Hi Guys,

I'm in the market to lease my wife a 2014 RDX w/Tech. My mother just purchased a 2014 RDX and its a great little SUV.

I'm looking to do the following. Any feedback or anyone know anyone that could calculate what a good deal would be?

Probably will do the lease by the end of January.

2014 RDX w/Tech
Term: 36 or 39 Months
Miles: 20,000/year
State Tax: Massachusetts 6.25%
$5,000 total due at signing
Looking for what you guys think would be a good monthly payment based on the above.

Thanks!

 

^^ I am from Canada so I am not familiar with the deals to be had in the States however, I suggest the following:

1. Don't put any money down on a lease....
2. If your lease rate is not low, consider doing MSD (multiple security deposit) which is an amount of money that is fully refundable at the end of the lease (not to be confused with a damage deposit)...this will buy down your lease rate and save you interest costs.

Of course, once could make an argument that investing that money instead would yield potentially better results, I know some are over confident in the market and rather go this route.

 

I don't think putting money down is a bad idea, if you want to keep your payments to a certain amount. Don't forget, the $5,000 total due at signing can offset tax and fees, which will save more $$ from interest.

Random, I am in MA and bought my 14 RDX Tech, AWD in October for $37,000 before tax and fees. The deals should be even better now, especially in January when no one is really thinking about buying a car. Definitely shop around and get a few quotes. It'd be very help to get itemized quotes detailing money factor and residual values.

Good luck! PM me if you need more info or help.

 

It's not really money down. That's going to be the approximate value of her car at the time of trade in so we would just put that towards the lease. Wow, $37k for a TECH is a good deal!

 

I paid around $35,800 for 2013 RDX AWD TECH w/ remote start in May 2013.

 

It's not a bad idea to put money down to bring payments down. However, should the car be involved in an accident (especially early on) and is totaled, the insurance would pay off the car and you won't really get any money back..therefore losing that hefty downpayment

 

^^ exactly why I was saying that its not a good idea to put the money down on the lease. If its a trade, then I can understand but if I had cash in the bank account, I'd keep it there and take out the portion that I need to make the monthly payment. Now one way to help you save money, like I was saying is do the MSD to bring your lease rate down if its really high.

 

actually, multiple security deposits can also be a problem..BMW told me that MSD will help bring a car payment down but same issue if there's an accident and the car totals, you lose MSD

 

^^ Hummm...interesting. I was told that MSD is not like a damage deposit....it is purely for bringing your lease rate down because they hold your money and make some profit by investing it (sort of). I will need to investigate that further because I would be annoyed if that would be the case....Thanks for the information.

 

It's been almost a year since my visit to a bmw dealership..but I am ALMOST sure that's what they told me...I guess I would like a confirmation myself.

 

Making a down payment on a lease is flushing money down the toilet. If you can afford a downpayment but not the monthly payments without a downpayment then you can't afford the car.

Multiple Security Deposits, OTOH, merely guarantee that you'll pay and are considered a separate transaction. They do not reduce the amount of the monthly payments but do reduce the "money factor" - the interest rate. With MSD's, you are basically giving the manufacturer money to hold for you.

Even if you total your car, the MSD's is fully refundable.

 

Back on topic

Leasing a car is no different than buying a car.

Step 1 - negotiate the price of the car
Step 2 - try to negotiate the money factor (multiple security deposits are one way, another is straight negotiation)
Step 3 - Calculate the true cost of the lease. Total of monthly payments plus residual plus any down payment plus any leasing costs is the cost of the car. The difference between that number and your negotiated cost is what the lease is costing you.
Step 4 - If you are happy with that number then lease the car.

 

ceb...I can confirm what you stated. After this discussion online, I called Acura Canada and they stated the exact same thing so I feel comfortable that a MSD is there to reduce the interest and not being used a damage deposit in case the Insurance company decides to not give me what the car is worth.

Thanks for confirming what I was told on the phone about 3h ago.....

 

He's basically paying the tax and fees, plus a few more bucks. Why would you want to pay interest on tax and fees?

 

Huh? He's paying $5000 down. For calculation ease let's say he negotiated $40k.

Lease fees (really a junk fee but everyone charges it) is about $600. Title and tags is another $200 or so. Tax at 6.25% is $2500 on the whole amount - but - you only pay tax on the 3 years of your lease so you're not paying tax on the residual. Again, for calculation purposes, let's assume a residual of 50% (it'll be higher, so the taxable amount will be lower but this is OK for calculation purposes) so you're paying on the $20k or about $1250.

So, the costs in addition to the negotiated cost should be under $2100 - hell - maybe I missed something so call it $2500.

So, where is the other $2500?

Remember that while the lease fee and title are lost fees, you don't pay the remainder of the sales tax if the car is totaled and you can request to get part of your registration fee back, so if the sales tax is paid up front they are flushed down the toilet as well.

Of the $5000 downpayment, the OP could potentially lose $4000 if the car is totaled, stolen or sold.

Consider ANY downpayment on a lease lost money if anything goes wrong and there is little - if any - benefit.

Follow my calculation above and you can figure out what your lease really costs.