Hello all. I’m back again. Our car plans have changed. She now lives in Atlanta and decided to lease because all the car we’ve seen have high mileage and she absolutely must have reliable transportation and not have a car in the shop often.
We are in touch with a Toyota dealer and this is what we’re told:
$249 per month for 36 months
$3548 due at signing
includes $2604 down payment, $249 first month
$695 Acquisitions Fee
MSRP $26,275
No trade in - this is her first car
Will add $500 grad deal
How can I tell it’s a good deal or not? I guess just having a car is a good deal at this point.
You can’t until you do more work, call other dealers, check edmunds etc…it’s not a bad rip off in today’s market, that’s for sure…but is it a great deal? Gotta answer those questions.
@mllcb42 will probably be around shortly with his wall of text.
That’s most likely not the total amount down. I’d assume drive off’s will be added to that. You need to be careful with the “lingo”. Is the MSRP the selling price? What’s is the RV and MF? Are taxes based off the monthly payment or do you pay the full amount of taxes on the purchase price of the car? Do you have a VIN#? You’re missing like 80% of the details needed to answer your question.
She cannot afford the monthly payments for the car loan. But she needs a new car because she absolutely cannot lose time off if the car is in the shop.
Yeah. From your profile I presume that is incorrect!
Did you actually get this quote on a deal sheet, a white piece of paper listing out the discount, info, etc. Should have your name on it (you can block that out if you want), they’re saying it looks like the advertised special from toyota, which is not real and difficult to get these days. If you posted that sheet we can help disseminate this.
Personally, I’d say finance a corolla hybrid - starts out 1k less than this, a young professional commuting won’t need the extra space the camry provides, you get better gas mileage (very important and reliable for a long commute), and if you finance it I think if you put down a small downpayment, you can get within reason of your leasing budget to have a lower total cost of ownership!
She was finally quoted a lease for a Camry LE for over $400 a month. Hard pass on that one.
It’s bad enough that we’ve downgraded to Hyundai and Kia. Many are closed today so have to call tomorrow. But I’m sick and tired of their games already asking for names, email, phone number and sales person get back to us and yadda yadda yadda. Many don’t even offer leases anymore or jack up their prices and leases are not the same as corporate websites.
She has a very short commute - 4 miles each way. There’s no public transportation which is why she needs a car. She could use Lyft but I’m pretty sure they will make her late to her job every day.
It is what it is. I’m trying to help her out not go deeper into debt due to student loans.
Stop asking dealers how much they want you to pay. You shouldnt be talking numbers with a dealer without already knowing what they should be.
We always recommend the following method before you ever contact a dealership. If you do all of the work up front, you’ll have a stress free dealer experience and set yourself for success.
Read Leasing 101 (EDITORIAL | LEASEHACKR) to understand how to calculate a lease payment and the variables. Monthly payment is an output, not an input!! While you’re at it, be sure to watch the LH video (How to Use Leasehackr - YouTube) to brush up on how to most efficiently use the resources here.
Pick a specific vehicle that you want to target
Gather the current MF, RV and incentives from the LH Calculator - Lease Program Query or Edmunds forums for your zip code
Research the LH marketplace and other deals that have been made recently on your vehicle - what was their pre-incentive discount? How did their lease terms differ?
Plug your numbers into the LH calculator (CALCULATOR | LEASEHACKR), and use a pre-incentive discount similar to what you have seen
Create a target deal, this is what you’re trying to negotiate to. You can try different terms, selling price discount, etc. and see how your monthly payment is affected. It is also possible that different trims of your vehicle may have different MF and RV (i.e. this is very common with GM), so make sure that you look into that. Come up with a set of inputs that give you the output that you want - your desired monthly payment.
With a target price determined, you now have a deal to pursue and compare dealer offers against. More importantly, you have a solid foundation to work from.
Do you assume you’re going to get a better price on a Hyundai Sonata or Kia K5?
Not sure what Lyft prices are in Atlanta vs. LA, but the cost of commuting 5 days per wk would probably be ~4$00/mo (it would be based on the last time I took used Lyft a few wks ago). But you save on car registration, insurance, gas.
you mention finance payments are out of budget but if you get a 60 month loan for a 26k MSRP car +taxes and fees (assuming no markup) and put the same amount DAS around 5k total, you will be around low-mid 400’s payment, and will have a reliable car probably worth at least 12-15k after the loan is up…
your budget for a car is 13k? is that for the total payments over the lease term?
We have a 14-year-old Lexus in the garage that hasn’t been unexpectedly out of service for a single day since we bought it eight years ago with ~88,000 miles.
A little over a year ago I sold a 2011 Infiniti with 85,000 miles that I bought new and had the same experience.
Ditto my spouse’s former 2010 Prius, also purchased new, which we sold in 2019.
I understand your requirement, and I’m not advocating for any specific car (or even new vs. used, or buy vs. lease), but I think you’re mentally exaggerating the risk here, which artificially limits your options.
You knew she drives a wind car (How does she like it)
It doesn’t get her far (Why doesn’t she bike it)
But it gets her to where she’s going to (I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know)
Where that is, I wish I knew
I don’t know where she’s going
And I don’t know where she’s been
