lease residual values for a 2002 Nissan Maxima SE leased with 12,000 miles per year through NMAC should currently be 62% for 2 year and 55% for 3 year leases. It is hard to say how flexible dealers will be on their selling prices for this car and what Nissan will do with its future incentives. If I had to guess though, I wouldn't expect to see any significant discounts from dealers or any incentives on this car for at least a couple of months.

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KCRam · August 2001

Hi confused07

From your perspective, the lease would be better, since you're not going to "pay for" an entire car, and that would allow you to put more money into an interest-bearing account. If you purchase outright, you lose that money through depreciation, and would be unable to recover it. With the lease, you only pay for the time you use.

Don't get longer than a 24 month if you're in school. The shorter the term, the better the residual, hence the less you'll end up paying out over the 24 months. In addition, you can then show a completed lease on your credit report, which will improve your ability to get better cars in the future.

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drew37 · August 2001

Seems like you signed on the dotted line with a lot of doubt as to whether or not this was a reasonable deal. Why not get answers to your questions before finalizing the deal? Your lease payment is quite a bit higher than most people are paying now. You have a higher than need be cap cost and probably should not be paying acquisition and disposition fees for this car at this time.

CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

Enviroman, yes all vehicles' residual values will naturally fall as the model year progresses. Interestingly enough, this is why it is often possible to get lower lease payments on brand new (i.e. in this instance a 2002MY vehicle) vehicles than on leftover (i.e. 2001MY) vehicles which do not have much in the way of lease money factor or lease cash support.

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s852 · August 2001

I would personally prefer to lease for only 24 months, but despite higher residuals on the shorter leases, the payments are generally still very high and make it unattractive.

I have been able to purchase a new Honda for around invoice with $0 down with a 60 month loan and sell it for more than the remaining loan payoff 24 months later.
Oddly, the loan payments were lower than what I was quoted lease payments on a 24 month lease with $0 cap reduction on the same car.
If 24 month leases were more attactive, I would always do that rather than buying.

Mogulman · August 2001

drew,

Regarding my lease specifics above. I read through a lot of information on Edmunds before hand and calculated things out.

I went through a bunch of things at the dealership. The lowest money factor they would give me is .00305, but then I would have to pay a security deposit.

Should I have been able to get them to waive the acquisition fee? It seems like this might have been the only way for me to get the payments lower. I didn't have to pay the $250 disposition fee upfront. Was there something else that I should have negotiated? Was the money factor too high? Again, any specific help would be great, since this is my first lease, and might try it again on my next car.

Thanks,
Jeff

lweiss · August 2001

I just extended my lease on a 1998 Volvo S-70. For a variety of reasons, I didn't want to buy another car and this time or get a new lease. My original payments were $364/month with 15K miles included per year. Well, the original residual was $17,915 and the first quote for a 2 year extension was like $419 per month (!!!). A little negotiation brought the buy out price to $15,300 and the 24 month lease extension to $356 per month- still 15K miles included per year. Interesting- I am now allowed a total of 75,000 miles at the end of the five year period, even though I only have 34K miles on the car at this point. Not only that, they gave me a really nice residual (about $9,000) to buy the Volvo at the end of the 5 year period- not bad for a car that listed new at $29K

Moral of the story- if you like the car, and want to either buy it or re-lease it, do some negotiation- the market for many cars is weak enough now that the captive finance companies will reduce prices pretty easily. Obviously, you still have to like the car to even consider these options.

shaker58 · August 2001

did they extend your warranty with the new lease
????

rxeffect · August 2001

Hi Carman and All -

I just signed an order for an RX300 last Friday with a Boston Lexus dealer and thought it sounded fair. Can you give me your input?

The salesman gave me the following figures for a fully loaded RX (AWD, all options possible, premium value package except navigation). He said the MSRP for this car was around $42K, and the selling price was $37,500.

He set me up with a lease for 48 months, $493 per month, no money down (acquisition fee of $595, security of $550, 1st payment and taxes up front). The residual was $23,000 or about 58%, he said. The money factor, I believe, was .00359.

Can you let me know if this is a good deal? The salesguy was extremely helpful, but I thought it was a good idea to get impartial input.

Thanks for your help! Would appreciate any input from others, too!

rxeffect · August 2001

I forgot to include the annual mileage on the lease, which is 12K ..

topgun7 · August 2001

hello Car_man, one of my family member is interested in leasing a 01 Accord EX V6 4 Dr. Currently Honda is running finance special in the SF Bay area (3.9% - 5.9%). Does this special rate apply to leasing? He is interested in leasing the car for 4 yrs, 15kmi/yr. CarDirect is showing a purchase price of $22,874 (MSRP 25540, invoice 22774). If we use $22,874 as the cap cost, what would the money factor, residual, and monthly lease payment be (our tax rate is 8%)? Thanks.

tkunkel · August 2001

Car_man,

I am looking at leasing a 2001 Saab 9-5 Aero in the next week or so. Can you please give me the money factor and residual % for both 12000 and 15000 miles per year? I hear that there is $5000 lease reduction from Saab. Is this correct?

Thanks for your help
Tom

lweiss · August 2001

No, they did not extend the warranty, although I guess I could have asked for a quote for them to. The standard Volvo warranty is 4 years/48k miles, so I am only without warranty for one year.

lazura · August 2001

Carman,
My local Audi dealership is running a $499 payment ($2000 down, 10,000 miles) on a new 2001 Audi A6 2.7T, so obviously the dealer is getting some leasing support from Audi. Do you know what money factor and residual percentage Audi is using on this model? I want to apply these same numbers against an Audi-certified 2000 A6 2.7T.

Also, what is your opinion on all these extra fees that Audi is assessing on leases (based on a previous post - $300 handling fee, $490 acquistion fee, $$ security deposit)? Are any of these fees negotiable. Since Audi is probably using their own captive finance company, I don't think I should have to pay any of these fees, especially since leasing is 'renting' a vehicle, not buying. Has anybody else gotten away with only paying the first months' lease payment at closing? Also, I refuse to accept any less than 15,000 miles/year. Thanks.

shaker58 · August 2001

In ny audi has an advertised price on the 2.7 499.95 with 1000 down no bank on sec fee 10000 miles 39 mths

moimeme · August 2001

I have a '98 Mazda 626 ES-V6 that was leased for 36 months/36,000 miles. I extended it for 6 months, so now I'm at 42 months/42,000 miles. The car has just under 74,000 miles on it, with a mileage fee of 10 cents/mile. Residual is $11,500 after my security deposit is taken out. Book value is about $10K.

The car runs perfectly and is immaculate, but has some minor scratches on the front bumper...would cost about $500 to fix, and I think I would have to before returning to the dealer. Went too far forward in the garage one night and grazed the bumper against the shelves.

Should I pay the $3200 and return the car, or finance the rest of it and keep it? I have a 2001 A6 4.2, so the Mazda is a 2nd car.

Is the residual truly non-negotiable? My dealer is trying to hit me up with a $700 disposition fee, but Mazda American Credit tells me it can't possibly be more than $350. Any other fees I will have to pay to return the car/buy it?

With the current economic climate, I'm thinking that $3200 is the same as keeping the car for about 6-7 more months and financing it. At least I'd be able to reduce the mileage on the new car.

All comments appreciated!!!

CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

Hi rxeffect. Say, have you physically taken delivery of your new RX 300 yet? I ask because Lexus recently introduced supported lease money factors for the majority of its models. As a result, it may actually be less expensive to lease the truck that you are interested in utilizing August's lease program instead of July's. If by last Friday, you mean August 3rd, then you may already be using the supported lease program. Using the new supported 48 month money factor of .00275, I come up with a zero down, pre-tax monthly lease payment on a 2001 RX 300 4x4 (MSRP: $42,000 & cap:$37,500) of right around $500. So the payment that you were quoted seems reasonable to me. Enjoy your new truck!

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rxeffect · August 2001

Hi Carman and all,

You sure do work late!!! Really appreciate your input and advice - to me, someone hasn't made a good deal unless they've verified it here and with other board members.

I spoke with the dealer yesterday and it's a done deal. We have not taken delivery yet - that's due this weekend, so I think we did benefit from lower rates. However, we didn't go through Lexus Finance, it was with another company that the dealers use, but the rates and resid were still competitive, helping us to arrive to around $500 per month no money down. So your confirming that price really solidifies it. I am so grateful for the information I got on this board. I swear, once the salesman realized I knew all about money factors, residual, cap cost, the lease term I wanted (four years because that's the length of the Lexus warranty) annual mileage, etc., the price dropped $1,200 instantly without hassle.

