Lease Questions - Ask Here

CarMan@Edmunds · September 2001

I was just able to take a look at the most recent Lexus Financial Services lease program, hsj1906. Here is the info that you were looking for. If you lease a 2002 GS 300 w/o Navigation for 3 years with 15,000 miles per through Lexus Financial Services prior to the end of the month the lease money factor and residual value should be .00300 and 57%, respectively. The 48 month money factor would be exactly the same, but the residual value would fall to 50%.

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CarMan@Edmunds · September 2001

Hi again, Tom. I believe that the lease money factor for any 2002 Volkswagen Beetle leased through VW credit for 3 years should currently be .00260 and for 4 years should be .00275. The 15,000 miles per year residuals for the 2002 Beetle GLS TDI should be around 62% for 3 years and 55% for 4 years.

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CarMan@Edmunds · September 2001

Silvercrown, no the lease money factor and residual value for this car would not be the same for a 39 month lease as they would be for a 36 month lease. I believe that the 39 month lease money factor for a 2002 Passat leased through VW Credit jumps to around .00270. Also, the 39 month 12,000 miles per year residual value for a 2002 Passat GLS V6 Sedan should be around 57%. The GLX Sedan would have a resid of 55% for the same sort of lease.

Excess mileage penalties will vary from bank to bank. Unfortunately, I do not know VW Credit's specific charge per each mile that you exceed your limit by. My guess is that it is probably around $.15 or so. Most banks do allow consumers to purchase excess mileage in advance for a lower price. This may be an option that you should consider if you are pretty sure that you will exceed your mileage allowance.

Different states calculate tax on automobiles differently than others. You will need to contact your local Department of Motor Vehicles or just ask your salesperson how this is done in your area.

There are so many variables that go into calculating a lease payment that it is difficult to come up with a target price for a a car or truck when you have a monthly payment in mind. For example, a $40,000 car with a great lease program could actually cost less to lease than a $25,000 car with a terrible lease program. I feel as though it is best to look around and decide which vehicles you would be interested in driving and then determine if you can afford to lease them.

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hsj1906 · September 2001

Thank you for all of the information Carman.

People have mentioned getting their leases through 3rd parties (e.g., not going through the financing divison of the manufacturer). In general, is this something readily available to consumers? If so, are the money factors and interest rates generally better?

michaellno · September 2001

Car_Man, when I sent the post I hadn't realized that the 2002 Maximas were available. I stopped at a dealer on the way home and found out. 255hp for $25K! Where else are you gonna find that?

So, anyway, I'm assuming the residuals are a bit higher for the '02's, and so is the money factor. Could you please provide details? 12K and 15K, 36 and 48 month leases.

Thanks!

wing5nut · September 2001

Thanks, Car_man! This dealership continues to leave me puzzled. Regardless of how I make an offer, via email, phone, or in-person, they never make a counter offer. Had the salesman offered to lower the up-front costs by $500, I would have been in their showroom within fifteen minutes with checkbook in hand.

Given that Acura has extended this program through 10/31, can you or anyone else suggest the best time to use the fax attack strategy? Like you, I felt like it wasn't a bad deal. Yet, I didn't feel like it was necessarily a good deal either!

wing5nut

gwarren · September 2001

Car_Man,
I know that you may not have a chance to respond soon, due to todays horrific events.
I am now looking at two more weeks, to get my deal together on either a Chrysler Sebring Convertible(Limited), or the Toyota Solara Convertible.
The Edmunds site still does not have any information at all regarding either one. No Prices or reference to incentives or rebates. I don't know why as these vehicles have been in showrooms for a few weeks.
I am still hoping that you will have some news soon regarding any possible incentives on either one of these in the 2002 models.
Gary

hsj1906 · September 2001

Exactly what is the "fax attack" strategy? Sounds interesting.

silvercrown · September 2001

Hi Car_Man,

Thanks so much for the info. You are a treasure trove of information. Using the figures that you gave me, I tried to calculate some lease payments with the instructions from this forum. Here's what I came up with:

Passat GLX 36 month/12,000 mile lease
1)Cap Cost (not including taxes, just TMV until I find out more): 28,239
2) Residual: 30,375*.57 = 17,313.75
3) Total Depreciation: 28,239-17,313.75 = 10,925.25
4) Monthly Depreciation: 10,925.25/36 = 303.48
5) Interest: (28,239+17,313.75)*.00255 = 116.16
6) Monthly Payment: 303.48+116.16 = 419.64

