Lalin

Hi, I am considering a 36 month lease 10k miles per year on an RDX Advanced with a s ticker price of $43k with no down payment other that the usual registration, bank fees, etc.
Was curious to what numbers you are getting out there with monthly payments, residual, money factor, etc.
also, is Acura flexible with aall the add on fees they list in the contract?
TIA.

CTNYC

I'd suggest looking at Edmund's forums for the lease details -- The moderators there usually have the MF, residual, rebate, etc info there. As for the fees, not sure what you're referencing... If you're talking about acquisition fees, destination charge, etc, then no. Dealer doc fee is now more or less set (by the dealer), but you can usually negotiate the price of the car down to compensate.

dirleton

Dealer doc fee limits (if any) are set by the state. Dealers typically charge as much as allowed. This is a bogus fee which should always be taken into account when negotiating. Don't allow it to be sprung on you in the finance office - always ask about any/all dealer fees early in the process.

Ruyak33

Hello Lalin,

How did it go did you get the RDX? if so what numbers did you end up getting( monthly payments, residual, money factor, etc.)

ceb

There are only two numbers that are important - the residual % and the money factor.

Residual is the % from MSRP that you can buy the car for at the end of the lease.
Money factor is a nicer way of saying the interest rate

What others are paying in monthly costs is really immaterial. Negotiation skills and fixed costs (taxes, tags etc.) all factor into the monthly payments and WILL be different for each person.

With the residual and money factor you can easily figure your own monthly costs.

A few tips:

ALWAYS negotiate the cost of the car
ALWAYS look for "no down" leases - a "Capital cost reduction" is just a lease version of down payment. That money is gone if you total the car.
ALWAYS double check calculations. Ask for explanations for anything you don't understand

Money factor times 2400 = the interest rate

Ruyak33

I agree and understand the above. I was hoping to find whats the lowest i can go on the asking price. Not general advice but specifics as it helps to know what bargain for.

ceb

You should negotiate the price as would a purchase. Negotiate ONLY the price of the car - never the monthly payments. If they ask you how you are planning to pay, say you are considering financing it.

Only once you have worked out a final price should you say "what payments am I looking at for a lease at this price?" Each state is different, some include tax for the full amount, some for the amount leased and others require the customer to pay taxes directly and separate from the lease - that is one reason why you can't really compare lease costs.

Lalin

i ended up with the following deal on an RDX Advanced. 36 months/10k miles
list price: 44460
final price: 39262
Residual: 62%
down payment of inception fees, doc fees, NY registration, and other BS fees: 1000
monthly payment: 500

they also gave me the cargo tray and $400 cash towards my current lease disposition fee. They were going to buy my RX but in the end they decided it was to expensive.

the numbers were much better than another NJ dealer.
how does it compare with what other folks got?

ceb

Let's break it down:

The residual is 27565. Accordingly, the amount you actually thought you leased is 39262 plus 1000 or 40262 minus the 27565 or 12697 (plus taxes I assume.)

You are paying $500x36, which is $18,000. Add the residual and you've actually "bought" the car for 45565, so a hair over list.

You got taken. Sorry.

At the negotiated $40k, including a couple of thousand in taxes (taxes should actually be below $1200) then the monthly should be around $390.

Lalin

it is not 39262 plus $1000. It is minus $1000. Taxes are included in the 500.
can you clarify?
I don't think there is no way to get the RDX for 390 a month with 1000 down.
Was anybody here able to get to those numbers?

Lalin

it is not 39262 plus $1000. It is minus $1000. Taxes are included in the 500. And you are not accounting for the $400 cash they gave me,
can you clarify?
I don't think there is a way to get the RDX for 390 a month with 1000 down.
Was anybody here able to get to those numbers?

ceb

Either way the 1000 came out of your pocket. I'm not sure where you are located but let's take NY with the 8% sales tax.

Your negotiated price remains 39262. Subtract the residual (27565) and you're leasing $11697. Add 936 for 8% taxes and you're at 12633. Your $500 still comes up to $18000 so the $5367 is profit for the dealer.That's what, a 42% gain for the dealer. Not bad for them. That $400 they gave you makes a minuscule difference.

Oh, and the $1000 is in addition to your negotiated price as you said it included the acquisition fee, document and "other BS fees" - none of those were included in the negotiated price. But you are right, if you paid them upfront then I shouldn't have included them in my calculations.

As far as actual costs are concerned, I don't know the money factor, but assuming a 5% interest rate then you'd be looking at about 380 a month using the 12633 numbers from above.

To get to a $500 a month interest rate, you're looking at a 25% interest rate.

If you like, you can me your paperwork and I'll try to decipher what they did. If you do, please redact any personal information before you send it.

dirleton

This is why dealers are so fond of lease contracts. They can dance the numbers all over the place. Never buy a payment. In this case it looks the OP got taken on the money factor.

ceb

More likely they agreed upon a price then ran the numbers using MSRP.

Dealers love to work on monthly payments and they love leases because they seem "cheap". Hell, a 5 year loan would probably be in the $650 range. Dealers suck you in with extras "I'm giving you $400 towards your lease return" and "free mats" while obfuscating the true cost of the car. They probably did the foursquare too.

At least the OP got a decent car even if he didn't get a decent price.

I just went to the Acura website and used their lease calculator. At MSRP with a $2500 down you're looking at a $500 payment.

dirleton

Dealers only suck in the unwary. And --- nice car, too bad he got took? C'mon!

ceb

It is a done deal. At least he can feel good about his car. I'm not sure why people come here after a deal and say "how did I do?"

