Audi Q5 2021 premium $386 monthly. NY. no money down. Is this a good deal?

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oh ok, I thought that was just for the Volvo. (and I misread. You meant that the volvo will be $60 less than the Audi. got it) taking a look thank you!

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Make sure it’s comparative equipment too.

It really doesn’t matter what the DAS amount is made up of. Money due is money due and you’re not getting it back, no matter if it’s applied towards drive offs, a cap reduction, or some combination of the two. In my opinion, people tend to focus too much on down payment/cap cost reductions vs the overall due at sale amount. For every single penny of cost in the lease, you either pay it up front or you amortize it monthly.

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I could be misunderstanding this, but the only (hopefully a less likely scenario) that would make a difference is if the car was totaled. Otherwise, yes I agree you’ll end up paying either way.
If I’ve misunderstood, please feel free to explain what you mean, using the deal that I’ve listed as an example. thanks!

It doesn’t make a difference. If the car is totaled, the money is gone. It’s not like you get the money that went towards drive offs back and not money you put towards cap cost reduction.

Ok bear with me here. I purchased my car 13 years ago and this will be my second car shopping, so I am trying to understand the finer points of leasing.

So if rolled in taxes and fees into the monthly payments, and on the first day of driving, I total it.
Then the insurance would cover the damages and pay back the bank that owns the car? Or maybe the insurance company would write a check to me to cover the cost of replacing the car?
Would I still be liable to pay the remaining taxes and fees that I haven’t paid yet (because they’ve been rolled into the monthly payment)?
Or would the insurance claim check include the taxes and fees that have been rolled into the payment?

I guess what you are saying is that the insurance company will write a check only for the value of the car, but I would still need to pay the remaining taxes and fees that I have not paid yet because they’ve been rolled into the monthly payments.

If you will choose Volvo do not forget to apply for $500 Bonus drive

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In NY, tax is paid upfront. If you roll your tax into the payment, it just means that your leasing company pays whole tax amount to NY upfront, as required, and you now owe that sum to leasing company as part of your monthly, rather than to state.

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No. You wouldn’t be liable for anything.

To simplify to the situation, look at it more like this:

If you total the vehicle in a lease, the car goes away and so does your lease payment. Anything that has been paid prior is irrelevant.

So if you did $0 das and totalled it on the way home, it all goes away and your total cost will be $0.

If you did $5000 das and totalled it on the way home, it all goes away and your total cost will be $5000.

Now, there are some semantics in there… If you have gap coverage (which most non-toyota leases come with already), if the accident isn’t your fault, you may be able to get some of it back with a lawyer, etc, but that’s a good general rule of thumb for how to look at it.

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Ok I am understanding this to mean that it’s better to roll in DAS (taxes, fees, etc.) into monthly payment, in the slim chance that the car is totaled, similar to the rule of not putting any down payment.

Maybe this needs to be added to the blog post: 8 Things You Should Know Before Leasing A New Car

Thanks for letting me know about this. This is good to know.

Thanks! Does this mean that I have to have AllState insurance? We currently have GEICO.
Also for Volvo apparently there’s a discount for Costco members and healthcare workers too.
My wife is not an MD, but she has an NPI number, so I think she qualifies.

You do not need to be an Allstate member. Allstate.bonusdrive.com

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There are several reasons to roll everything in. The cost of doing so depends on MF on the lease. It’s best to compare the cost delta of doing so with your personal financial strategies/risk tolerance/etc

As mllcb42 said, it depends on your pain tolerance.

But, also, as I’ve been heard to say many times, I find it funny that folks will say this regarding a lease, but then say you should put as much down as possible on a finance. The same rules apply, though, if you get GAP on the finance. But, in any case, my personal preference for rolling it all in and just paying first month up front, MAYBE first month and DMV, is because it makes it more tolerable if I sell the vehicle early or transfer the lease. I had a fixed per-month rental and don’t need to take up-front losses into account. Since I have yet to ride out a lease to the end, it is just the way I want to work.

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You do not have to have Allstate insurance. Anyone can apply.

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You also have to consider that you’ll pay interest on the fees you roll in. You’ll have to weigh/calculate your options. Would you rather risk the DAS if you total the car or pay interest on the fees?

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When I financed my car in 2007, I put down maybe $2000 and financed the rest over 4 yrs at 0% interest rate through Mazda’s promotion. I wouldn’t have even put down $2000, but they requested that I do, and it might even have been a prerequisite for the 0 % financing. I can’t remember exactly.
It made sense to finance everything at 0% interest rate, since I wasn’t exactly buying a car that I couldn’t afford, and I could pay the monthly car loan payments.

Now I realize for the lease, it makes sense for me to roll in all the fees into monthly payments, and put as much MSD payment as I can to get the MF down. I really hope it’s true that you get the MSD back after the lease ends. lol.

Thanks for walking me through this!

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Yes good point. Say $4000 with very low interest rate due to lowering MF, the total interest paid on $4000 fee wouldn’t be a significant amount. Correct me if I am wrong though. We are not talking credit card like interest rates.

I suspect that part of that is that financing has been mainstream for far longer than leasing has been so rules of thumb applied to financing came about during the days when interest rates were much higher.

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