Teach me about leasing!

[RI-SVT]

Looking into leasing a Toyota highlander for my wife, Keeping the vehicle long term at least 7yrs or so. We don't' change vehicles frequently, looking into leasing because the lower monthly payment, those that have experience leasing or in the car business, is it possible to negotiate the price between invoice and MSRP even on a lease? All tips and suggestions are welcomed as to I never leased before. Thanks

 

[Blu13gt]

Leasing on a long term vehicle is really not a good idea. You will pay a lot more than you should overall. Ive never heard of negotiating on a lease. You have options based on mileage and down payment but thats about it in my experience.
I would never lease a vehicle I planned on keeping more than 3 years.
If payments are the issue you should try to come up with more cash down or choose longer payment terms.

 

[RI-SVT]

I was planning on a 36 mo lease, then at the end of the lease get a loan for the payoff amount.

 

[RDEL]

I work at an Audi dealership, and have worked for Nissan and Lexus also. You can negotiate the sales price on a lease but mainly what you are negotiating is your monthly payment since the dealer can always mark up the money factor. While leasing is usually a good way to go for short term buyers there are some advantages for long term buyers also. If you can get the lease when there is a tax credit if they have that in your state you may only pay 1% or so of sales tax instead of 6-8% or whatever your state charges then at the end if you decide to buy it you only pay the full sales tax on the residual amount (what you can buy it for at the end). Another benefit is if your vehicle is in an accident where it gets reported to carfax if you purchased you just lost a lot of money since there is a accident on the history of the vehicle. If you had leased this vehicle just have it fixed and turn it in at the end of your lease and your residual is not affected. Also with most manufacturers GAP insurance is included on leases

 

[JimCSHO]

I was planning on a 36 mo lease, then at the end of the lease get a loan for the payoff amount.

You assume that the residual value will be correct. I have leased 2 cars and at the end of both my wife was interested in keeping the car. But the buy out was higher than what I could go out and buy the same car, mileage, and options for. I.E. the lease payoff/buyout was more than FMV at that time.

 

[Torch10th]

If your goal is to purchase the car and keep it basically until the wheels fall off, it's probably not in your best interest to lease then buy at the end of the lease period. When you lease a car, the residual value can be fudged with a bit and in a lot of cases what happens is that residual value that you end up buying the car for is more than what it's actually worth.

On a car like a Raptor that has been shown to hold it's value well, this is likely not a problem. I don't know how the highlander's are as far as holding their value, but you may find that to buy the vehicle would cost you several thousand more than what it's worth, putting you right back on the negative equity train when buying. as RDEL pointed out, it's possible this works in your favor from time to time, but I wouldn't count on it always working out.

The short and quick is lease if you need the car temporarily or you want new often. Otherwise buy.

 

[rotor_powerd]

I was planning on a 36 mo lease, then at the end of the lease get a loan for the payoff amount.

You'll wind up spending a lot more money than just financing it from new.

 

[ON D BIT]

Leasing will always make the dealer more money. If the dealer makes more money you are spending more money.

If you lease and then buy the car you are in reality buying the same car twice and the dealer will make double the commission.

 

[DarkMach1]

You can in fact negotiate a lease. But like mentioned, leasing is more for cars that are nice to have but you dont see yourself owning due to maintenance costs, etc. Walk in and ask for money factor (this x 2400 gives you the interest rate, ex. MF of 0.0015x 2400= 3.6% interest) so work on lowering that, dont let them charge you taxes on the whole vehicle but only on what you pay, negotiate the price of the car down, look up if the manufacturer is offering incentices/rebates, negotiate into the deal packages you might want (i.e maintenance, wheel/tire protection if it has decent expensive wheels, paint/leather protection). Never let them talk you into giving them a number you're comfortable paying monthly.

 

[DAVESVT2000]

I just recently leased a 2017 escape awd EB for my girlfriend, she's never had an SUV / CUV before, so rather than buy it and she end up not liking it and be stuck with it, we decided to lease it.

All rebates were applied just like if we were buying it, got a 0.9% interest rate on a 3 year lease, zero $0 down, $333 month. No balloon payment at the end, no security deposit, buyout is $15,000 at the end if we want to keep it.

And yes, she absolutely loved it after just two months of driving it. Only thing she doesn't like is that it's not a stick, all her previous cars have been 5 speeds.

 

[ur bittn]

A lease is good if you don't mind always paying a monthly payment and you want to drive a new car every 3 years. The problem is keeping the mileage under the max.

 

[RI-SVT]

Thanks guys lots of good info here, I hate car payments, Lease might not be a good options for us then, and If we should finance from the get go, might as well get a 2015/16 model and save on the initial depreciation of the vehicle.

 

[HausCobra]

Leasing is no different than buying as far as negotiation. The dealer will only want to work off of money down and payment. There is still a selling price of the vehicle. Many people aren't educated enough on leasing and dealers just show u a payment and you may end up paying full sticker for the car. Ask for selling price of car, money factor, term, how much TOTAL OUT OF POCKET this is the entire amount you will give them down. If u say $2000 down they may take that as $2000 plus tax and tags etc... total out of pocket is the full amount you will give them. Money factor is basically the interest rate on a lease. A finance u have an interest rate on a lease there is a money factor. Don't assume the price in the commercial is the price, you can do better than that. Go on the vehicle you are looking for's website (Toyota,Honda) etc and build and price your car and then ask for internet quotes. Internet quotes are usually starting at a really good deal. Vs walking into dealership.


Sent from my iPhone using the svtperformance.com mobile app

 

[nxhappy]

since you keep your cars a while, you should not lease. I would buy a certified 2013 or 2014 instead. Vehicles take the biggest depreciation hit within the first 3 years.

 

[bigmoose]

I leased my '13 Explorer Sport from Flood Ford. I did negotiate the price down and essentially got it at invoice. The payment was then figured off that. When my lease was up I could not find a similar spec'd explorer sport for my buyout price. I wanted to keep it anyway.

If I had to do it all over it would have just bought it outright from the beginning.