Hi all! I have a lease offer on a 2018 Audi A3 Premium Plus 10k miles/36 months with exactly the features and color I am looking for. Can someone help me evaluate the deal?
Dealer numbers exactly match the calculator. The thing that’s skewing them from an out-of-state deal I got is a residual of 46% instead of 50% and a state money grab doc fee of $600. I can’t fight the latter, but that seems like a huge residual change. One question: If I keep the car, do I care about anything other than the sale price and acquisition fee?
While playing with the numbers, if I set this deal to the same residual and turn off the state doc fee, it’s the same score as the out-of-state unit of 8.3 years. I’m new to the site (it’s awesome!), what’s a good solid score range?
Consider running the numbers by us before signing the deal, though. I saw one deal where a user went through a dealer on the forum and ended up paying like $675 a month for a $45k car.
Ouch. I’ve learned enough in 5 hours on the site to recognize the pain in that deal!
What I’ve been going through is isolating the deal that I did on my current lease, which was like 1.118% (before getting my arm twisted into buying the clear bra). I later bought the service package (AudiCare) for it, which I took a flyer on because I didn’t know if I was going to keep the car and in the worst case it was effectively a $350 option on about $1500 worth of services if I kept the car (I’m actually an options trader in a previous life).
After consolidating the two deals above and my previous deal, I have this spreadsheet. The third column is my current car with the clear bra but without the audicare in the numbers. The second one is the one I am considering, the first is just a good deal but not with the options I want.
The only way this seems like a good deal is if they drop the acquisition fee to the regular $695, drop a few hundred off the price and –most importantly– I am committed to keeping it at lease end.
Unfortunately, you’re never realistically going to get close to 1% on the A3 because of the extremely low RV of 46%. Just to clarify, the difference between the RV figures you have in your chart is because there are different RV’s for different trim levels (i.e., Premium vs. P+), not because one is out of state. (Although technically, I suppose the out of state factor might be different if you are bordering between two different sales regions.)
If you are absolutely sold on the A3, you can try and get the figures down as best you can, but ultimately it will not come close to the 1% “rule” right now.
Otherwise, you may want to consider other cars that lease better, as a way to get more value for your money. (I.e., what else can I lease for $450 a month?)
Right, I think I figured that out with the trim levels and the RV. Thanks for the confirmation, that was really helpful info. I do like the tech in the Audis, so I guess what I need to find is the best RVs. My salesperson isn’t terribly effusive with information so I feel like I’m at a loss. He’s a nice person and I want to work with him, but I can’t do it just based on being nice.
Agree with @mbchest - asking a sales person that question shows you’re an uneducated buyer and don’t care what you buy if the payment is right.
Do your own research and understand more about how leasing works. Saying it is just residual that you care about means you need to do a bit more reading.
Good input, thanks. I live in an area where people are generally a little less cutthroat. If they aren’t forthcoming with the information, I make a mental note.
They want to sell me the car so I’m not afraid to ask questions. Will check out the Edmunds forums and find what I need. Thanks!
The best RV for an Audi is the “Summer of Audi” A4 Premium or Premium Plus. It has an RV boost of 1% and it the navigation system is discounted by $1,000, which helps save another $20-30/month.
I think the A3 sedans are all in the high 40s; the A4 sedans are all low 50s. Plus the discounts on the A4 sedans are better - 15-17% is not unheard of. Anyway you slice it, A4 is going to be cheaper 99% of the time.
