robertico811

i'm leasing a 06 tsx. i dont wether to do the option to buy when it's due. i want to mod the car, but dont know if it'll be worth it since im leasing...your please!

LuvMyTSX

Personally, I wouldn't mod a leased car. Do you like the car and want to keep it past the lease date? If so, buy it! Then you can do whatever you please, without issue.

moda_way

Buy-outs are always to your disadvantage financially. IMHO, do the mods, keep the parts, put them back on at due in and set the parts on ebay. Modding will never make financial sense because you'll be lucky to get 50% return on your investments.

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

with Moda

Just mod the car. Or better yet, select mods that will not necessarily diminish the value of the car (they won't add any value either, but that's a given) such as factory mods like the A-Spec suspension. I have already discussed it with my dealership and they have told me that the A-Spec suspension is not a modification they would deduct value for when valuing a vehicle for trade-in or lease return.

So, just mod the car and keep the parts or pick your mods carefully and leave them on the car when you return it.

rb1

Why is this? (links to information fine as a reply).

Since a lease is really just financing the depreciation (assuming you can just buy the car for the originally figured residual value at the end of the lease), it would seem like a wash to me (depending on whether you financed the final purchase).

I'd agree that an overall longer financing period is bad because you end up paying more interest (e.g. 3 year lease followed by 5 year loan would be silly).

But I'm not sure why leasing a car and then buying it at the end for cash (or perhaps a 2 year loan) is necessarily worse than paying cash up front or financing the whole thing from the beginning for 5 years.

Crazy Bimmer

http://www.edmunds.com/advice/leasin...7/article.html

Sometimes your residual value will be higher than the market value of the car once the lease is over. In most cases you can actually return the lease and buy the same exact car with the same mileage for a cheaper price.

Like any car, you can mod it and then put it back to stock when you want to sell. I always keep all my stock parts since i know a stock car will bring in higher value than a modded one.

FBPaCCord

depends on your usage of the car. if you drive under 10k a year then i would say you could get a good lease deal. but if you drive more, i would go with the finance. once you pay it off, if you decide you want to change cars, the tsx has one of the best resale values on the market, so you wont be losing too much there if you take good care of it

rb1

This is true from a financial sense, but in practice would you trade the car that you loved and maintained properly for one whose history you know nothing about, just to save $1000 or so?

stevezilla

you might, if you loved the car with a few minor exceptions...let's say, for example, you leased a car with a manual tranny and decided you wanted one with an automatic -- or -- you decided you no longer liked the color of the interior.

rb1

Yes, I can see how some people might feel that way, and you're quite right that it would make good financial sense for someone who isn't too anal about the way a car is maintained.

On the other hand, I have on two occasions liked the car I was driving so much, that I seriously considered replacing it with a brand new model (same model generation) of the same car. Fortunately, though, financial sanity prevailed and I stayed put.

calbear2k1

I would not go so far to say that in MOST cases you can return a car off lease and buy one used for less - especially with strong resale values for Acura/Honda cars, or premium Japanese or German imports. In fact, a bank calculated residual value is going to be closer to the trade in or wholesale value of the car since they will have to find some way of selling the car off when they take possession of it. A relevant example is my 2004 TSX, which currently has a buyout of 15.6k, a trade in of 17.8k and a private party value of 19.1k. Even with sales tax, I'm still ahead.

Car companies that are selling their cars are not going to play around and jack up the lease residuals because that would mean they are going to lose money at the end of the lease. Now the big three might play games with the residuals just as they do with zero interest loans because they cannot get their cars off the lot and need to offer incentives. But I just don't see honda, acura, toyota, lexus, BMW etc not making their residual on a regular basis. Even if they miss by a few % points, you are still trading in at trade in price, and buying at retail or private party price.

In any case, having a jacked up residual on your car is not going to hurt you - it only helps you by giving you the option of buying a substitute car at a cheaper price (if you want to risk not knowing its history). If you buy the car at the end of term, you have paid no more than if you bought it new, save the extra interest and lease fee (it was ~$500, i believe).