As long as it’s the correct type of car (sedan, SUV etc) for my needs, i’ll go with the best bang for the buck, especially since standard equipment is so similar across most brands now. Brand loyalty is long gone and i’m not 20 anymore where i’m such a car freak that it really matters which brand/model i drive.
Terrain seems like a great option at a low price. The cheap used car is going to cost you in repairs and headache, i would stay away from a $5k car if you can lease a cheap new car like the Terrain.
I had mentioned that in a post as well. Subjected wife to S400hybrid and E400Hybrid back to back. 4 long years of problems. Sometimes a deal isn’t a deal. Although as previously mentioned, we had really nice loaner cars.
I am going to pick up a Terrain almost solely because it is a good deal. Make’s negotiation and talking to dealers kind of humorous when I tell them I don’t even really like or want the car, I just need the cheapest family hauler available to bridge a couple years and the Terrain currently fits that need.
Once you factor in taxes, registration, insurance, maintenance (free lease is not always equal to free maintenance) and possibly parking space, the cheap lease becomes a tad more onerous… So I would get a cheap lease if it had been a car I had absolutely wanted (like a Maserati for 400 or F-type for 380) at a ridiculous price. But you could not pay me to take a Fiat 500e or 99 Cruze lease
This is a question my wife and I have been talking. Lease v. Purchase.
Having purchase two cars before (and losing most, if not all of its equity with periodic repair such as tire replacement, heater, ac, breaks and other unexpected expenses) and two leases now - we are breaking the bread better with the lease (which is subject to getting a super dandy deal on the lease).
So as others pointed out, I will second those - leasing will be a better option provided you are able to get anywhere from 0.5 - 1% of the MSRP price tag. Anything more if you are paying for a lease, then you may want to think otherwise.
I did this exact thing just recently by closing on a Chevy Equinox. I needed basic transport in CUV format. Would have preferred a CRV or RAV or even a GMC but hey, the price was great and I pulled the trigger. I tend to view leases as long term “rentals” and approach it from a lowest price perspective.
I too was going to purchase (a 2016 Ford Edge) but when I though about starting at 53K, purchasing tires within the year and doing the brakes on a car priced at $25K already, paying taxes on the whole thing up front, eating financing…
The problem starts when you start comparing your rock bottom priced lease basic transport to a car you would have purchased. My cloth seat Equinox is not a leather Edge with pano roof. So, to be fair, I’d have to compare it costs of ownership on a similar vehicle, which I would never consider purchasing. To sum it up, I lease cars I would never consider purchasing outright.
Maybe I’m using Honcker incorrectly, but I feel its a real PITA to use and doesn’t give me the data I want.
If you know what car you want, yeah you can search, but it won’t sort by lease price, you can’t filter by payment, only MSRP and some crappy feature filters.
The “deals of the day” aren’t hot deals, its just scrolling through pages of economy cars that have overpriced leases.
Interesting. I was just going by a review another user had left in the ease of use. I tried downloading the app earlier and after inputting my location it just says it’s unavailable in my area so I am unable to see how it works. Thanks for the feedback.
I think the biggest drawback in using hocker (I tried) was it does not give you any breakdown other than MSRP and the monthly lease payment for months and mileage variability.
People on LH are clearly more savvy IMHO and less likely to close on Honcker without knowing the exact breakdown of msrp, dealer discount, incentives/rebates, MF, RV etc. …
Honcker is a good start up for hassle free buying but for savvy users who understand that there are x number of variables all of which are subject to negotiation, then such automated app becomes less competitive than buyer-dealer negotiation …
may be that’s just my readings so I apologize if I am generalizing to the LH population but that’s the trend I have observed with LH members including myself
I also wonder how the incentives are factored in.
for instance with this GMC, there is a $2500 conquest incentive. is the Honcker pricing it without this incentive or with? what if I don’t have an Asian car and qualify or what if I qualify for additional incentives?
Interesting. I guess you only had the Subi for a short period of time. I view the S4 as the grown up version of the STi. I’m sure I’d love an S4, I’m not sure I want the payment associated with the grown up STI, I’m both simultaneously too grown up for the payment (kids & mortgage limit the toy budget) and not grown up enough to have the income to get me past that.
exactly … like I said who does not understand or want to understand, honcker is good - see one set price, click lease and good to go. But with LH crowd or anyone who is curious enough to know every breakdown, it is a quarter baked app, for now
Yeah, and honestly for their mission, once they start adding too many variables, it takes the simplicity out of it and loses a bunch of value to those who want the simplicity. You’ll get dealers advertising on it like the newspaper ads.
For what it’s worth, I used the Honcker app for the Buick Encore lease ($172/mth). I knew it was a good price based on all the other quotes on this site. The app asks you what you currently own/lease so it accounts for that in the estimates. My rebates (which I assumed when I used the app) ended up being exactly as expected ($5750) when I signed the paperwork. Price before rebates was a very solid 11% off MSRP too (although doc fee ended up being a little high I think).
I don’t think it works well for all cars. Higher priced cars don’t seem to list for good prices and often have more variables. But on the very common ones like these Encores, there were a bunch listed. Some were clearly priced much higher. I assume it must be dealers that were not being aggressive with their pricing.
Could I have done a few bucks cheaper? Probably. But I really did like the ease and simplicity of the entire transaction and delivery to my door. I would definitely use it again in a similar circumstance. All in all, I think it is just another tool at our disposal.
To the original question, I think you can be deal driven and still get a car you enjoy. Don’t settle for a car you don’t like solely on the basis of a cheap lease, you still have to use the thing for 2/3 years.
My strategy is to go with the cheap lease, but only if it’s going to be easy to get out of it, either through a positive equity sale or to dump on leasetrader, swapalease, etc. The key there would be to ensure you lease a model that absolves you of liability upon swap.
Two advantages that GM lease has…all GM leases when transferred moves the liability to other person taking over the lease. and other is that 2 year lease terms (where available) works good for GM leases so you are not stuck for too long if you don’t like it.
unlike nissan/Infiniti where you are still liable even after transferring the lease, and mostly 36 or 39 month lease works better on those
