Hi All, preparing for the first time I’ll have leased a car. Would appreciate your thoughts on this deal. I’m in the San Francisco bay area, Northern California.
Gross Cap Cost: $38,245.99
Rebate: $9,169
Cash Down: $2,500
Net Cap Cost: $27,981.76
Upfront Taxes: $1,000.77
Term: 36 months, 15K miles/year
Monthly payment: $396 to $406 (they say it varies w/ credit rating and county fees, I’m trying to lock this down more precisely ahead of time)
Money Factor: .0008
Residual Value: $16,291 + $400 deposition fee
Also, the car has 9 miles on it. Should I expect a discount because of that?
Go to Truecar and get a reasonable price for the vehicle. You can almost always do better but it’s all but gaurantteed that if you submit the contact form through them you’ll get the stated price, so don’t settle for less. In the Bay Area 2017 PHEV Limited lists for an average of $35826.
Go to Edmunds car forums and see what the residuals and money factor are for your chosen car as well as any incentives. You may have to make an account and post a question asking for your chosen values. A quick look didn’t show anything for 2017 but the 2018 models have numbers readily available (0.00110 and 54% for 12k miles likely 52% for 15k).
It looks like your vehicle likely will have a rather low residual value which will hurt leasing but should have a lot of rebates that help.
As a reference the Hyundai publicizes offer for the base model hybrid at 35.4k MSRP is $289/month with $1699 due at signing for 12k miles per year for 36 months. That works out to $336 per month for a $0 down sign and drive without any work on the bargaining side.
I suspect you were quoted a fairly bad teaser offer to see if you would bite but that you can do a lot better.
Keep in mind the 1% rule. Sedans aren’t popular now. You should be able to lease a car for under 1% per month of the MSRP. You are right about at that point so you could likely do worse, but with the various incentives on electric vehicles you can usually do much better.
Be sure to at least use Truecar and sent out an inquiry looking for a lease with 15k miles per year and I bet you’ll have a pretty clear idea where you stand and not have to leave your computer.
I just got a quote in the bay area for $425 with $0 down – although it was for 12k miles. I didn’t try to negotiate once I saw the 40% residual. You might want to check out the kia optima as well (very similar car, same parent company) and when I looked at Edmunds earlier this week there was more lease cash (12k?).
@RosieQ When I asked to use the truecar price, they said it does not work for leases, but there are other good rebates for leases (I am assuming those are the federal and state tax credits they get to keep).
Should I expect them to apply those rebates on top of the truecar price?
Truecar price is a ballpark and most dealers will tell you it includes incentives. It doesn’t always directly relate to leasing however most companies will offer very similar incentives for leasing and purchase within a few hundred dollars so it gives a good start for ballpark calculations. You never know until you actually contact a dealer.
I think some companies are getting smart about residuals for these plugin hybrid and electric vehicles. BMW is selling the i3 with 60%+ residuals but then finding they can’t even sell them for 40% or so. 17-18k cars 3 years old that were almost 60k are the norm. Consider a regular hybrid (not plug in) and see if you can do better. I bet that the new Accord hybrid in a few months will be a great vehicle and likely with a much better residual.
You might have more luck with the regular Hyundai sonata hybrid without the plug in. I have the BMW 330e plugin and frankly it’s just not worth it without better range. Home electricity prices go up, or you switch to time based pricing but then have to pay more for everyday usage for lights at night, doing laundry during the day (do you really want to stay up past 11pm to do laundry) etc. My electricity went up $30-50 per month. Sure I save a bit in gas but not much compared to a regular hybrid. It’s a wash and unless you want to be on the forefront of a tech revolution just in front of the utility curve then I would get regular hybrid or just regular fuel efficient vehicle.
With leasing there are two big things to consider.
You can try to get the best deal on a particular model OR
Realize that some models are just going to lease better than others at any given time. If you can be flexible and go with different options you can come out WAY ahead compared to just going for one.
Shop around with a regular Mazda 6, Honda Accord 2017 will likely be far cheaper with the new model being introduced just around the corner and some 2017 hybrid models are great and likely a good option for you, Acura TLX isn’t selling well and has had huge deals in the past making them cheaper than honda and while that isn’t going on right now still lease fairly well with good reliability. Infinity Q50 also leases well (luxury brands can sometimes be cheaper than regular). You could get a great Q50 for under $400 that you were willing to pay for the above, perhaps even their hybrid version.
Thanks again for the thoughts. I’m in on #1 on a Plug-In because I don’t need much EV range for my daily commute, but then I drive a lot in addition and want to be able to use the carpool lanes across the bridge and down the east bay.
Hyundai leases - don’t forget Uber Driver ($1K), Boostup ($500) and Bonus Drive ($500). Boostup requires 30 day aging before you are eligible, Uber you could qualify in a couple of days and Bonus Drive is after the lease/purchase.
What are the upfront taxes (tax on rebates)?
Search the site for other Sonata plug-in deals - some have been in the 300-350 range, but they were in prior months when the residual may have been higher.
The dealer for whom that offer posted said “yes, we will honor that offer. It calculates at $4142.06 total drive off $341.47 per month (includes tax) Residual is $17,459.20,” Which feels pretty different from the Edmunds offer.
I said, actually I was wondering if you are able to give me the Edmunds price? If not I should check w/ other dealers who are closer to my house.
Their reply, which I need help understanding: “We did do that, Edmunds says 311 per month not including taxes. We are showing you including taxes monthly payment. They also write that this price is plus government fees and taxes, any finance charges applicable to a financial purchase, any electronic filing fee.”
But I do not see that fine print anywhere in the Edmunds offer. But this is the first time I have used Edmunds for this kind of thing. Is the dealer legit or jerking me around?
Is it just me or do I not see any comment about fees, taxes, etc. on the edmunds offer?
Pretty sure there will be some. Just shoot the Edmund contact an email and ask how much the final down and payment is.
Mention that you want close to a zero down if possible.
Once you get the price, I would wait til Black Friday and see if you can knock down another $500-$1000 off the price. It’s end of month and some manufacturers throw in additional rebate for end of BF.
Make sure dealers have enough of your cars in inventory.
Current lease program is until 11/30 so you have plenty of time
