I’ve been speaking with dealers and browsing these forums for the past week and am going in tomorrow to sit down with two dealers in my area. Here’s the current offer that I’m pushing for – can you let me know what you think? Another post mentioned that not many people lease Civics – is this because most buy, or something else? Anyway, here’s what I was able to piece together after speaking with a few dealers:
$19,100 selling price (10% off MSRP)
57% RV for 36 mo. / 12k mpy
$176 doc fee
$890 destination fee (is this negotiable?)
$221 plate/reg fee
10.5% tax (illinois)
According to the calc, that’ll come out to a $234 / mo. ($258 w/ tax) price with $673 drive-off.
Do you have any suggestions on what can be further negotiated? I understand the RV and MF aren’t negotiable, and no one at Honda seems to have heard of multiple security deposits.
Civic doesn’t lease well so you don’t typically see many posts on here about it. Registration fee should be a government fee so it shouldn’t be negotiable and Honda doesn’t offer MSDs
I wouldn’t go to any dealership until you have the numbers you want. All they are going to do is waste your time until you are frustrated and then get what they want you to lease not what you want to lease.
Expand your quote search area and pick the best quote and send it to the closest dealership. If they except then fill out finance paperwork online and await approval. Once approved then send them a copy of your insurance and license and have them fill out the lease docs in advanced. Then call dealership and tell them to clean and prep car, then show up inspect the car and sign the paperwork and drive away. The time you show up, sign and drive should not take more than 30 minutes.
I tell all my friends to negotiate in their environment not the dealership’s because it becomes a standoff and they are trained to win. If you noticed being in a large volume dealership, when the salesmen reaches his hand out for a hand shake its not fully out and when you shake he/she pulls you in. That is a sign they are in control now. It then goes down hill from there on your part. I’ve done and continue to do research on the entire used and new car buying and selling process and there is a lot of psychology and other sciences involved to win the sale.
As stated numerous times in this dealership, do your homework in advanced prior to negotiations (use all the car dealership verbiage (MF, RV, customer cash, out the door etc)., in the conversations - phone email etc. so that they think you know what your are talking about. That keeps you in control.
Finally, never buy any extra stuff during the lease paperwork signing with Finance Dept. That stuff is marked up way too high. That is where dealerships can make some extra cash.
For example this weekend I did the negotiations for my son’s girlfriend on a 2018 Jetta SE. The salesman on the phone asked if she would be interested in the maintenance package (VW care). I asked how much and he reported $600, I then called the next dealership down the road and asked how much VW car was for 30K miles he said $299 at his cost if I got it from him. I called another and they said $350. At that point I knew the lowest quote and passed it on to my son’s girlfriend. The second and third biggest rip off are coatings and security (200-600% mark ups). My son girlfriend just completed a BMW 320I lease and the car had run flats, her father purchased the tire package (too much money) knowing those tires are not cheap to replace. She got a flat and because it was not deemed normal wear and tear BMW dealership reported she had to pay. She never used the package (when she turned in the tires had enough tread). Please be mindful of those extra packages before you buy and shop around (always shop around - you can purchase those anytime during the warranty).
Remember folks its your money and you are NOT doing the dealership any favors for them working with you.
Thank you guys and to Mark for the comprehensive feedback thus far.
I’m curious why Honda leases aren’t particularly good. Is it because they get high ratings and are in higher demand? if I planned to purchase the car after the lease, would it be considered a good lease at that point, since I’d be hanging on to a Honda?
I suppose my preference is a Honda over another brand and I’m comfortable paying sub $250 payments on a lease while my situation becomes more buyer-friendly.
If you want to buy it, just buy it from the beginning. Hondas don’t lease well because they encourage purchases and thus don’t give incentives or low MFs
Common theme on this site is “Hondas don’t lease well”
Yes, payment may be higher than a Chevy Cruz, but try getting out of your $139/mo Cruz lease before the end of your contract.
I got out of a $250/mo 36/12 '16 Civic EXL lease after 16 months and put $300 in my pocket.
And I didn’t have to drive a Cruz.
Hondas have realistic residuals. Their buy rate (money factors) are generally high.
Honda keeps their residuals up by not dumping their cars into rental fleets.
The Cruze (it has an e at the end) is a great car for the money. Unlike Honda, GM let’s you transfer or of the lease. Give me a Cruze any day over an ugly Civic, but I digress
They don’t lease well because they sell really well. Why bother with fancy financing when your car is already at the top of the, proverbial, heap.
With that said it is an easy lease to figure out. My first lease was actually a civic LX for 184 a month and zero out of pocket. I did 3, 15 dollar oil changes, and replaced 2 rear tires, in 3 years. Total spent about $6800 all in. This would be the only reason to consider leasing a civic in my opinion.
Honda leasing has been pretty tough for many 2018 models. Things were different last before this year. 2017 accord sports were leasing for $250 with minimal drive offs. Civics used to be in the $200 range which was still not bad for the regular consumer. My first lease was a 2014 accord exl lease which I had for 13 months before I traded it in to car max to get in to another lease. With 15k miles i was 2k miles over and had to pay only $1k in negative. I doubt, that would have been the same if I was leasing any other brand.
Honda is a great brand that takes pride in its product to a certain extent. They dont need to lease out their cars for 100 bucks because they know they have a certain market share which domestic US automakers are still not able to beat.
Ever seen a 0% apr offer on financing for honda ?? Also they never allow for fleets and or rentals. And yes thats why they have much better resale values than a lot of other brands.
has the search for the lowest possible monthly cost made ppl on this forum lose their fucking mind?
any single person telling you to rent a chevy shitbox instead of a civic should have the rest of their opinions invalidated. that is absolute lunacy. the civic is a far far superior car. there’s a reason chevys lease at $100 a month: they’re trash piles.
OP, your numbers looks pretty solid
let’s get something clear: hondas lease just fine. They’re always running specials, you can get your hands on most of the lineup for close to the 1% rule or their Toyota equivalent. Toyota is probably a tiny bit cheaper but Honda drives much better and are just as reliable. And you can buy it after the lease which should save you overall money on tax and depreciation.
The reason we get “Honda lease bad” is because there are shitty cars to be had cheaper and better cars to be had just a little more expensive and Toyota’s are easier to hack at the same price point. But I’d rather have a Civic than a corolla, I’d take an accord over a Camry, etc etc.
You’re a Honda fanboy. Nothing wrong with that. I have three Hondas sitting in my driveway. But I don’t close my mind off to other makes. Honda quality and reliability can be met by other makers like Toyota. If anything, the quality and reliability has gone down a notch lately. Look at the crv and its oil dilution issues.
The only Hondas that lease decent are the shitty lx models. No thanks.
I’m just pointing out the unchecked idiocy going on. I’ve seen plenty of Honda lease deals on well equipped models that are competitive within the segment.
And I don’t think one or two car issues revokes a car brand’s reputation as incredibly reliable and long lasting. They’re still cheap to run and last forever
The combined sales tax rate for Chicago, IL is 10.25%. This is the total of state, county and city sales tax rates. The Illinois state sales tax rate is currently 6.25%. The Cook County sales tax rate is 1.75%.
