I don’t think there is any one definition of a unicorn deal - what is a unicorn for one model at one point in time, might be an “ok” or even bad deal on a different, but similarly-priced car, or even the same car a year later. If you spend enough time researching a car, you get a pretty good idea of where the floor is - a unicorn is something below that, I’d imagine.
Also, I think focusing on the rent charge is probably not optimal. Some brands have terrible residuals and rock-bottom MF rates, while others inflate their residuals but have higher MFs to compensate. Given the various factors in play, it seems weird to fixate on any one of them.
Your #1 criteria, and really only criteria, should be minimizing your total out of pocket cost.
Let’s say you have two $50k MSRP BMWs sitting in front of you, one dealer has marked the mf up to the max, but has offered an extra $1500 in discount. The other has a higher selling price, but buy rate mf, so much lower amount of rent charge. Which one do you take?
@RSemsedin - Welcome to the forum. Your best bet is to figure out the car you are looking to get once your lease is up. It will make the broker’s life much easier.
My lease is going to be up next year, but I wanted to find ways to even save more $$$ on my next lease (one of the reasons I joined LH).
With leasing/car buying in general, timing is nearly everything. You need to find the right car that has been sitting on a dealer’s lot for a while. Some dealers are more motivated to make deals towards the end of the month, if they are looking to hit their sales numbers.
However, you need to do all the legwork before you start contacting dealers. The Edmunds forum is another great resource if you are looking for info about incentives, the RV and MF for the car/terms of the lease you are looking at.
huh? my point is lowest cost too. if you get a low rent charge generally your cost is lower. like that x2 model above. clearly depreciation of 400ish for the total term offsets the 3k rent charge. usually you don’t see only 400ish of depreciation on a 3 year deal.
in a normal scenario, when you are paying 500ish a month, I don’t want to add 100/200more a month in rent charge. That is a marked up MF or a crappy MF.
Honestly you are the first person who has ever cared about how much of the base payment is depreciation vs rent.
There have been some amazing deals where depreciation was 0 or close to 0. The entire base payment was rent. Nobody cared. Would have been foolish to walk over that.
When I calculate a monthly payment on a lease, after taking into account all the variables (pre-incentive sale price, incentives, MF, RV, and fees), if the monthly is in the range I was expecting, then that’s all that matters. I don’t need a score or an imaginary rule to tell me I am getting a good deal.
I am not in the business of nickel-and-diming a dealer, as long as they are transparent and the numbers they provide make sense to me.
The more I read posts from newbies, the more I notice folks are either payment shopping (to each his/her own) or are looking for an unreasonable discount on a car.
EDIT: In the car buying/leasing world, it makes sense to understand how the sausage is made, IMO.
Ugh I hate when people ask me or complain about how much interest/rent they’re paying with no intention to buy these out. Who cares! A deal is a deal. Drive it cheap and return it
The majority of people buying a car or signing a lease have no idea what they are doing. Thats a given. Many leases are fleeces. Take a look at swapalease or lease trader and you will see owners tryign to get out of leases. In many cases you will see prices that defy belief on their leases. Rarely have I seen any sharp deal worth grabbing on those websites. So I dont care abotu dealers complining about customers going for the lowest price etc. One of the classic lease trcks is the end of lease fee that applies to most leases. From a psychological point of view customers dont want to pay a fee for nothing. But of course lease another car from us and its waived. For me I go for th best deal so I jump ship all the time when the next deal is not a sharp one. it doesnt have to be a uniicorn deal per se, but it had to be a good value to other cars in the same price class that I am seeking. Rarely do a visit a dealer over the past 25 yrs. When I say to them I wnt strictly a sign and drive lease for this term they have a near blank look on their faces.
