I have a Zero DAS 36 month offer on a 2020 Honda Civic Hatchback LX that I need help with to see if I am getting a good deal.
I negotiated the selling price down to $19249. Doc fees $194.50, registration $46, taxes $338.40.
I have trade equity of $1008. There is a $565 acc. fee, and there is a $361 add-on for a “pro-pack” of mud guards, trunk tray and wheel locks ( I could not get them to waive this no matter how hard I tried).
Zero DAS and payments are $183.40 before tax. Residual is $13548. Although the payments are great for me, I keep feeling like there is some amount not accounted for on this lease. They are charging a $493 rent charge on the lease.
I am new to leasing, so was basically going to do a finance purchase with Honda Financial. This will be my 5th Honda. The sales manager gave my the Loyalty Bonus $1000 plus the special Zero lease that Honda is advertising. 2 other dealers told me they could not mix the Loyalty Bonus with the Zero lease.
I am considering this lease they offered. Zero DAS. When I plug in my numbers in Edmunds it shows me a payment of $229. They are giving me a payment of $192.80 after tax.
When any of us talk about going to edmunds for info, what we’re referring to is going and posting on the edmunds lease thread for the specific vehicle and asking for the rv/mf/incentives for your specific zip code/lease terms/trim level.
The lease calculators and such on edmunds are pretty useless. You need to get the actual data.
They’re correct, the residual is set by honda, but it’s always in your best interest to independently verify it. It’s an easy check to make sure there’s been no mix up on lease terms, trim level, etc. Having the value is also necessary for you to independently calculate the lease costs.
I think I figured out what was causing me pause on this lease. For the true Honda Zero DAS lease there is a 0 cap/cost reduction.
The dealer, applied my trade equity towards the cap/cost reduction instead of applying it to the total price of the vehicle. She says it can’t come off of the residual, but it should lower my payments even further correct?
These are essentially the same thing. The residual value is the value of the vehicle at the end of the lease. It doesn’t change, no matter where you spend money.
If you have trade equity, it’s not zero DAS unless they cut you a check for the trade equity and you walk away with the car without spending any money.
I am waiting on them to let me know what amount they have listed for cap/cost reduction. I believe instead of the selling price coming down to $19249 on the lease, they listed it as $20249 and also applied the $1000 Loyalty bonus along with the trade equity to cap/cost reduction.
Here’s my recommendation if you want the best deal:
Stop talking to this dealer. Delete their emails. Stop shopping.
You need to spend a little time doing some research as to what goes into a good lease deal and where the numbers come from. There’s a great leasing 101 article on here on how to calculate a lease by hand.
After you’ve gotten that far, start doing some research here on other civic deals. You want to determine a target pre-incentive discount. Take that value and combine it with the numbers from edmunds for rv/mf/incentives. That will give you what you need to determine what the lease should cost.
Then, and only then, consider talking to dealers.
Talking to the dealer is for finding someone to do the deal you want to do. It isn’t for figuring out what the car should cost. If you don’t already know exactly what price you should be paying BEFORE you talk to the dealer, you’re putting yourself at a huge disadvantage and setting yourself up for bad deal.
I already negotiated the price way under invoice after research and negotiating among 3 dealers. Only one would go down that low to $19249 from MSRP of $22580. $19249 is below invoice and way lower than Edmunds, TrueCar, Costco or any of the other research sites show.
That part was done. All I was asking was for advice if the payment of $187 with zero DAS was a good deal.
And I gave you the advice needed to determine that.
Also, if $19249 includes your incentives, you shouldn’t be comparing that value to invoice (not that invoice price matters. My last honda lease was at 15% off pre-incentive, which is significantly below invoice and significantly below edmunds, truecar, or costco), you should be comparing the pre-incentive price.
Also, as @max_g said, you don’t currently have a $187/mo with $0 DAS deal in front of you, as it includes your trade equity.
New to leasing and this sounds like the right way to go about this. Also trying to find a good lease deal in the SF Bay Area and Im willing to go as far as LA. Any articles other than edmonds that you recommend?
