So about 9 months ago a friend came to me, asking for help to secure a good lease deal on a CX-5. Frustratingly, she went to the dealer two days before we were supposed to go, and got screwed on the lease (it was something like $350/mo $3,500 down on a $29K Mazda).
Fast forward to last week, she hits a belt strap on the highway, causing the car to lose power. Turns out the car is totaled because it needs a new engine and with the coronavirus, it’ll take over 4 months to get.
To add insult to injury, she got laid off last week.
She needs a car (and ideally a job). She wants to lease again and has over $10K cash willing to put towards it. Without a job, she’ll never get approved for a traditional lease.
With that said, could she possibly do a single pay lease without a source of income?
If you have good credit they usually don’t check employment or at least confirm it. Put you yearly income on the app from last year. It’s not fraud unless they ask about current employment and you lie
Years ago I was finalizing a lease on a new Honda and getting out of a previous lease. I was making small talk about Hurricane Sandy and the situation at my apartment complex parking lot with flooding and the sales guy turned white as a ghost thinking I was dumping a flood car on them. I realized it right away and had to convince them that I left a day before the storm to stay with family just in case (which was true) and my car was nowhere near a flood.
As much as we joke “they’re all liars” / “they’re all dopes” - some F&I and sales managers could easily switch careers and be FBI agents (I knew one who never took an accounting class, but could scan your credit report and in under 3 minutes profile you like a forensic accountant). Be careful what you discuss around then once you get comfortable, and how it might be misconstrued.
I knew one that always seemed coked out of his mind, then one day he didn’t come to work. Police raided his house, cooking meth in the basement. His house was on the way to our remote storage lot, after that it had some scary notices posted on it.
Ha, probably. That was one of my favorite lines, “oh we have one in our holding lot” or “we located one of those in the port” or for domestics “oh we have one of those at the rail head”
It completely depends on your credit score and profile. I was theoretically unemployed for the year when I took out a loan for my cpo car and 3 year lease as well. Having an 810 credit score, 120k in available credit with 5-10% utilization, and saying you’re self employed helps. Credit checks and approvals came within 5 min.
However, I was never worried since I had enough in savings to buy out both cars if things went further south. BUT, here’s the big thing, if all your friend has is 10k to her name, leasing a brand new car is a TERRIBLE idea. Not only are you committing to term period when funds aren’t guaranteed, you’re also immediately underwater. You’re better off getting a used car that is reliable but undervalued ( off the top of my head (Pontiac vibe (toyota underneath)), etc. just my 0.02.
I mean let’s be honest here. Most captives don’t even verify your employment or income. Nissan legit verifies nothing, so she can say she makes $500k/yr as a seamstress and the salesman will happily get her 120 LTV on a QX80.
So can she lease a car? 99.9% yes. Should she? 99.9% no until she finds stable employment and knows what her income/budget really is.
I have had 2 leases and 3 financed purchases in the last 10 years and only once was I asked we’re I worked or source of income. My response, “None of your Business”. Was not brought up again. Now I do have a 800+ credit score, and plenty of money in savings. If I want to retire at 40, that’s my prerogative.
No. No. No. Your friend should save that 10k. Here is some advice: Her primary focus should be to start looking for work, if she hasn’t already.
Is she going to dip into that savings to pay rent and other living expenses or is she hoping for unemployment “income” to cover those? Here in MA, I believe it could take up to 6 weeks for benefits to start rolling in. Not sure what the wait is in CO or where your friend is located.
No. No. No. She should save that cash. Who knows how long it could take her to find a new job.
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