One more question, though - we are not paying the sales tax upfront and will be making it a part of the payment. Since the base is $500 per month, I estimated the tax to be on that amount, but the salesperson told me that there is about $8 additional interest on that sales tax itself. Is that right? Are there finance charges on the sales tax as they calculated it based on the total of the payments and then added interest to it? In fact, they also taxed the acquisition fee, saying it's part of the cost of the car.

Thanks again for your help!

nitrous696 · August 2001

Hello car man, I live in southern california and am currently trying to find a good lease on a 2002 Acura TL-s. I got a quote from a fleet manager for 29,000 dollar. I asked him what the residual and mf was but he wouldn't give it to me and told me that I have to come in and fill out a credit application. The reason was becuase he wanted to see what program I will be qualified for, he said that they go through like 20 banks such as chase, credit union, american honda, and wells fargo, and he won't be able to give me the mf and residual untill I fill out an application. I am just curious if this is true, if not, then can you please tell me the mf and residual for a tl-s with a 3 year 15k miles per year lease. I have a credit score of 700 and with $2500 drive off, do you think I can get the car for 400 a month inculding sales tax? One last question, if I lease the car through the fleet department, will the charge me extra fees?? Thank you carman!!!!!!

rxeffect · August 2001

Hey that sounds like a pretty good price for a TL-S ... $29K. That's actually a good starting point, knowing the sales price. When I shopped for our RX the salesman showed me a list of banks with their associated MFs and residuals based on specific lease terms (24, 36, 48 months). So although the fleet manager won't know for sure what you will end up with (who will approve your application), he does have the information you want. In fact, you should get these figures so you can figure out who will give you the best deal and apply with that company first. I think this salesman is just trying to get a credit app out of you so he can fax it to everyone under the sun and get an approval as fast as he can. The best thing for you to do is to get the MFs and resids from all the lending institutions they go through (call them directly if you need to, if he still refuses to provide it to you) and do the calculations yourself to see which one will get you the lowest cost (low MF, higher resid). Then you can target that company for your first application.

My salesguy was pretty straight-forward. He showed me all the MFs and resids for all the companies Lexus deals with and did calcs for all of them to see which yielded the best price. Of course, it was all done quickly and I didn't have a chance to verify, but some figures spoke for themselves, such as higher MFs and low resids. But I was pretty satisfied with the resulting payment.

With $2500 down, it sounds like your monthly should be much less than $400. Of course, Carman will have the exact figure.

CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

Hi topgun7. I am aware of the special financing program that Honda is currently offering on the 2001 Accord. Unfortunately, the special low interest rates that they are offering in conjunction with that program may not be used to lease a new Accord. Interestingly enough, Honda was offering a great lease program on Accords during the first week of July. However when that program expired, it was not renewed. As a result, anyone who leases a 2001 Accord through American Honda Finance Corp. right now must use their standard lease money factors. These factors are very reasonable, but not nearly as attractive as they were a few weeks ago. According to my calculations, a four year lease with 15,000 miles per on the car that your family member is looking at, a 2001 Accord EX V6 (MSRP: $25,540 & cap cost: $22,874) should have a zero down, pre-tax monthly lease payment of right around $311.

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CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

Hello Tom. You are correct, Saab is providing $5,000 lease cash on the 2001 9-5 this month. That's quite a chunk of change. I haven't seen Saab's August lease program yet, but chances are good that it is vary similar to, if not exactly the same as, the program that they were running last month. If you let me know how long you plan on leasing this car for, I would be more than happy to let you know what the lease money factor and residual value should be like.

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CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

Lazura, Audi has been providing a decent amount of lease support on the A6 recently. Unfortunately, I can not tell you what their August program on this vehicle will be like for the month of August for another couple of days because their July program was scheduled to run through today. Any special money factors that Audi is providing on new vehicles can not be used on certified used vehicles, which have their own completely separate lease program.

Both the lease acquisition fee and security deposit are very standard fees that just about every bank will charge their customers. Expect to pay them no matter what car you lease. Having said that, last month Audi was running a special where they waived the acquisition fee and security deposit for all new A6 leases. I expect them to continue this program for the month of August. The "handling fee" that you mentioned is probably a dealership charge that is not being passed on directly from Audi Financial Services.

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CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

Hi again, rxeffect. Ahhh yes, my work is never done

. I am glad that you find this Message Board so helpful. Congratulations on your new truck. Although different states calculate sales tax differently than others, I believe that in most instances if you opt to roll your sales tax into your monthly lease payment that you will have to pay interest on it because the bank which you are leasing through is paying the tax up front and is essentially loaning you the money for it if you bake it into your payment.

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CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

Nitrous696, many dealerships hesitate to provide consumers with lease program specifics for a number of reasons. One reason is obviously because the less that you as a consumer know about your deal during the negotiation process, the more power they have. However, the reasons that the person who you spoke with over the phone mentioned are legitimate. There is no way for them to know what your credit is like and if you will qualify for their lowest interest rates without running a credit check on you. Plus, given the fact that American Honda Finance Corp. does not have any special lease money factors on the Acura TL right now, it is entirely possible that an outside lending institution would have a more attractive lease program than they do on this particular model. If your credit is in good shape and you were to lease a 2001 TL without Navigation through AHFC right now, the three year 15,000 miles per lease money factor and residual value should be .00260 and 56% respectively. It shouldn't matter what department at the dealership you are working with to lease this car, the fees should always be the same. If you provide me with the full MSRP and exact purchase price for the car that you are interested in, I would be more than happy to let you know approximately what your monthly lease payment should look like.

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moimeme · August 2001

*sniff* *sniff* Nobody's gonna answer my post? Do I smell bad? *boo hoo*

Mogulman · August 2001

Bumping..Anyone have a chance to look at my lease described in #1602? Again, just wondering what I should/could have done differently for this car so that I will know on my next lease.

Thanks,
Jeff

rxeffect · August 2001

Now that makes a whole lot of sense. I had neglected to realize that the lending institution was effectively buying the vehicle outright from Lexus, so they are paying sales tax on it. So interest on the tax makes a lot of sense. Thanks so much for the clarification. Have a great day!

maxwella11 · August 2001

Hi Car-Man: You provide a wonderful service here! What a great resource.

I'm interested in leasing a 2002 Audi TT when they come available in Sept/Oct. Negotiating (if they even will on the 2002s) is not my strong point. I have a few questions:

1. If no one will discount from MSRP, then will all leases be the same? i.e., won't all dealers want to go through Audi financing?

2. I have a FICO of 710--not great, but I do make six figures with a really stable job. Will I qualify for good financing rates?

3. If I provide my FICO score, will I be able to get lease quotes without the dealer running a credit check? I want to shop around, but I don't want so many hits to my report.

4. I was thinking about doing a blast fax requesting a quote to the dealers in my area (SF Bay Area). Do dealers tend to respond to these, or will my request end up in the trash?

5. If I add euro mirrors or Stonguard to the leased car, will I get penalized for it at the end of the lease? I'm willing to pay for these things even if I turn the car in, though I will likely purchase the car at the end of the lease.

6. Audi offers a loan/balloon program similar to a lease. Do you find these programs helpful, or just a marketing gimmick? I may want to keep the car.

Sorry for so many questions, but I want to be really thorough. It's a big commitment.
Thank you for your help!

jderou2 · August 2001

Car_man,
Thank you in advance for this service. Edmund's has been a fantastic resource for my car-buying adventures. I recently negotiated a price for a 2001 Toyota Rav4, 4x4, auto-trans, loaded. The MSRP was $24,850, my negotiated price is $23,000 (includes destination and admin. fees). What can I expect in the way of a 36 month/15K miles lease? Am I better off working through Toyota Financial Services or through a 3rd party bank. Also, is it possible to negotiate directly with the banks instead of relying on the dealership to be "honest and aggressive" with the terms?

Thanks for your help.

tnguyenmdc · August 2001

Car_man
I have a 2000 Lexus LS400 Platinum Edition with about 12K miles on it. Pay off amount is about $50K. I want to trade it in for a 2001/2002 LS430 w/Ultra Luxury Package with 3 years/12K miles per year. Can you do your magic and let me know what the lease number is on that car, and also what you think my trade-in would be worth? Much appreciated your help.

nitrous696 · August 2001

Dear Carman, The MSRP price for an Acura TL-S is 31,710 dollar. I am planning to put $2,500 drive off. If I was to go through American Honda finacing, what would my payment be with cali sales tax? Btw, the cap cost for the car will be $29,000 and this is for a 3 year 15k per year lease... Thank you Carman, your the greatest!!!

infinitimn · August 2001

Carman, do you know if there is any lease support for the 99 or '00 RX300?

im_brentwood · August 2001

Maybe I can help.

