hi everyone i own a '03 type-s, and my girlfriend wants to get an '04 and is thinking about leasing it. my question is what happens after the lease is up? if she plans on buying a new acura instead of leasing another one would she get to use some of her money from the lease towards purchasing a new one?
sorry i'm a newbie at leasing.

 

Now, I've never leased either, but I've talked to a few folks who have. My understanding is this:

There's really only two questions when her lease is up:
1. Does she want to buy the car she was leasing?
2. Does she want to just turn in the leased car and walk away?
(and be free to lease/buy a newer car.)

In either case she'll be charged for unusual wear and tear; dings; and extra mileage. When she pays that off her lease will be officially terminated. Then she's free to begin dealing on a different car.

Oh yeah, when you lease you *do not* get to put any lease money towards purchasing a different car. That only happens if you buy a car. When you lease you are just paying for the portion of the car that you are using up.

So leasing gets you into a newer car faster. Some folks lease a new car every two years. But you have to turn the car in pretty much like you took it out. (i.e. no permanent mods) While buying a car lets you modify the car any way you like -- and sell it for whatever price you'd like.

I'm sure someone who's actually leased can answer your question a little better than I did!

Good luck,

V.

 

vperkins is right. When you lease, you have no equity in the car - it's just like renting an apartment, the money goes out your wallet, never to be seen again (except for your security deposit).

However, say 3 years down the road, you have 2 months left on your '04 lease, and a new acura is what you'd like to have, the dealership you leased your '04 from may come to you and offer to pay off the remainding 2 months of your lease if you leased/bought another car from them.

 

I'm not sure about other states, but the new leasing programs in NY are much more flexible than they used to be. At the end of the lease you have a few options:

1. Turn it in and walk away
2. Negotiate the buyout price and buy the car
3. Negotiate the buyout price and sell the car privately
4. Negotiate the value with Acura and get another car

Now 3 and 4 only work if the actual value of the car exceeds the residual, but that is almost definate with an Acura. They calculate 52% residual at the time of the lease inception, and the car will be worth closer to 60% at the end of the lease term. (approx)

If the car is worth more than estimated, you can make money by selling it for 19K and paying the bank 16K. You can also have Acura buy it back and they will put the money that exceeds the buyout price towards a new car.

If 3 or 4 doesnt work for you or is not possible in your state, you should have some negotiating power to get a much better price on another vehicle from Acura when the times comes. You just have to know what you're doing. Acura also has a $1500 waiver for excessive wear and tear. There are also some mods that the dealer does not care about, but it can't be anything that drastically changes the car like springs, or engine mods except CAI's and some other minor things.

Good luck

 

It is like that in many states. So, depending on the miles/condition of the car, you can actually make a profit by selling it privately, paying Acura what is still owed (even negotiating that figure down), and keeping any profit above that figure.


As to the wear and tear issue brought up by the other poster, you now have up to $1,500.00 that is written off, and you are not responsible for. So if you just want to turn in the car, as long as the W&T is below $1.5k, there are no worries. By the way, the car would really have to be in bad shape to exceed that amount with standard dings, dirty interior, etc.

 

thanks for the replies, i'll pass the info along to her

 

Due to low mileage and my fanatical care, I have always been able to sell my leased cars near the end of the lease and get back $2-3000.

We have found that it seldom makes good sense to BUY the car at the end of the lease. The payment for buying the used car will be much higher than leasing a new one, and there is usually no warranty.

At the end of my last lease, I was able to negotiate a great deal for the buy out with the bank (so I could re-sell it), since used car prices have dropped dramatically in the last few years. However, the residuals are now being adjusted to compensate for this.

Anyway, we find that although we always have car payments, it is worth it to always have a new car that is under warranty. Perhaps when we get ready to retire, we may think about keeping a car for a long time.