Rambo303

So I took Russdaddy's advice and went to Walgreens to pick up a tube of KY Jelly before I went to the dealership to find out about getting out of my lease, however, it turns out I needed a bucket instead! OMG.

First off my down payment ($4K) would be lost. (Once AFHC has your money you can never get it back!)

Secondly, I would have to pay the difference between what the car is worth and the portion of the vehicle that I have used (miles + the wear and tear which looks alot worse than what it actually is....for example, the front seats look 3 years used instead of 3 months/ the black dash is fading/ all the rattles make it seem like I have been abusing it, and I haven't) Too make a long explanation short I would have to pay for wear and tear after 3 months.

Finally, if I were to get myself into a lexus ES330 (wish I had instead of TL) I would probably need a new down payment. I actually went to lexus and they told me that they could put me in an 05' ES330 for $400 a month for 36 months w/ no money down. It's an old deal, but he said he would do it for me if I went through with the termination of my lease.

In sum, I am going to man it out and stick w/ my decision. Unless, I can find a sucker to give me $2000 and take over my lease. (Hmm....my brother comes to mind) Thanks to all for the info!

Republican TL

Yes, that is the fiscally sane thing to do. I went shopping a few weeks ago. I will be sticking with my TL as well. Hopefully the dealer can fix all 4 rattles that I have when I bring the car in next week. If these rattles do not go away, maybe I will have the good fortune of having the car stolen while at the mall or movies, or other parking lot, never to be recovered.

crazymjb

The TL dash fades? I think the lexus looks like it had a face lift, literally, the headlights are peeled back too high. TL looks much nicer IMO. Sorry about your bad experience.

dman918

God, I would hate to see how you all act if the car actually had an engine or tranny problem.
They are rattles. They will be fixed, and then everything will be just fine. Be happy you don't have a car with actual problems...

Steel

Good Riddance.

ndx2

tuck and roll, rambo.

quake97

The rattles and stuff should be covered under warranty. It's odd that they nail you for that, but on the other hand they don't want people getting out of their leases.

Joe

youngTL

The second gen guys know what the tranny problem is like. Surprisingly, they seem to not explode as often or as severely about it as the third gens do about rattles...the second gen people seem way more level headed.

EMF213

I'll probably piss some people off, but why the F*** would anyone put $4k down on a LEASE??????? You don't OWN anything!!!!!!!

Further, I love it when people don't read what they are getting themselves into. A lease is NOT a loan; It's a RENTAL agreement. You are responsible for the SUM of ALL THE PAYMENTS!!!! Wear and tear could be agrued if premature...

However, RAMBO...you should have had that bucket of KY before you signed the original agreement because you obvioulsy didn't consider what you were doing and therefore F***'D yourself.

mickey3c

geez people ... so many have buyer's or renter's remorse... Once you sign up and take delivery you have executed the contract.

4+ years is a long time with live with problems that start almost immediately!

Hybrid

I wonder how many people that lease TLs are going to be forced to pay for Acura's defective seat design when they turn the car in? There's seemingly no way to avoid the "butt print" and wrinkling leather issues, other cars don't do it nearly as badly, if at all, and some people have had leather replaced under warranty. Yet at lease end, people may be forced to essentially pay for new leather.... Not quite fair, somehow.

Of course, a similar thing may happen when people that don't lease trade-in or privately sell their cars. The buyers are going to want a discount to fix the shabby seats.

youngTL

You should NEVER EVER put money down on a lease!!

jkayca

A lease is not a rental. You are paying for the depreciation of the vehical from the time you buy it to the time the lease expires. You have to borrow money from the financing company to cover this difference and pay interest on this. By putting money down you reduce the amount of money you have to borrow and therefore the cost of the loan. What you have to do is look at how much money you save on the loan by putting money down and figure out if you can get a better return by investing it. If the lease rate is high then putting money down can be a good idea. If not, it maybe be better to invest your money elsewhere.

Republican TL

You know why leases are great....if the car is POS....you can turn it in and be rid of it. If its a gem....you can buy it outright at the end of the lease...and sometimes at a negotiated price. Clearly for some people here....once the lease is up on the TL....they will not be keeping it a day longer.

noychris

honda_s2k

I don't understand...

My MY05 is perfect!

dman918

Yep, this is the truth. A lease is simply paying the depreciation + interest for the lease term. It is a great option for people who trade up cars every 3 years and drive a certain number of miles a year. A 4 year lease is starting to get a little long though. I would personally say 39 month leases are about a max that I would recommend.
Now, I wouldn't really put a whole lot down on a lease, as you can just keep that money in the bank and use it to pay the higher payment each month.
Acura leases are not as enticing because the residuals and interest rates have not been all that fabulous (overall), and the brand has a good reputation for relatively little depreciation. What one must try to calculate is what the car will be worth after the time frame of the lease/loan, and see if that is more or less than owed. Now, you can't see the future, so you have to take best guesses, and if you are in or have been in the industry, you can probably judge fairly well.
Blah blah blah...

Formula 350

Sorry, but a lease is a rental... look it up!!

lease n.

1. A contract granting use or occupation of property during a specified period in exchange for a specified rent.
2. The term or duration of such a contract.


What you are doing in the lease contract is determining how much you will pay in rental payments and how much you will 'use' the property... you agree to use it a certain number of miles for a certain time period... if you use it more, there is a contractual amount you agree to pay for the excess usage. It just so happens that for a car lease, the part that you are paying for is the depreciation of the property, but that had nothing to do with the term 'lease'.

Think about it in another way, you either OWN something or you RENT something... you can call the latter anything else you want, but it still means you do not own anything.