First, I'd certainly contact Mazda American Credit. You want to talk to them about your lease-end options as, frankly.. its' between you and them.

Primus is the parent company of Mazda Credit/Finance. They have negotiated at times so it sure can't hurt! They may, however, not want to negotiate your particular residual. Problem is what a 36-42K mile 98 ES-V6 626 is worth... (See below)

As far as the scratches on the bumper.. $500 to repaint a bumper?? Heck, if you're in Orlando I know guys who can do it for about 1/3 of that! I rarely pay more than $100-150 to have a plastic bumper repainted assuming nothing else is damaged. If a good wax makes them look barely noticeable, I'd leave as is.

Now, on to Values. As far as the car.. An $11,500 residual with 36K miles? Car's worth at least that at auction so if you were at 36-42K miles I'd say buy it. Now, with 72K miles things can get a bit ugly valuewise I'm afraid. I'd say that with 72K miles your car will not sell for much more than $7K or so at auction. I peg it at $7K, it could do as much as $8K but I doubt any more. Depends on condition, location, color..etc... If its' Black in,say, NJ or Chicago, its good. Here in FL, Black is bad. Today at the auction White 98 Grand Cherokee Laredos were worth nearly $1,000 more than Black ones! So, to me, from where I sit, I guess that your car has an actual value penalty of closer to $4,000 or so. (Averaging it out) so a $3,200 mileage penalty is almost a better deal than financing it and keeping it if you look at it on a wholesale basis.

Hope this gives you some thoughts to ponder...

Bill

dkchips · August 2001

What would be a competitive lease quote for a 2001 ML 320 with a MSRP of $42,470 - the term would be for 48 months with 15k miles per year and are there any special lease programs currently being offered?

CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

Sorry about that, moimeme. With all of the posts that I have to sift through in this particular discussion, I guess this one must have slipped through the cracks. You certainly don't smell bad, although I could hardly blame anyone who did given the fact that it was around 105 degrees in my neck of the woods this afternoon. Yuck!

I think that the first thing that you need to do is contact the bank that you are leasing your Mazda through, Mazda American Credit perhaps, to see if they would be willing to negotiate on your vehicle's lease-end purchase option price. There certainly is no guarantee that they will be willing to work with you, but it definitely does not hurt to ask. Either way, find out the exact figure that you will have to pay to buy your car. Once you have this number, you must compare it to what you realistically expect to be able to get for it by either trading it in or by selling it on your own. Generally speaking, consumers almost always are able to get more money for their used vehicles by selling them privately. This is probably your best option in your situation, as long as you don't mind all of the hassle that goes along with selling a vehicle on your own. Of course, all of this hinges upon the exact figure that you will be able to buy your car for, but I personally think that buying your car is probably the better choice for you at this point. Otherwise you are going to owe a huge excess mileage penalty. Heck, if you like the car, you can always hang on to it and use it every now and then.

A $700 disposition fee definitely sounds on the high side to me. Remember, you should be able to return your car to any Mazda dealership, not just the one which you originally leased it from. Perhaps you should place a call or two to other dealers in your area. You definitely should not have to pay that much money just to turn a leased car in.

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CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

Jeff, I certainly do not think that you got screwed. However, using Audi Financial Services' July lease program, which was scheduled to run through August 7th I come up with a different lease payment. According to my calculations, a 3 year lease with 12,000 miles per on a 2001 A4 1.8T quattro (MSRP: $30,165 / Cap: $28,900) through AFS should have had an approximate zero down pre-tax lease payment of $438 per month. It definitely looks to me as though the dealership that you worked with marked-up your lease money factor to bake additional profit into your deal, that is unless your credit is not in great shape in which case this may have been the lowest rate that you qualified for.

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CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

No problem, rxeffect. I am glad that I was able to help you out.

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CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

Maxwella11, word on the street is that dealers have tons of 2001 TTs left on their lots that they are going to have to unload eventually. This will probably result in dealers providing very good deals on this car this month and next. In fact, Audi introduced supported lease money factors on the 2001 TT (Roadsters only) for the first time ever this month. I have a feeling that they will probably have to sweeten the lease program on this car even more next month, if not introduce some sort of dealer cash. Of course, market conditions do vary from area to area, and I am not all that familiar with the San Francisco market, but I still think that there are deals to be had on this car if one shops around some. So as you can see, this is actually a very good time to be in the market for a 2001 TT. You might want to think of moving up your timetable a little bit. If you do you probably will get a pretty good deal on this car and have the added bonus of a few more summer months to cruise around in it

. It is difficult for me to say for certain, but I personally don't think that you will have any difficulty qualifying for Audi Financial Services' lowest interest rates. I really don't think that there is any advantage getting a balloon note on this car. Even if you decide to keep it down the road, you can always exercise your lease-end purchase option.

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CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

Jderou2, Toyota's supported lease programs vary from region to region. I really do not think that they have any sort of lease support available on this truck anyhow. If you decide to lease a 2001 RAV4 through Toyota Financial Services right now, you will probably have to use their standard lease money factors. The 3 year standard lease money factor for TFS is currently right around .00300 and the 15,000 miles per year residual value for this particular vehicle should be 62% for one equipped with 4WD. It is very possible that an outside lending institution would be able to provide you with a more attractive lease program on this particular truck right now. I suggest that you use the formula that I have provided here on the Finance, Warranty, and Insurance Message Board to figure out how much money it would cost you to lease this SUV through TFS and then shop around at a few different dealerships to see if they can do better.

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CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

Tnguyenmdc, I am sorry to say that I highly doubt that you will be able to get anywhere near what you currently owe of your LS 400 if you trade it in at a dealership. In my opinion, you appear to be several thousand dollars upside down on your car at this point. Are you planning on rolling your negative equity from your trade into your lease or will you pay the difference between what you owe and what you are given for it out of your own pocket? I ask because the negative equity will make your lease payments on your new LS 430 quite a bit higher, so I will need to take it into account if that is the course of action that you elect to take. Talk to you soon.

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CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

Nitrous696, thanks for the compliments. According to my calculations if you were to lease a 2001 Acura TL-S with a MSRP of $31,710 and a cap cost of $29,000 through American Honda Finance Corp. for three years with 15,000 miles per you should have a pre-tax monthly lease payment of right around $434.

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maxwella11 · August 2001

thanks for the response Car-Man--the 2001 TT oversupply is definitely food for thought.

but wouldn't the lower residual outweigh the lower money factor for leasing a 2001 at this point? what is the residual on the 2001 now? high 50s?

also, is it possible to go to a dealership with lease financing in hand? i was browsing through www.leasecompare.com, and they offer leases through different lenders. i wasn't sure if they procure the car for you, too, or just the money.

CarMan@Edmunds · August 2001

Infinitimn, I am sorry to say that I am not aware of any lease support on Certified PreOwned RX 300s right now. That's not to say that there isn't any out there, but it is very difficult to keep track of all of the possible combinations of residual values and lease money factors that are being offered by manufacturers' captive finance companies.

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rxeffect · August 2001

Dude -

I walked into 2 dealerships and tried to lease a CPO RX300 thinking that the monthly would be low because of lower depreciation. The problem is that they calculate depreciation on the gross sales price and do not account for their cost. For example, they would sell the car for $31K and calc resid on it at approx. 52%, for example, and the depreciation would be about 15K, for which is spread over the 36 month term and with interest/lease charge added to it. So when the salesman told me it's cheaper to lease a new one, in a way it is. The difference is only about $30 dollars or so. Someone correct me if I'm wrong about that, but those are the numbers I was facing. They said that's why most people lease new and buy CPO.

Now we leased a new one, fully loaded for 48 months and got it for no money down $493 a month. The term is for the full length of the basic warranty, so we'll not have to worry about that. Also, the resid is $21,000 (approx) so the buyout is reasonablen for a 4 year old RX that I have taken care of myself.

Still, you could lease the CPO for about the same monthly, and at the end buy it for about $16K or so and own it outright.

But for the same monthly, you can get a new one, have a year additional warranty, and still have a potential buyout that is not much more than for the pre-owned, but is made up for in actual resale value.

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