ross7778

I've never leased a car before but I'm tempted by the current regional lease offer of $440/month with $0 down. It's actually less per month than what I'm paying for my 05 TL. I have 3 years left on the loan and only 47,000 miles on the odometer.

The only negative I can see on this lease is the low mileage allowance of 10,000 per year. But I have only been averaging around 8,000 a year so it could work.

Anything else I am missing? Any other costs involved besides the monthly payment?

I'm pretty happy with my 05 but if I can get into a 2010 for less, why not?

btomcik

Seems like a good route to go - if you have 3 years left on a 2005 TL loan, why not pay less per month and get a 2010 for the same duration? Of course a big thing is that when you finance, the car is yours and you don't have to worry about turning it in and keeping it clean and dent-free and all that crap.

emceeR

I got a better price than what was advertised on that deal.

Oswald Vater

Make sure Acura's lease deal includes tax. Otherwise expect about $20 or so more per month depending on your state's rates. But as emcee said, I think you can do better than their subsidized lease. I leased my 08/navi for $450 total 2 years ago.

2Slo4U

I'm pretty sure you can do better than their advertised lease price. Someone else said it already.....in three years you'll either own your current TL or you will be turning in your leased car.

KeithL

I just leased for the first time, back in January 09 so I am 14 months into my AWD lease. The big thinng I learned is don't over buy miles up front. Underbuy your miles a little and be prepared to pay for the excess miles. The reason I say this is if you buy too many up front the residual value goes down a little becasue you will supposedly wear the car more, and if you don't use the miles you don't get anything back for them, just money down the drain. Watch your usage and if you find yourself using a lot more miles just put money aside for the payoff. I have heard Acura will forgive some overage and that they will allow you to use the $1500 wear and tear allowance toward miles, if that is true you can be 7500 miles over your lease miles. Acura leases have built in GAP insurance so you are covered if the car is wrecked and not covered fully by your Auto insurance. The big downside is the lease is impossible to transfer and their depreciation is such that it will likely be hard to get out of too early. I figure on my 39 month lease I will be stuck at least until 24-30 month point. That said I love the idea of "renting" the car and just throwing someone the keys and walking away at the end.

Oswald Vater

LESS mileage on a lease turn-in may not necessarily go against you. I used the under-mileage on my 04 lease as leverage on leasing my 08. In doing so they actually gave me more for the car than the residual was worth and I ended up leasing the 08 for no money down. However, this will probably only benefit you if leasing another Acura.

jasonwdp10

Guys, somewhat off topic (it's about lease vs. buy)So i just bought a Base TL w/ Tech, with the intent of possibly giving it to my mom after 3 years or so. Now if she decides she doesn't want it, and i decide to trade the Base TL w/ Tech for the updated TL model or some other car.. would it have been better to lease for the 3 years??

emceeR

This forum needs a how much did you pay for your car thread along with the monthly payment. It would probably help a lot of people out who are looking to buy, I know it would have helped me.

jasonwdp10

I bought the Base w/ Tech for $37,000 after all Taxes(california 9.75%)+Fees, but before financing.

Spyris

The "4g TL owners check in" has people posting their prices prior to ttl.

Pseudomaniac

iTrader: (1)

I just picked up an 09 SH-AWD Tech with 6k on the ticker for 36. Take into consideration, this was a dealer demo, and now has the 7 year 100k warranty PLUS 12 months 10,000 miles added to it - as they certified it. Credit Union rates were 3.5% for 48-72 months. Basically, I pay 600 a month with no out of pocket. Yeah - it's a lot for a car, that in 72 months isn't going to be worth more than 12k probably - but it's 12k against a 6G TL.....

ross7778

Thanks for all your replies. I may go to the dealer this weekend and see what they can do for me. It all depends on if I can get rid of the 05 for what I have left on the loan.

emceeR

Spyris: Nobody posted their payment amounts.