Hybrid

Whether you call it leasing or renting here doesn't matter if you are talking about the same thing. (But I wouldn't suggest going to the Hertz counter at the airport and ask to lease a car, or to your dealership and ask to rent a car, as they DO mean different things to MOST people....)

But it CAN make sense to put money down on a lease! That's only if you aren't going to be earning much on the down payment if you keep it in the bank (for example), and the lease interest rate is higher. It's also possible to prepay the entire lease period, if they are set up to do that. (And I don't mean prepay the lease payment times the number of months - that wouldn't ever make sense).

dman918

OK, what if you *own* the TL by taking out a loan. Then, you decide to not make payments on it. Do you keep the car? No, because the bank OWNS the car until you pay it off.

BTW, I own my TL (rather, my bank does ). I did not lease, FYI.

TLover

First, a lease IS a rental. Second, you should NEVER put money down on a lease, because if you should total the car, you don't get the money back, and you avoid situations like this. A down payment only makes sense if you actually own a portion of the car but in a lease, this isn't the case.

OK, as long as we're talking about scenarios:

What if you make all your payments on a loan: Do you own the car? Yes.
What if you make all your payments on a lease: Do you own the car? No. Because you rented the car for a specific period of time.

RBallman

Semantics guys! Everyone gets it!!!!!!!!

dman918

But this is part of my point up above. This is not for people who keep their cars for 4-5 years or more. If you are one to keep cars, then taking a loan out is absolutely the way to go. However, if you plan on getting rid of the car in 2-3 years, as many people do, then leasing is a very good option. Most loans are 5 years in this area, and even 6 years in some cases. At least in WI, people aren't going to have 3 year loans on a car at this price.

SpecialFX

Why do people think they can sign a contract then just change their mind and the other party should just take the car back? If you had a loan on the car and changed your mind would you expect the bank to just take the car back and forgive all of the remaining payments? Of course not. A lease is the same thing.

All of the quality issues you mention should be repaired under warranty. If you decide to turn it in they should all be repaired beforehand so you don't get dinged for the wear and tear.

E-luzion

Just out of curiousity, does anyone have proof that rattles/vibrations are covered under warranty, b/c my dealer wont do a thing.....his claim "its normal wear and tear"

jkayca

We're arguing semantics and you are missing the point. Forget for the moment whether leasing is good thing or not. A downpayment on a lease can save you money.

Lets look at a crude example: You lease a $30k car. The residual is $17k after 3 years. This means you need to borrow money for $13k - if you don't put a downpayment down. If you do put a downpayment the amount loaned is less. Say you put down $5k. So now the loan is for $8k. The interest payed on this amount is obviously less than what would be payed on $13k.

I used a loan calculator and bankrate.com and came up with the followin numbers based on an annual interest rate of 6.0% and 36 month term.

A loan of 13k yields 36 payments of $395.49 for a total cost of $14237.64.

A loan of 8k yield 36 payments of $243.38 for which amounts to $8761.68. Coupled with the downpayment yields a total cost of $13761.68.

Your savings in this case is approx. $475.

Brewmaster

I agree with your point.

For some of the naysayers, I usually disagree with anyone who speaks in finalities (It's NEVER a good idea .. blah blah) There are circumstances in which most financial decisions can be justified. Some may argue that $475 over 3 years is inconsequential, and they may be right, but it also lowers the monthly payment $150. a month which may be make or break for some in the short term.

jtow

Rent or Own, you have a warranty. Be firm with the dealership to make the car like new until you are 100% satisfied. All cars whether it be Lexus, Acura or BMW absolutely will have an acceptable failure rate on all parts of their cars and it's up to the service department to take care of those failures. Stick with the TL, it's a good car and don't let the service dept f-you around... if they do just go to another dealer.

toynaround

Your calculation is incorrect, you did not calculate the return on the 5K.

invest your 5k for 36 months at 6% return = $475

There is no magic in saving money, the question boils down to whether you can yield a higher return on your 5k than the % offered by the lease/loan company. The lower the % rate the worse deal it is to pay down with your 5k. You can always use the 5k to buy down the lease/loan payments, so I would always keep the cash in my account, this way you have more control.

peter

jkayca

That was my point originally. You have to decide if it is better to invest the down payment. It is not as cut and dried as TLlover seems to think.

youngTL

Or there are other uses for the money, like if you paid down your credit card with a 19.8% interest rate!

snax

Do you have insurance?

F23A4

Seriously

chill_dog

Something about all of those numbers didn't add up (not that they aren't correct, but the story was missing a few chapters). Here's the catch...

Say you put your $5k down on the $30k car and borrow $25k for 5 years (typical purchase). After 3 years, according to your example, you have a car worth $17k...but, you only owe $11.6k...a difference of $5.4k.

So, if you purchased the car and sold it after 3 years, you would make $5.4k on the deal. With the lease, you have nothing at the end of 3 years.

Now, before anyone gets all excited...total purchase payments for 3 years is $17.4k, $3.6k more than the lease payments...net that against the $5.4k and you are still $1.8k to the good after 3 years.

That's $1.8k in cash in your pocket with a purchase vs. nothing with a lease (as in Total Paid w/ Purchase vs. Total Paid w/ Lease). That's also twice the $955 you'd earn at 6% compounded annually by investing the $5k for 3 years.

As to whether you lease or buy, that's your call, and everyone has their opinion on the matter. You've got to do what works for you.

jkayca

Well I did say it was a crude example. Anyway, I was doing that math to prove that putting money down on a lease is not necessarilly a bad thing. It wasn't about proofing leasing is better than owning.

Russdaddy

Always, Always, ALWAYS put something down. Always get the monthly payment as low as you can so that you can afford to pay a little bit extra each month.

Steel

Just Pay Cash.