Hi there - hope I’m putting this in the right place. I have a very simple question - anyone have any advice or can point me to a decent broker or dealer who works in St. Louis, MO? I’m moving there from NYC and recently realized that I’d be better off leasing there than in NYC - but I haven’t found any brokers on here who seem to service that area, and I’m worried about walking into a random dealership and getting a crappy deal. FWIW, I’m looking for a Honda Civic, though somewhat flexible - could easily lease a Mazda3, Corolla, etc.
Is this a good deal? Edmunds reports that the residual on this car is 67% and the MF is .00150…plugging those numbers into the LH calculator, it seems like my payment should be closer to $270/month. But I’m not sure if I’m using the calculator wrong (new to all of this).
Any advice for what I should say to the salesperson at the dealership when I call her back? Many thanks in advance.
Ask for a lease worksheet and ask what lease bank they are going through.
If they are using Honda financial you have the correct MF and RV, they can’t markup the MF through Honda so the information you are missing is the Sale price and whether or not there are dealer accessories added in the deal
Not sure about your tax rate but using the tax rate for NJ.This looks like a sticker deal,I agree ask for a lease sheet like mentioned to see the whole picture.
Just called back - she more or less refused to send me the worksheet, said I “wouldn’t understand any of it” !! But claims that the deal is purely straightforward with nothing added by them—selling price is MSRP, their fee is $500 (which they charge for installing a waterproof trunk tray and mudguard?), she confirmed MF and RV and that they go through Honda Financial.
@max_g - I totally agree with you! And I’m not tied to a Civic. But I’m trying to avoid Kia and Hyundai, and I haven’t really found a cheaper deal on anything else. Corollas seem to be the same pricing, and in shorter supply. Haven’t started pricing out Sentras - I guess that’s one option. The problem is that I don’t own a car and am moving to a city in a few weeks where I will 100% need one - so I don’t have a lot of flexibility or ability to wait until the deals get better, etc. But I really and truly welcome any advice from people on here - I’m not experienced with this stuff.
One other question - I got a quote from another dealership in the area for $320-330 “with maintenance included.” Is the included maintenance standard, or some kind of an upsell that I should refuse? When I asked what it included, he said oil changes and tire rotation.
Sorry for all the questions! This forum is so helpful.
It’s pretty easy to check the official Honda website and see if they are including free maintenance from the OEM.
If not, don’t jump to the conclusion that all upsells are bad and need to be fought. The guy getting a commission is probably willing to die on that hill. Make an offer of a payment and DAS and let them figure out how to structure it to make their commission.
And maintenance packages have some tangible value… unlike most of the other flimflam
Thanks for this - yup, turned out that the maintenance is complimentary and doesn’t affect the payment, so it’s not an upsell anyway.
$320/month for 36/12 is now the best quote I’ve gotten. Unless I can find something cheaper that’s not a Hyundai or a Kia (and again, I welcome advice!), I’ll probably sign. I realize that $320/month for a Civic LX is crazy, but it seems like we’re living in crazy times!
Civic LX msrp is just under 22k, financing that with 0% down at 3.11% is only 396/month for 60 months. I know this is a leasing forum but that just shows you how bad of a deal that 320/month lease is.
Putting 4k down (just under 20%) brings that purchasing monthly down to $324. I also live in St Louis, so I’d recommend you shop around we have several big honda dealerships in the area.
Thanks for pointing this out. I’ve sent out a few emails to a few different places—Mazda, Nissan, Toyota, and some other Honda dealerships—trying to get ahead of the negotiation a little more aggressively (closely following the advice in this very helpful thread—ie, making an initial offer for the monthly payment I’d like to make). We’ll see how it goes—I have a feeling that given the current status of inventories, no one is going to feel very pressed to cut me a deal.
The issue with buying is that I actually only need a car for a couple of years, so buying a brand new car outright is not really appealing to me (I’ll be returning from St Louis to NYC, where I don’t need a car and where car ownership is expensive and inconvenient). So I’d really like to avoid buying a new car if possible. My plan at the beginning of this whole process was actually to buy used—but given how inflated used car prices are right now, I turned to leasing.
Again, I welcome any advice - thanks for everything people have offered so far, it’s been so helpful.
$320 for an LX. I’m glad to hear this lease payment. It just makes it easier for me to literally say yes to financing my car at the end of my lease which should be approximately $350 or so. And if I choose to extend my lease another 12 months it will only be a simple $300 a month. This is an accord touring with every package available. I refuse to head back into leasing and get ripped off paying thousands more on a 3 yr lease for a base no frills bottom the barrel car like an LX.
If you do not need a car, hold off. Wait it out or better yet like someone mentioned here finance the car.
If I were you, forget the 2022 honda civic. There are still hundreds of 2021 honda civics waiting to be leased. I’m sure you can pick up one for about 75 bucks cheaper a month.
I wish I were able to find one! I’d be very happy with a 2021 Civic. But all the dealerships I’ve contacted have said the 2021s are long gone from their lots - even the 2022s I’m negotiating about are still in transit, ie not on the lot yet.
I’m not at all tied to a Civic. Just looking for a low monthly payment. I wish I didn’t need a car and could ride a pony to work/school for the next year until prices drop, but…I’m really in a situation where I absolutely need a car, and soon. So it’s just a matter of figuring out what the best option in a very, very crappy market is. What would you do if you were me?