SpicyMikey

Ross, that's possibly the fly in the ointment. You didn't mention what your balance is, but 3 years left on an 05? Did you take out a 7 year loan or did you buy this used. If you've been paying this car off new for the last 5 years then you've been paying a hell of a lot of interest. Not sure how much of those payments have been to principle. Before you go to the dealer. Go to NADA.com and check the trade in value against your balance. Good luckBy the way, I agree with others. You need to be way more aggressive than the advertised deal. That's no bargin

StonedCL

iTrader: (1)

If you read the "fine print" none of the advertised kleases include taxes and fees..
Taxes and fee's on a base TL are going to be prob around $2500-$2900.. So u give that up front or divide it into your lease so $2500 / 39 is like $65 so your $440 turns to $500 with sign and drive... Im sure you get get the car for $450 sign and drive though..

VTEC Racer

Nobody advertises their prices with tax. Taxes vary from state to state and county to county.

emceeR

Personally I see no reason to pay all that money for a car unless you plan on keeping it past the final payment and until it no longer runs. That is when buying is better than actually leasing a car.

chinolatte

I'll go...
leased my TL AWD 6MT (w/ tech) leased with 12k miles per year for 554/mo after NJ taxes, that makes it 517 before taxes.

This is my first lease and I think I did pretty well.

My last 2 cars were financed and I didn't hold on to either car for more than 3 years, being that both cars were much cheaper, and my payments remained identically the same, leasing was the much better option this time.

KeithL

It is all about the math, but usually if you are going to keep the car past the lease then buying up front is more beneficial. Lease rates are usually higher than loan rates. The only real advantage is you get to have the lease period to be happy with the car and if you wan to keep it you buy it, but it is easy to walk away at the end.

Nelsons_TL

i think u did, u pay a little less than me for the same car. Only thing was that they also got me out of my old lease. You put any money down?

ross7778

I bought it used 2 years ago. I think I have around $15K left.

shakedown

that deal is only for he front wheel drive

SpicyMikey

Ok. That's good info. The wholesale value on that car is about $14k ( assuming auto trans). That means it's a bit of a negative if you bring the car into the negotiations for a new one. The dealer isn't going to really want your car. The TL is their biggest seller. They probably already have a bunch of used ones on the lot. Plus it's worth a bit less than the loan balance. He's going to have to make that up somehow in the deal on the new car.

This month there is $2500 cash available to the dealers from Acura. They could use some of that to offset the difference. However that's that much less you can use for the deal.

By the way, the "advertised" offers are never a deal. In fact, that's always a straight sticker price offer. If they sold you the car for that price the dealer would probably be making about $8 grand on the deal. The salesman would be dancing in the isles after you left. Nice pay day for everyone! I'm not saying you need to get the car at the dealers cost to be happy. Something in the middle.

Rodney

mileage does not matter. Im on my third Acura lease. When the time comes to lease a new Acura, they don't care at all as to how many miles I have on the car. I could have been 10,000 miles over and they forgive it just to put you in a new car. Obviously if you were to not lease another Acura this doesnt work. But
if you stay with acura like me, this is a nice little leveraged luxury I exploit every time.

My current lease is for a base 2010 TL with zero cents out of pocket at 349 a month 3 years 12k a year. He priced it for 10k to get my payment to 349 a month, but just for fun right before I signed I told him to make it 12k to buy a little insurance just in case I stop leasing with acura in the future.

SpicyMikey

^^^^ mileage doesn't matter. Neither does the cars condition or wether you owe more than the payoff amount either. Believe that one and I have a bridge to sell you guys

grymg

emceeR

like the idea of having ownership of your car - unless you pay cash, the bank owns your car too when buying/financing unless paid in full

SpicyMikey

^^^ so true. Also, the flexibility and freedom you have with being able to sell the car doesn't really apply until probably year 2 on a 4 year loan. A car depreciates so fast in the first 2 years that you are no doubt under water on your loan until then. Lease or finance, you are probably committed to the vehicle for a couple years unless you want to take a financial hit.