Passat GLX 39 month/12,000 mile lease using .55 residual and .00270 money factor with same cap cost:
1) Cap Cost: 28,239
2) Residual: 16,706.25
3) Total Depr.: 11,532.75
4) Monthly Depr.: 295.71
5) Interest: 121.35
6) Monthly Pmt.: 417.06

For the Passat GLS V6 (including Leather, Luxury and Monsoon but not Homelink, practically a GLX) - 36 month/12,000 mile lease

1) Cap Cost (same deal as above): 27,485
2) Residual: 28,700*.59 = 16,933
3) Total Depr.: 27,485-16,933 = 10,552
4) Monthly Depr.: 10,552/36 = 293.11
5) Interest: (27,485+16,933)*.00255 = 113.27
6) Monthly Pmt.: 293.11+113.27 = 406.38

Are these numbers correct? I know that these are conservative estimates until I find out how to account for the taxes and other fees. There doesn't seem to be much of an incentive for a 39 month lease that I can see. Unless I made a mistake, there's only a very small difference in your payment.

Any idea why the residual is lower for the GLX than for the GLS V6? This surprised me, I thought it would be the other way around. Using these numbers, a lease payment would be less for the loaded GLS V6 not only because the cost is slightly less (about $800) but also because the GLX V6 has a higher residual value. I think I will create an Excel spreadsheet for this, for ease of future number crunching.

Also, do you have any info about VW's college grad program? I found some info on VW's website but it doesn't say if there's any rebate or price reduction. It also doens't say if you have to be a new grad from an undergrad program or if this also applies to new grads from the graduate level. I am the latter, which is why I want to know if this program may apply to me (finished in Aug. 2001). All it says is that there's no 1st month payment or security deposit for the special lease program until 12/31/01.

Again, your help is much appreciate. Sorry for the long post!

Regards,
SilverCrown

silvercrown · September 2001

I did create a Lease Payment calculator in Excel and discovered an error in one of my previously posted calculations. For the Passat GLS V6 (loaded) calc, I used the wrong figure for cap cost (it included Homelink whereas the MSRP figure I used did not). Here's what it should look like:

Passat GLS V6 (loaded) - 36 month/ 12,000 mile/yr lease:

1) Cap Cost: 27,366
2) Residual: 28,700*.59 = 16,933
3) Total Depr.: 27,366-16,933 = 10,433
4) Monthly Depr.: 10,433/36 = 289.81
5) Interest: (27,366+16,933 0*.00255 = 112.96
6) Monthly Pmt.: 289.81+112.96 = 402.77

Doing the calculation for the same car with a 39 month/12,000 mile/yr lease, I got a monthly payment of $400.29.

Are these numbers correct? I feel like I'm getting the hang of this stuff. If my spreadsheet is working correctly, I can easily calculate the payments with your valuable information.

Thank you so much. You have the patience of a saint. Especially with the tragedies that happened today. All day I've been watching the news and catching the radio reports. It's just terrible ....

Regards,
SilverCrown

tiger182 · September 2001

Car Man,

Thank you for your response. Are you familiar with the Audi A4 2.8 Avant? I want to make sure that the capitalized cost of $34,100 (with the auto tiptronic, celebration, leather and cold package, metalic paint) is a good/fair price. Dealer tells me it's $1,000 over invoice.

Thanks!

im_brentwood · September 2001

The GLS likely has a higher percentagewise residual as.. actually.. Mid-Level trim cars tend to have the best resale values as a percentage of their original price.

I.E. Say you take a Taurus with Leather, Chrome Wheels, HomeLink, Traction control, Moonroof.. Crazy stereo..etc... When all is said and done, at the end of 3 years, when a Typical Taurus is worth, say, 6-7K wholesale.. and say that car new was, say, $3,500 more than a typical Taurus... It MIGHT do another $800 or so when its' 3 years old.

I.E. Altima SEs arent worth much more than GXEs when they are used, in relation to their original MSRP differences. Ditto with Camry XLEs vs LEs..etc...

On the other hand, on some cars certain options, or lack of them, are crucial. In other words, if you decide you dont need leather or Moonroof on your Lexus GS300, the $2,500 or so that you save upfront will lose you more than that in 3 years time...

A lot of it depends on the whims of the market. Buyers of Mid-Level Used sedans are usually not too concerned with options like leather, moonroofs, automatic climate control, etc... Meanwhile, buyers of Luury Sedans expect those features.

Just my thoughts!

Bill

cllv · September 2001

Car Man,
I'm looking at a variety of vehicles and will probably decide based on lease numbers. Can you help with residuals and money factors on a 2001 QX4 (AWD), 2001 I30, 2002 Acura TL Type S, and a 2001 Audi A6 Avant? Looking at 39 months for all. Thanks for your help. I know some of these have better residuals, while others have better money factors. Just trying to figure out the best deal right now.

hsj1906 · September 2001

Carman will probably need the mileage per year to tell you the respective residual values.

wing5nut · September 2001

The fax attack strategy is something I picked up from others in the Town Hall. Once you decide the make, model, and options you want, you determine the price you're willing to pay. Fax your offer to 10-15 dealers or to any dealer within a given radius from your home. The offer typically says you will purchase (or lease) the vehicle from the first dealer to respond back with a Buyer's Order accepting your price.

If I'm not mistaken, brentwoodvolvo provided a sample offer several months ago. I pasted that into a Word 97 document and saved it. If you would like a copy, I'll be happy to email it to you. Good luck on your car hunt!

wing5nut

hsj1906 · September 2001

I'd love a copy of it wing5nut. My email address is in my profile. Let me know how it works for you.

silvercrown · September 2001

You mention a very interesting perspective that I hadn't thought of. I guess a lot of this has to do with consumer expectations and perceptions. It's kinda disappointing that a loaded GLX would not hold its value as well as the GLS, but such is life I guess. Your theory makes sense to me, you've given me something more to think about. Thanks so much!

SilverCrown

im_brentwood · September 2001

Silver, well... I mean A Passat GLX will still do better than most anything out there! I saw a 99 with 56K miles on it (!) sell for close to $20K at a dealer auction... so all is not lost ($18,500 IIRC)

Wing, Yup. Its' the way to get our attention. Make it nice and pleasant and basically say "I want X car at Y price TODAY!"

It often works very well, MUCH better than faxing out asking for bids...

Bill

CarMan@Edmunds · September 2001

Leases through banks other than those which are affiliated with automakers are very common. Dealerships usually have access to computer programs that allow them to search the nation to find out what banks are offering the most competitive lease program at that given time on the car or truck that you are interested in. Remember that many manufacturers provide supported lease money factors or residual values on their vehicles in an effort to provide low monthly lease payments. It is usually tough for a random bank to beat a heavily supported captive finance company lease program. However, for models without much support or even a little support it often turns out that outside lending institutions are able to provide lower lease payments than the captive finance company.

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CarMan@Edmunds · September 2001

Yes the 2002 Nissan Maxima is already at dealerships. You are right, the V6 engine in this car sure packs a lot of bang for the buck. I really love what Nissan has done with the 2002 Altima as well. The car looks awesome inside and out and has great 4-cylinder and 6-cylinder engines. Nissan certainly has begun to turn out some great products. Through October 1st, Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. has a base lease money factor of .00320 on the 2002 Nisan Maxima for all terms. The 3 and 4 year 15,000 miles per residual values for the 2002 Maxima SE (correct me if you are interested in a diferent trim level) are currently 54% and 47%, respectively. With only 12,000 miles per year, these values should increase to 55% and 49%, respectively.

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mkbrown87 · September 2001

Car Man,

I am new to the leasing game. We have always purchased in the past, but we are looking at a full-size SUV, and don't know if we will like it/what the future holds, etc. Consequently, we are looking at a lease for 24/30/36 months, with 15K miles per year. We have narrowed the list down to a 2001 GMC Yukon XL 2WD SLT (with Luxury Pkg) and a 2002 Toyota Sequoia SR5 2WD (with Conv Pkg, Preferred Pkg, External Upgrade Pkg, and Side Curtain Airbags). I figure if we can locate the XL, we should be able to deal down to close to Invoice, but the Sequoia is a different beast. Can you work up some numbers for me? Also, is there an advantage/disadvantage to putting more money down (other than reducing the monthly payment)? In advance, thank you.

im_brentwood · September 2001

Car_Man hit it on the head exactly.

I.E. When I sold new Jaguars, Nobody could come within $150 a month of the payment on an XJ8, XJ8L or Vanden Plas.

However, Key Bank could nail Jag credit on XK8s and XJRs.

Why? Jag provided no support on them and the outside banks had very agressive money factors...

At the moment, if the car you're looking at has no support.. You may want to look into:(Depending on where you live)

KeyBank
Wells Fargo
SouthTrust
Fifth/Third (CHEAP rates)
Firstar

Those are some that come to mind.

Bill

wing5nut · September 2001

hsj1906: check your email...I have forwarded the sample fax attack letter.

brentwoodvolvo: many thanks for the pointers you have offered to all of us in this forum, including the sample letter!

Best Regards,
wing5nut

CarMan@Edmunds · September 2001

Gary, indeed yesterday was a terrible terrible day. The attacks on the twin towers hit especially close to home given the fact that I have visited them on numerous occasions, have had meetings in the recently collapsed building #7, and have attended conferences at the about to collapse Millennium. I am very thankful that none of my close friends or family were harmed in the tragedy. Even so, I have had a difficult time concentrating on work for the last two days.

On a much less serious note, I have seen information on the 2002 Chrysler Sebring that you might be interested in. DaimlerChrysler is currently offering $1,000 Consumer Cash (good on purchase or lease) on 2002 Sebring Coupes & Sedans. Unfortunately this cash is not available on the '02 Sebring Conv. They do however have $1,000 Lease Loyalty cash available on the 2002 Sebring Convertible for those who are currently or have recently leased through Chrysler Financial. Other than those two items, there is not any support on this model yet. As far as pricing goes, the '02 Sebring Convertible Limited has an MSRP of $28,795, a destination charge of $595, and a dealer invoice price of $26,611.

Toyota does not currently have any incentives available on the 2002 Solara Convertible and probably won't for at least a few months. I have seen the pricing information for this car and would be happy to share it with you if you let me know if you are looking for the SE 4-cylinder, SE 6-cylinder, or SLE trim level.

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CarMan@Edmunds · September 2001

Silvercrown, I am glad to see that you are putting the information that you have gotten here to good use by calculating some sample lease payments. Your calculations look to be perfect. You are right, since the money factor increases in this particular instance there really is not much incentive to lease for 39 months instead of 36. However, many times banks have identical (or even more attractive) money factors available for 39 month terms. In these cases 39 month leases are often more attractive. For instance, let's say that VW Credit had an identical money factor for a 39 month lease of this car and that the residual value only dropped one percent from 36 to 39 months. The payment for the 39 month term would be about $16 less per month, which is pretty good for a lease that's only 3 months longer.

Individuals who have recently graduated from grad school programs are usually eligible for most manufacturers' college grad programs. Many automakers provide cash incentives to recent grads, but I am not aware of any cash incentives being offered by VW. Their grad program probably consists of special consideration for approval when financing or leasing. You will need to check with your salesperson to find out the exact details of Volkswagen's grad program.

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thebot · September 2001

Car_Man

I'm considering to lease a 2002 VW Golf GLS. What is the residual and money factors for a 36 month lease w/15,000k miles and a 48 month lease w/15,000k miles. Does the location I live in play a factor. I live in Los Angeles.

Thanks Car _Man

silvercrown · September 2001

Hi Car_Man,

Thank you so much for the positive feedback. I find this stuff to be very interesting and I'm glad that my "homemade" lease calculator is working well. It will be a lot easier for me to keep crunching baseline numbers to estimate lease payments using my Excel spreadsheet.

Just for fun (smile), can you give me residuals and money factors for a 2002 Nissan Altima 3.5SE V6 for 36 months and for 12,000 and 15,000 miles per yr. I've been researching it and it's a sharp looking car with a lot of promise. They have made some revolutionary changes for the new model. It's much bigger and more powerful than before. Very impressive. And it may be more affordable than the Passat (which I still love), so it's worth looking into. Do you have any idea why Edmunds' does not have the invoice or TMV numbers for this car yet? Any idea when these figures might be available? Especially the TMV prices? Right now, Edmunds' only has MSRP numbers, but KBB does have invoice prices. So I still have something to work with.

I have learned so much from this site and this forum in particular. I really appreciate your getting the answers out so quickly in spite of the tragedies in our country. I just located two friends of mine in those areas that I was worried about, which was great news. I'm glad they're okay but I feel bad for those that were not as fortunate and their families. What a devastating chain of events for us, I still can't believe it actually happened.

Thanks again for all your help.

Regards,
SilverCrown

hsj1906 · September 2001

I am getting closer to choosing my car of choice. I saw a MB C320 today and it looked like a nice car (and I just checked edmonds and i've learned that it has a little pep as well). Anyway, what are the 36 month and 48 month residual values (and money factors) for the C320 (based on 15k) per year?

tgif888 · September 2001

Carman,

My sister-in-law want to lease a Z3 convertible 2.5 and 3.0 model. 3 yr/12k miles per year.

Can you tell me the money factor and the residual for those car?

Thanks.

CarMan@Edmunds · September 2001

Thebot, if you lease a 2002 Golf GLS for 3 years with 15,000 miles per through VW Credit prior to the end of the month I think that the base lease money factor and residual value should be .00260 and 58%, respectively. The 4 year data for the same vehicle should be around .00275 and 50% respectively.

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CarMan@Edmunds · September 2001

Hello Mkbrown87. I actually feel as though it is not a good idea to put money down on a lease. Consumers are almost always allowed to lease just about any vehicle without making any sort of down payment, even if the advertised lease payment for it requires some money down. I am against making down payments on leased vehicles for two main reasons. The first reason is that if your car or truck is totaled in an accident or stolen and not recovered during your lease term, your down payment essentially disappears! The second main reason is that down payments on leases do nothing to establish equity in the vehicle that you are driving. They only serve to reduce the amount of interest that you will have to pay over the life of your lease. In fact, your lease-end purchase option for a vehicle would be exactly the same if you put $10,000 down or $0 down when you signed your lease contract.

As far as the two trucks that you are interested in go, neither Toyota nor General Motors are providing any sort of lease support on them at this time. As a result, I have a strong feeling that you will likely be able to get a better lease deal on them through a bank other than their captive finance companies (General Motors Acceptance Corp. and Toyota Financial Services). Since I only keep track of data for captives, the payments that I come up with on these two SUVs will probably be higher than you would have to pay for them in real life. My suggestion to you is to look around here at Edmunds.com, both on the SUVs Message Board and in the True Market Value section to see what good prices would be for these trucks. Once you know approximately how much money you should pay for them, comparison shop at a few dealerships in your area to see what sort of monthly lease payments they quote you with zero down and using the price that you have decided is reasonable. Most dealerships have access to computer programs that allow them to search all of the banks in the country for the most competitive lease program on a particular car or truck. Go with the dealership that provides you with the most attractive lease payment on the model that you are interested in, provided that you feel comfortable dealing with them.

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CarMan@Edmunds · September 2001

Silvercrown, I would be happy to provide you with that information. Out of curiosity, I calculated a sample lease payment on the 2002 Nissan Altima V6 the other day and found that it is a very expensive car to lease at this point. This is mainly because it has a pretty high price when you get the V6 and load it up with a few options and because its residual values aren't really all that great for a brand new model. If you are looking to lease something, this car is not for you right now. As much as I like what Nissan has done with the 2002 Altima, there are a lot better cars out there for the price that you would have to pay to lease one right now. Perhaps they will eventually increase their lease support on it. If you were to lease a 2002 Nissan Altima 3.5 SE V6 through Nissan Motor Acceptance Corp. for 3 years with 15,000 miles per prior to October 1st, the base lease money factor and residual value should be .00255 and 51%, respectively. If you decrease your annual mileage allowance to 12,000 miles per year for this term the residual value increases to 52%.

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CarMan@Edmunds · September 2001

Hsj1906, I completely agree. The redesigned Mercedes-Benz C-Class is an excellent car. In fact, it makes a great vehicle to lease because Mercedes-Benz Credit Corp. has extremely high residual values on it. I would be happy to give you an idea of what the lease program should be like on this car at this time, but it would be a big help if you could let me know whether you are interested in a 2001 or 2002 C320 first. As soon as I get that information from you, I will provide you with the info that you are looking for.

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CarMan@Edmunds · September 2001

Hi tgif888. As I mentioned in my previous post, it would be a big help if you would let me know if your sister-in-law is interested in a 2001 or a 2002 Z3. Once I have that info, I will be able to let you know what sort of lease program is available on this car right now. Talk to you soon.

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tgif888 · September 2001

Sorry. I'm not sure is the 2002 available yet. Can you kindly tell me the 2001 and 2002?

