Hey guys this is my first post but I am pretty familiar with lease lingo thanks to you guys.?so I picked up a 2008 Acura TL for 11k a year ago with only 52k miles. I am currently $3k upside down and want to get out of this car. Any suggestions on what I could lease with basically nothing out of pocket and payments at 310 max?? Jetta R line or civic? I’d pay slightly more on a crazy good loaner bmw deal. I realize that my negative equity is about $80 a month. Please help. Any huge incentives that could help negate the negative equity??
Removed spam
Besides your payoff, where is that number coming from? Carmax? You’re right about ~83/mo on 36m but if you plan to trade it’s likely going to auction. You don’t want to be wrong on the trade rolling it in. You ideally want something with incentives and a low MF to carry that negative.
~$227 with tax may fit some unicorns but you’re going to be limited. Does your credit score/history merit A-tier?
My first reaction (assuming it’s 3k and only 3k) would be to look at a Tacoma. Civics are inexpensive but Hondas typically make great leases. Maybe VW? Only BMW I see in your future is perhaps an i3 but not my expertise.
Good luck.
How much is slightly more?
You’re not going to find anything BMW to lease for 300/mo with your negative. In the unlikely event you do, it will be the most stripperish of models, including only a steering wheel and stereo. Even a Honda will be a big ask.
3 Likes
This isn’t possible on anything decent, forget about a BMW. Maybe with a Civic LX or some other base compact/midsize, but I can’t possibly imagine you’d be happy with that compared to a TL.
We even have a thread now for cheap lease deals, you can do the math;
Just curious, convinced you to spend $11k on an 08 TL? Is it a Type S?
4 Likes
Your Acura should have positive equity, unless it was in an accident,because the mileage is good and your got a good deal on. Maybe you should wait a few months and you should be good or go to a different dealership.
Thank You all for the replies. I greatly appreciate it. I went to Toyota and Honda a few months back and was quoted a $330 on corolla SE with 3k negative equity. I bought the car because it had low mileage it’s not a type s. But stuff is starting to go so I want to dump it.
Did you even look up things like book value and how much others were going for at the time? Low mileage or not, $11,000 is a lot to pay for a 10-11 year old car. I suggest you do a lot of research before thinking about rolling in the negative equity and don’t just jump this time.
1 Like
I did do research I’m not sure if I mentioned but I pais $11k a year ago not now. The KBB retail was closer to 12k. The private party is about 9k which is May payoff but trade in is about 6k
Is this a tl type S?
If you just wanted an appliance vehicle like a Corolla why get a TL to begin with? If you like the TL, they’re very reliable and parts are dirt cheap. If you really want to roll in $3k+ negative, you’re going to be paying $3-350/mo for a super base economy car that you’ll be completely stuck in for the duration of the lease due to the negative you’re rolling in.
So obviously that’s all up to you. Do research, target some cheap vehicles in your region and report back with quotes. Otherwise hire a broker or post in the wanted ads thread.
1 Like
I hear u. The reason for the TL was to buy something cheap and pay it off. But since I got the car had to replace 2 batteries, remove Bluetooth (battery drain). Navigation no longer works, rip in the seat, and no I was told by dealer that is leaking oil. 800 to reseal oil pan. The reason I was targeting economy car is b cause it should be cheaper payment. I don’t see any other way out. I pay 235 now and still have 4 years. I think rolling 3k onto another is invetiable but who knows what repairs I’ll need on TL in future
Honestly my friend if you can’t handle a used car, don’t buy a used car 
All the things that you mentioned are common/easy/cheap issues on this particular car. Check Acurazine. If you’re thinking to pay $800 for an oil pan leak (are you sure it’s not the rear main??) then yeah, you should definitely just lease 
let us know how we can help you. It’s up to you to do the research and work to figure out what’s the ‘cheapest lease’ in your region.
4 Likes
Oil pan gasket 20 bucks, 6 pack 6 bucks, pizza 10 bucks, couple hours on ramps… fixed for less than 50
3 Likes
Yes! Actually even cheaper, the gasket is just HondaBond which is about 10 bucks a tube. However the downpipe needs to be dropped which is, uh, not fun after 10 years of rust.
But I’ve honestly never heard of an oil pan leak on a J series that hadn’t had its pan off before. That’s what makes me think slow rear main seal leak based on the $800 quote, which is a relatively common/benign issue and should be done with the timing belt service at 100k when it’s accessible.
I know you NEEDED that Honda knowledge.
3 Likes
Sell it privately, I was upside down $4k on my Subaru crosstrek, and wanted in at a new car. Sold mine for $5k, it had 160k miles.
Let me ask You guys what is best way to negotiate lease? Negotiate price first then mention my trade in? How does 1 get a great deal. Or just see what they have to offer then start negotiating price, money factor, etc
I just leased a loaner 330i and rolled $3600 negative in: Signed: 2019 BMW 330i Loaner.
When I negotiated that deal, I negotiated
the selling price and money factor on it first. I knew how negative I was, so I knew how it would affect the payment and where I needed to be on it before rolling the negative in.
Approaching it this way also allowed me to negotiate how much they gave me for the trade-in separately also.
Have you gotten quotes from carvana/CarMax/shift/vroom on the TL?
1 Like
It doesn’t look good to be honest. Carvana will give me $5200, Edmunds and KB about $5600. Payoff is 9k. I’ll have to sell it privately or keep it. Just off negative equity it will be 95 a month. Not worth it unless I get like a crazy steal. I’m getting a quote on a Jetta R Line but not hopeful. I’m going to have to fix the small issues and just ride with this car until I sell it privately or pay it off.