Bottom line, owning a car is expensive no matter what you do. Leasing, financing, and buying, all have their advantages and disadvantages. None are better than the other in all cases.

jasonwdp10

That's fine. Unless you buy your house in cash, you'd have a mortgage. Is it suddenly not your home anymore? Do you live everyday saying: "man, this doesn't feel like my house because the lender owns it, darn"

It's more about the thought that it's your car/home.

bagbklyn

True but don't pay your real estate taxes or your plate tags or registration fees. You will find out how quick you really don't own the car or the house. It really is sad you finish paying for something but you really don't own it.

StonedCL

iTrader: (1)

$8,000?????

I wish that we can make 8K on the advertised leases....
The whole time I have been with infiniti I only made 8K maybee 3 times up front... Most advertised leases (at least for infiniti) are $2K-3k depending on the model.. I wish it was $8K!

SpicyMikey

I said the dealers profit, not the salesmans cut. I realize you guys make far less and in some cases almost nothing on invoice deals.

StonedCL

iTrader: (1)

Yeah thats what I am talking about, NO CAR IS MARKED UP $8K Unless its a 100K car or there is like a $5k Rebate that the dealer does not pass to the customer..
At my dealer I make 24% so I nkow exactly what they make on every car!

SpicyMikey

Don't want to get into a debate about this since it's not the main topic for the thread. Also, your experiences may be different and very valid. But, from what I know from my direct experience with the industry, gross profit on high line cars is generally between 10% and 12% depending on model. They also have dealer holdback which generally adds another 2.5% to 3%. Acura is 3% holdback. Some manufacturers have no holdback (such as BMW). So, I agree things can vary. But with Acura, you’re looking at a total potential gross profit of just about 15% of MSRP. That's about $6k on a $40k car. Plus add in any dealer Fees that are 100% profit. A sneaky dealer can grab another $1000 on the backend with fees, etc. Then, lets not forget the profit they make on adding points to the financing (assuming they get your finance business too)

I know you say you sell cars, but your perspective is skewed to the front end it seems. If a buyer comes in today (like the prior poster was mentioning) and takes that "advertised" lease deal, he will be paying MSRP. The dealer will probably clear close to $6k PLUS he will keep the additional $2500 dealer cash from Acura. Add to that any additional profit from bogus fees and added points on the financing, and the dealer is EASILY making more than $8k on that deal. $8k was a conservative number. That's how much profit potential is there. You're only seeing a portion of that as the salesman unfortunately.

black label

Not quite true on the part in bold Mikey. This current 0/0/0/0 TL lease in MA is calculated at a selling price of roughly $33200 on a TL with a MSRP of $35915.

FTR, in MA your $440/month payment goes to $467.50 when the sales tax is added in.

In regards to your discussion with StonedCL, with the 2500 incentive there is about $5000 gross profit on the front end. The leases are subsidized so the dealer cannot mark up the money factor. Typically the dealer gets paid a $200-300 flat fee for the leases. Unless the customer buys everything under the sun in the business office, these TL leases are in no way turning into $8K combined front/back end profit deals.

SpicyMikey

Your right. I stand corrected. Sometimes the manufacturer will advertise a "deal" which is below MSRP. I've never seen those advertised without the additional disclaimer that says (paraphrased) "This price requires allowances from the local dealer. Your actual price may vary".

In your case this ad it may be a local promotion being coordinated and offered by the area dealers and then advertised in print by them directly. Sounds like they are passing the Acura dealer money through to the customer. I doubt that is mandatory from AHC. In fact, I know it's not because I haven't seen that deal here in Orlando. Sweet deal with the zero interest also. Wish they were offering it here

chinolatte

No money down. trade was a flat trade, they just paid off my car, which was worth that much anyway, i couldn't really have sold it personally for that much more anyway.