I know that I wouldn't have responded had I not seen that $500 staring me in the face. And the $500 is probably more than $500 and rounded down.

Lalin

I did not ask "how did I do". Ruyak33 asked me and I replied. Comparing this deal with other Acura dealers and Lexus NX/Lincoln MKC of similar MSRP that I considered, this one was the cheaper by far.
i see that the numbers explained by you indicate that I am overpaying but I ask again to this forum. How much are you paying on your lease of an RDX advanced? One thing is what the theoretical numbers may indicate and another thing is what is the real street price.
the $500 are $500, not rounded down.
FYI, my deal is not a done deal. I paid a $1000 refundable deposit last week and will be picking up the car and signing the actual lease next Saturday.

dirleton

I'd look into the money factor. Multiply it by 2400 to get the effective rate you are going to pay. If it is more than a very few % run away. If ceb is right you have a very bad deal going. Look for leasing advice on Edmunds, Consumer Reports, etc. Being a better deal than others does not make it a good deal.

ceb

The OP's money factor is about .00157 . Plugging all those numbers into a lease calculator comes out to the mid 4's - so somewhere in between what the OP was quoted and what I thought.

Lalin

I plugged the numbers into lease.guide and it gave me a payment of 483 plus 41 tax. Total 524. Go figure.

ceb

Great. So you're getting a deal even though I got different numbers.

Lalin

what numbers did the calculator gave you?

ceb

I got $462

Lalin

Take a look at this screen shot.

ceb

Sigh. Where do I start? You clearly want to be right so I'll leave you with these final parting words for the rest of the readers to consider:

You're using a funky calculator that uses "interest rate" instead of "money factor" clearly showing that it wasn't designed as a lease calculator but that somebody at bankrate modified badly. It also makes you calculate residual - which you did wrong

The $1000 isn't a "down payment." Those are costs above and beyond your negotiated price - dealer fees etc. Since they aren't part of the negotiated price they aren't a down payment. Didn't I explain that already?

The residual is calculated as a % of MSRP, not as a percentage of your negotiated price. I seem to recall mentioning that as well.

Enjoy your car and as long as you can afford your payment then it is just fine.

To everyone else - if you are contemplating a lease and haven't done it before, then please research the lease fundamentals before you buy. The dealer always wins - in Vegas and at the dealership but you may have a fighting chance if you understand the basics.

Leasing is good if you drive few miles and like being under warranty all the time. There are fewer monetary risks in leasing as you know what the car is worth in three years and - for that matter - you don't really care because you just give it back to the dealer.

Leasing is bad if you drive a lot or beat up your cars - both will end up costing you money.

dirleton

If he paid 39262 plus 1000 in bogus fees he really paid 40262. I will sell you a new car for 35 cents plus fees.

ceb

In addition, in order to get to the $1630 in taxes you mentioned, you'd need to be paying on over $18,000 (at that 8.875 rate). Further, your residual works out to 54%, not 62%

I'm done here.

Lalin

Ceb, you got it wrong. I dont want to be right for the sake of "being right". I want to understand the freaking leasing process that you seem to know so well. Mind you that in your first reply quoting numbers you said the monthly payment should be 390 and a few post ago you revised it to 462.
In the online calculator I multiplied the money factor by 2400 to get the interest rate. But like you said enough was said about my monthly payments. As of 5 PM 7-25-16 this posts had 791 views. Yet I have not heared from anyone here what are their lease payments for an Advanced under similar conditions that mine. I still say that one thing is the theoretical number that math dictates and another thing is what you can get in the street. Like you I am done talking about numbers. Thanks for your help.
Next week I hope to be reporting about how the car is.

dirleton

Well, like a grizzled old car salesman once told me --- "if you think you got a good deal then you got a good deal."

And, all of us here already know "how the car is."

Comfy

Well said. What matters finally is if you are happy about what you paid for your car and how you feel about the car itself. There's no point in comparing what others have paid. Everyone cannot get the best price in North America.
But, for the OP, you have time on your side even if it's a week. Keep searching and poking and if you feel getting ripped off then don't hesitate in calling the deal off.
All I can say is that after a few leases you will be the expert and you can tell us about how to navigate that process if interested. I don't lease cars so can't help you in that matter. Someone said that you should always go into the dealership with a laptop and run the numbers through a program of your choosing. Wherever a customer does that, the dealers will be less inclined / careful about blatantly ripping you off. Don't think that you are offending them by checking their math. Good luck.

mlov(NJ)

Just got back from the Acura dealer tonight on the same car(2017 Tech/Advance). With them taking care of my 4 remaining 2014 MDX payments, they quoted me $497/mo w/$1000 down. We walked out. I didn't even bother asking for the lease worksheet, so I don't even know the numbers involved to get to $497/mo. @ Lalin FWIW, I just did some research on the Edmunds site, and there is $1500 lease cash available. You might want to contact your sales person to re-work your deal a bit to include that $1500.

Nexx

wow you guys crack me up. only if you really knew.

mlov(NJ)

Knew what? Please explain.

chickdr

Exactly... How witty eh?

Comfy

Can someone be more helpful by explaining what they are thinking in lieu of sarcastic remarks please. Thank you.

mlov(NJ)

Finalizing a deal on a 17 Advance. With Acura forgiving 4 remaining MDX payments, I'm at $505/mo incl tax, for 36 mos, 10k miles/yr. True sign n drive, no upfront costs out of pocket at signing. Sound ok?

mlov(NJ)

Actually got a better deal at another dealer, saved another $15/mo. Took her home.