After shopping for the best lease deals for the past 2 weeks (Balt/Washington Area) I realized that every dealer is willing to beat each other prices by a good number.
I started out with $4,000 down, 39mos,12k/year at $475/month.
Right now I'm down to $3,000 down, same term at $437/month. I bet you I can go a little lower, but I'm getting a little tired of arguing with those guys.
I have a deliver date set for this Saturday, but I'm still arguing with the dealer to get it down to $430/month.
Call me a cheap skate, but with today's gas prices and cigarette prices $7 bucks can get 2 packs of Marlboros or 4 extra gallons of gas. I bargain for the principle of the thing, because I know that no matter what deal I'll get the dealership will still make profit.
Share your buying or leasing experience.

P.S. I got so pissed off with one Sales Manager, I told him to go F*ck himself in front of all of his salespeople.



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2002 TL-S Aegian Blue Pearl. Underbody Kit, Spoiler

260 Horsepower of maximum performance. This is Blue Sunshine.
Sweet!!!

 

I recently leased for the third time (not a TL-S).
Many people think that lease payments are based on the cost of the car so if had to pay $33K for a TL-S or $33K for another car, the lease should be about the same. Definitely not true since the lease is also dependent on the money factor and residual value of the car at lease termination. I kid you not with the following examples in February when I was shopping. A Mercedes C240 with an MSRP of $35K and an actual selling price of $35K (since they rarely are discounted) was leasing for $538 including sales tax with no money down. A Mazda Millenia S, with an MSRP of $32K and an actual selling price of $28K if I wanted to buy, was leasing (or would lease if anyone was fool enough) for $547, primarily due to the low residual on the Mazda.
The current national promotion on the 2001 Acura RL is $499 with $1000 down which compares almost exactly to your $437 with $3000 down. Yet I bet it would cost you more for the RL if you paid cash to buy as opposed to the TL-S.
Once you determine how much you are willing to spend on a monthly payment for a lease, you must compare the car with others that lease for the same amount. The TL-S may be a great value when compared to other cars in its price range when purchasing for cash, but not compared to some cars that would lease for the same.

 

Check the residual value of the car and if you decide to purchase the car, how much will you have to pay then to get it.

Dealers can lower the monthly all they want because they can still play with the residual value, $ cahrged for extra miles, and etc. there are many pieces to the equation, just find out as much as you can about the terms of the lease.
My guess is that with lower lease rate, the price to purchase the car after your lease is over will be higher.

P.s. you will definitely drive the car more than 12000 miles a year. I had it for 6 month and have almost 10000 miles.

Good luck

 

Thanks for the advise but I'm not planning to keep the car after the lease is over. I have plans for another car. I think I'll save enough money by that time to get myself something better.
I live 5 miles away from work. Downtown is about 10 miles away where we go and party. If I travel to New York I usually go with somebody or take a shuttle because I go there to relax and not to think about my car getting hit or stolen (Also drink like fish in NY).
If I'll go over the miles, the dealership where I'm leasing my TL-S also sells BMWs, so I'm sure I can work some kind of deal with them. I really want to get a BMW 540 w/6speed. I'm a big stick shift fan, its too bad though that TL-S doesn't come 5spd, but It's a great car.

Sorry for talking too much, I'm just bored at work so I need to keep myself busy.




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2002 TL-S Aegian Blue Pearl. Underbody Kit, Spoiler

260 Horsepower of maximum performance. This is Blue Sunshine.
Sweet!!!

 

If you don't mind, could you post the money and residual factor the dealers are using figuring your lease? I wanted to compare the lease vs. buy.

Thanks!

 

Slick is not exactly correct because the residual and excess mileage charge is established by the bank or financing company. They will establish the residual based on what they think they can wholesale the car at lease end. There is no flexibility and is out of the dealers hand.
Plus the finance company can't assume you will have excess mileage.
The dealer may have some flexibility with the money factor and that is why it is important to insist on seeing the money factor sheets from the leasing company. When I was looking at the Mercedes C240, I had quotes differing by $100 a month for the same exact car when each dealer was charging the same to buy the car. That's because Mercedes Finance will pay a rebate to the dealer if it can charge a higher money factor. Their money factor sheet lists Tier 0, Tier 1, Tier 2 with related money factors. For example, Tier 1 means the dealer will get a rebate of 1% of the cap cost if it can get you sign the lease using the Tier 1 money factor. I saw the sheet,of course, only at the dealers who were willing to lease the car to me at Tier 0.
Acura uses a low money factor for the RL but a much higher one for the TL which is also higher than alot of other brands. That's why you can probably lease an Audi A6 Quattro for less than the TL-S although it would cost more to buy.
There's a mathematical formula that I posted a couple months back (you can find it on the web too)that will tell you how the lease payment is derived based on the residual (which they have to tell you upfront since you can't sign a lease without knowing what you would potentially have to pay for the car if you need to buy at the end), money factor and capitalized cost. If you know the cap cost (money the dealer is getting from the leasing company)and the residual, you can figure out the money factor. As long as you have two of the variables, you can always determine the third. Insist on getting the lowest money factor. If they say you are, they should show you since they shouldn't have anything to hide. Get the residual (they can't refuse that), and plug them into the formula you know what they are charging for the TL-S.
You may find you are paying over MSRP.

 

I'll post it tommorrow because I'm going tomorrow to sign the contract and pick up the car. I will know for sure what the residual numbers are.

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2002 TL-S Aegian Blue Pearl. Underbody Kit, Spoiler

260 Horsepower of maximum performance. This is Blue Sunshine.
Sweet!!!