Thanks

hsj1906 · September 2001

You would think that I would be a pro by now Carman. I was interested in the residual values and money factors for the 2002 C320(36 months and 48 months). I guess I am also interested in the 2001 as well.

silvercrown · September 2001

Hi Car_Man,

You were certainly right about the Altima payment. I came up with a higher payment for the Altima (assuming $500 over invoice for the selling price) than I did for the Passat GLX! Unreal!! If I'm going to pay that much monthly, I'd be happier with my 1st choice car, the Passat GLX. I do understand why, though, thanks to your instruction and explanations. Although both cars use the same money factor, the Altima has a much lower residual value than the Passat, which makes the payments higher, even though the Altima costs less fully loaded (to make it comparable to the GLX). Yet, the payment is higher. Before learning about how leasing works, I would never have guessed it would turn out that way. The killing part is that the Passat GLX still has even more features than a fully loaded Altima. So the Passat is the way to go (between the two of them). It would definitely be more car for less money (monthly, at least). This has really been helpful in evaluating cars for my decision.

BTW, I read something else that was eye-opening for me in your post to mkbrown87 about putting money down on a lease. Again, that theory surprised me, but your explanation made sense. You would think it would help you, but not so much in a lease as it would with a traditional purchase. And I guess that partly defeats the purpose of leasing.

Thanks again for everything, Car_Man. When I get ready to deal in the real world, I will definitely let you know so that I can get your opinion on the deal.

Regards,
SilverCrown

tgif888 · September 2001

Car_man,

My sister-in-law changed her mind. She now want to lease an 2002 A4 sedan for 3 yr/36k miles. Can you tell me the money factor and the residual value on this?

Thanks.

hsj1906 · September 2001

I've given some thought to that car as well tgif. Its not in the dearlership here in the D.C. area. Is it available where you are? Also, I haven't been able to find any info on the internet with respect to its MSRP, etc. (edumunds doesn't have it). What have you found (or what pricing info. do you have)?

tgif888 · September 2001

The dealer that my sister-in-law visit said it had it already. I'm in S. Cal I might go with her this weekend to check it out. She is in need for a car.

tgif888 · September 2001

Car_man,

Sorry didn't specific the model it will be either a A4 1.8T or the 3.0 both 2002 model.

hsj1906 · September 2001

Is she interested in getting quattro? this may affect the residual value -- maybe. :-)

tgif888 · September 2001

No not the quattro.

silvercrown · September 2001

Hi Car_Man,

I'm sorry to keep bombarding you with questions, but I have another one. What is the money factor and residual values for a VW Passat GLS 1.8T (4 cyl) for a 36 month lease with 12,000 and 15,000 miles per year? I'm curious as to how that payment would compare to the GLS V6 model. Thanks so much.

Regards,
SilverCrown

katkison · September 2001

Car_Man

Has BMW released the lease numbers on the 2002 BMW 330i? We have already ordered one with an MSRP of $42,185. I am interested in a 36 month, 15,000 mile a year lease. What is the money factor on this lease, and what payments should I expect with $0 down, except required fees (e.g., TT&L, I am in Texas, so that makes a difference).

Thank you for any information you can provide.

Katkison

hsj1906 · September 2001

I've thought about pre-ordering. How does it work? Do you have to put money down up front or sign something? If the monthly payments turn out to be more than you expected can you back out of it?

akangl · September 2001

What would the money factor and residual be on a 2002 Jetta GLS TDI 5-speed be? I saw one at the dealer today while having my 01 Jetta GLS 1.8T serviced, sure is tempting. I would be looking at leasing for 48 months with 12K per year if that's where the best deal is, that's what I did on my 01.

katkison · September 2001

I had to put a $1,000 deposit on the car. I can get it back if something happens. They were also nice enough to let me put it on my Amex, so I got some frequent miles out of it as well.

We had to sign an order, but nothing else. They are waiting to do financing until closer to the delivery date since there might be a better deal once the 2002 cars actually came out.

Katkison

hdoug · September 2001

This may be a dumb question: Does anyone offer leases on used cars? I figure a lease on something a couple of years old would be a good deal for both parties. Anyone?

CarMan@Edmunds · September 2001

Tgif888, the 2002 Z3s should be available now, but I will gladly provide you with an idea of what both programs should be like right now. Through BMW Financial Services, both the 2002 Z3 2.5L and 3.0L should currently have three year 12,000 miles per lease money factors and residual values of .00270 and 60%. The 2001 versions should have money factors and resids of .00230 and 50% respectively. Also, you may want to keep in mind that BMW has Dealer Cash available on the 2001 Z3 right now that may be used in conjunction with this lease program, $2,000 on the 2.5L and $3,000 on the 3.0L.

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