Well to start off, my mom currently owns (well has leased) a 2006 TL w/navi. She has had some "job rearranging," so long story short she needs lower monthly payments, which is where the TSX comes in.

My question to you all are:
-Have any of you had experience with getting out of a lease early (there will be 2 years left on the TL lease on Sept. 1st) and into a new car? What should she expect the dealer would do?
-Should she negotiate the price of a new ('07 or '08) TSX first before even mentioning the TL, or should she tell them she has a lease that she wants to get out of and then go from there?
-Would it be a reasonable to offer a dealer $28,000 for a new '08 TSX AT w/navi, and try to get the dealer to include the A-Spec body kit (front, side and rear spoilers along with the wing spoiler) in that price including instalation?

Now I know that is a lot of questions at one time, so please try to bare with me. If you need me to clear anything up for you just ask and I will do my best to explain. Oh, and she would want to lease the TSX for probably 36 months, 15k mi. a year.

Thanks in advance for any advice.

 

Try strategy A with one dealership and strategy B with another dealership and then go with whichever dealer ends up offering the best deal. This requires stringing along the sales people at two different dealers but I think they're pretty used to that.

 

I don't know much about leasing...but I did read in another thread that if you leased a car from a certain dealer, they'd be more willing to let things go if you get your next car with them (ie: over the miles requirement, etc).

EDIT: I just googled, and I saw this:
According to the next quote, your mom will have to pay the termination fee and all of the remaining payments on her contract:

You should always negotiate the price of a car first before mentioning a trade-in. The dealer will have to buy out the lease, and will tack on their fees to the final negotiated price.

$28k is close to invoice. If you make them throw in A-spec w/ installation, then they'd be getting less than inventory price for the car. $28k + a-spec price would be more realistic I think.

Your mom should also consider buying or leasing a honda...it's quite a bit cheaper than buying/leasing an acura.
How much would the price difference be between a TL and TSX? I originally was going to get a TL, but saw that the TSX was a better buy (and I'm more into handling than power). The price difference didn't seem so big to me.

 

^^^Thanks for the advice. So it seems like it's going to be more difficult to get out of her lease than we thought. I guess the only way to really find out is to talk to the dealer.
So $28,000 with the A-Spec kit included would be more realistic for a 2007 TSX?
As far as the price difference between a TL and TSX, my mom paid $32,000 before all the add on fees for the TL and is paying about $500 a month. It seems like most people are paying $400 or less a month for the TSX, and my mom sees $100 a good enough reason to trade the TL in for a TSX.

 

Good luck. TL's depreciated more than TSX's so your mom will most likely be upside down, so when you try to turn in the TL, they will add the depreciation onto the TSX lease and it may actually cost you more than the current payment.

First rule of dealing with car dealer, they always win. Anytime you think you have won, double check the paperwork. These loose money on every car they sell, but everyone wants to be a car dealer........

Also, you can tell me I am nuts, but never lease a car that you can't afford to buy and you mom's example is the perfect model.

 

If you get Nav, the money factor on the lease goes up because the Nav doesn't bring any value at the end of the lease. I looked at leasing a TSX with and without Nav, and at the end of the day, you pay for 100% of the Nav because they change the money factor. That being said, I bought one without Nav and took the 2.9% for three years. That makes the payment about $800 a month, but based upon the high residuals of these cars, it makes more sense to buy instead lease. If you decide to just write a check, they won't give you anything in place of the 2.9%, so why not take it.

 

I just did something similar to this. I leased a 2007 RDX in January and switched jobs in March where I have to drive a lot further to. I was going to be putting over 13k miles just going back and forth to work on a 12k lease. So, I went to a couple of dealers around the area and checked my options. I ended up getting a leftover 2007 TSX with nav for 28250 plus $750 to cover the dealer buying back the RDX. I end up paying $510 per month after $4000 down at 4.9%. I felt I did pretty good to get out of that lease. You just have to play the game with the dealers. Good luck!

Joe

 

Do not terminate the lease early. Instead, figure out what the current payoff amount of the lease is (it should appear on the monthly statements and you should be able to view them online if you signed up for Ownerlink) and try to get that amount on a trade-in. Since you are staying within the Acura family, no matter which dealership you go to should be willing to work with you on the process.

Essentially, the dealer buys the car from you as though it were a trade-in and pays off American Honda Finance (or whoever the leasing company is) which helps you avoid the early termination fees and allows you to use the vehicle as equity.

It might also be helpful to get the TL appraised first before even discussing a new car. If you get appraisal values that are higher than the payoff on the lease, you can use that extra value towards reducing the out-the-door costs on the new car.

Just because it's a lease does not mean you need to necessarily think of it as one when you are looking to trade in for another car.