Wife has a 2017 Ford Expedition Limited 4x4 with 85K (bought used).
She drives 10 miles a day to work everyday (teacher). Filling up the Expedition has caused us some pain at the pump.
Since there is positive equity in our vehicle right now, we would like to trade in our Expedition, but the problem is the wife is demanding a replacement SUV with 3rd row. Tried out MiniVans… was a no go with the wife. We live in Colorado, so she feels safer being higher up in an SUV when it snows…
I see the Edmunds Suggested price for a Ford Explorer XLT is $42,697
$42,069 Is Dealer invoice.
New to leasing, what MF, residual, and lease or Ford Loyalty credits (if any) should I be looking for on a 2021 Ford Explorer XLT? Zip code 80016
Or should I be looking at a different 3rd row vehicle all together?
Same answer as everyone else that copy and pastes that question here:
Having current, accurate information for residual value, money factor, and incentives is important in understanding your deal. As such, going directly to a source that has access to that data from the captive banks is your best option. The forums at Edmunds are where we go to get that information, as they have direct access to it from the captive banks. You’ll want to post in the model specific thread for the vehicle you’re interested in and request the most current numbers for your zip code. It is often easiest to find that thread by searching Google for “Edmunds lease” followed by the model of vehicle you’re interested in.
Alternately, you can try the Lease Program Query tool on the Leasehackr Calculator, available to Super Supporters.
Upgraded to “Super Supporter” like you suggested. Leasehackr Calculator gives me an error when I type in Ford Explorer, it errors out on the Trim. That’s why I asked.
How much pain can this cause to make you want to get a new vehicle at the worst possible time? A slighter better MPG vehicle is going to save you less than $5/week?
That tells you nothing about whether it will be a good candidate to lease.
Most cars do not lease well. They do not have the programs (RV, MF and incentives) to be good candidates for lease-hacking, regardless of what dealer discount you can negotiate. This is truer now than it has ever been. Which means you cannot start your search with a particular car or cars in mind, and then find a way to make them lease well.
It will be like pushing a boulder uphill while pulling teeth, and you’ll still probably have a bad deal in the end. You need to start your search by filtering only the vehicles that are leasing well right now and offer good value per dollar.
Check out the “Share a Deal” and “Marketplace” sections of LH forums to decide what’s leasing well and pick a vehicle that is already proven to offer good value.
Remember, there are no magic wands that can save a deal from poor programs (RV, MF, and incentives) and/or poor discounts.
Greatly appreciate your feedback Max, the issue is we have 3 kids and the wife is only looking at vehicles with 3rd row. So that kinda narrows the field down quite a bit wouldn’t you say? I mean sure we could get a vehicle fit for only 5 passengers with a great lease deal, but kids tend to fight / need space when being crammed in the backseat for 1hour day trips.
Like you said I do feel like i’m trying to lift a boulder uphill…
I dunno maybe I’m wrong, is there a good lease deal for a 5 passenger SUV that can fit 3 kids comfortably in the back?
“What 3 row SUVs lease well” is debated, at length, regularly (TL;DR it’s probably a Highlander or an XC90):
My comment on a similar thread in June seems to still apply (be sure to click the chevron on the right-side to expand):
Ultimately you need to pick something your wife likes and will drive, and do your best on the lease. This is the most desirable vehicle type in the US, at the absolute worst time in history to buy/lease. No easy answer here unfortunately.
Honestly, I hate the calculator. Probably because I don’t understand the rebates and stuff, too lazy to deep dive into it. Plus I like spreadsheets more. Here are some sheets I made recently based off templates I found online (can’t remember the source, sorry). Ignore the first sheet, that one is for a car I signed earlier this year. The SUV’s though are current for South Florida for September.
Click on Lease Deals and Prices (90% of the time, its the very first link in each Make’s forums.)
Navigate to the last page in the thread.
Look for zip codes near you and get the Money Factor, Residual Values + Lease incentives if any, for the term you are looking for (typically 36/12)…best if you just make an account and ask yourself, they answer really freaking fast.
Pop them into the spreadsheet (Pretty straightforward). Keep in mind, MSRP is typically negotiable. Not many dealers willing to do so right now though, especially on SUV’s.
Good luck! I personally gave up. Ascent’s lease pretty damn good though, just need to negotiate the MSRP discount. But good luck in this environment. Mazda is more likely to discount their CX9’s, is what I have found.
We are still updating the Calculator. In the meantime, here is the program data for a 36 month /12,000 miles a year lease of a 2021 Ford Explorer (2021 - XLT 4dr 4x4 ) in the 80016 area:
