I tinted my windows and I’m not worried about it at turn-in. It’s a value-add so I don’t think they would make a stink about it. Well worth the $240.
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I’m the guy who leased that benz. I also have a '16 Civic EXT which I was dead set on getting (1 yr left on the lease). Civic is a great everyman’s car and the hatchback only made it better. All the tech/design just makes sense, from the keyfob to right side camera to storage spots. At this point though i’ve gone through a handful of hard to lease cars and i’m done being loyal after seeing some of these crazy leases. Now I’m just trying for the best deal possible on nicer cars (won’t be caught dead in a traxx, even for $60 - i’m eyeing the QX60 for under $300).
Things prolly changed but my Civic is $220/mo after 9% tax and I paid zero up front. I rolled all taxes/fees, everything into the lease. Dealer even paid first month for me. That’s with 12k mi/yr. Civic sedan and hatch are selling like hotcakes as everyone’s driving them so it will be hard to get a slick deal on it. BUT to increase the odds, ask about 5-10 dealers in driving/short flight distance, and negotiate near the end of quarter/half year. I signed mine on 6/29 and had to drive a couple hours away but was totally worth it. Build a spreadsheet so you know exactly how leases work and can do calculations on the spot if you have to. And don’t get emotionally attached to the car - or you will wind up paying. Good luck.
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I didn’t look through other brand leases and was pretty surprised that MB has a few starting at 339 a month. Very good to know for the future. And yeah something has changed about civic leases, I looked into the history for 2017 leases and all the information online and here points to much cheaper leases for that year. I actually have hit 5-10 dealers in a 2 hour radius ( surprised there werent more honda dealers around here) and this is the best I have come up with so far. I have a test drive today at another dealership and am walking in armed with this deal. I’m doubtful it will get beaten but am still gonna try to haggle the hustlers. Great information on the spreadsheet though am definitely going to do this. Is your name based on brazilian jiu jitsu?
Update: They sent me a lease worksheet which includes estimated title fee, msrp, dealer price, tax, final price, dealer service fee, balance due… then at the bottom it has cash due (1500) and the monthly payment for 36 months. Could there be any hidden fees in this that I will not see until finalizing the deal?
If the worksheet is a printout from their system and the line says total cash due at lease signing/delivery, then that’s what you will pay before leaving. However i’ve heard of some shady stuff. I even had a dealer swap out the car at the last minute saying the quote was for a manual and not automatic transmission so had to redo the numbers with higher numbers. You need to be ready to walk at a moments notice. Don’t get mad, just leave the dealership if they change the lease on you and go get food or something - there’s a good chance they will call you back (this is what I mean by don’t get emotionally attached as they can use it against you).
Also, its fairly early in the month - you could try telling them what you want to pay, then keep checking till later in June. Start with the selling price and work your way down to the monthly and don’t just tell them what you want to pay monthly. Oh one other thing is that CA has MUCH better leases in general compared to the rest of the country - the rates you’re seeing could be good for the area.
And haha yes I love brazilian jiu jitsu - just wish i found it 10 years ago.
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Ah yeah I am not afraid to walk if it isn’t up to par, although I did submit a finance approval form, I am not locked into anything at this point I hope, just to get realistic numbers on the deal. I am a one stripe white belt myself, if only I could get a dealer discount for that 
To you, it may be a value add…to someone else, it may not. IDK what kind of tint you got, but not everyone loves tinted windows.
I’m not saying everyone loves tinted windows, but I think you may be in the minority if you don’t like tinted windows at all. I got a standard 35% tint, not a limo tint.
Either way it’s a value-add. If you wanted tinted windows from the dealer you’d have to pay extra for it. It adds value to the vehicle. It’s also something that would be pretty uniformly invited as opposed to something like 30" rims.
I guess we’re going to have to agree to disagree on this one. I have no problems with tinted windows, but IDK that I’d call it a “value add” on a 3 year old lease return. If you’re only paying a couple hundred bucks for a tint, how much value does it really add on a depreciating asset?
In Florida it would add a decent amount of value, especially with black seats - reason being the car heating up from the sun being closer to the earth round here
We’re talking about aftermarket tinted windows, not factory installed. When have you ever seen a line item, let alone a dollar amount on KBB or NADA for “aftermarket tinted windows” to add value to the car?
I get what you’re saying with regard to the heat. A 200 aftermarket tint job is not going to add 1500 in value to a car. At best, it would be a wash, especially after a couple years.
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I think we’re arguing semantics here. If I was looking for a used Honda Civic Hatchback and the one at dealership A had tinted windows and the one at dealership B didn’t and everything else was the same I would choose the one at dealership A. To me that’s a value-add.
Eh, I agree with @mp11477, it doesn’t really add value to a car. Something you can go to a tint shop and slap on doesn’t really add value to a car.
If I’m looking at two cars in a lot, I’m looking at options, wheels, etc. Things that it came off the line with. And to be honest, there’s so many things about tint customization, I want control over type of tint, degree of tint, etc.
Seems the quote was dependent on >750 credit score… Mine being 700 bumped up the monthly to 255 but with 2000 down 240 a month and 2500 it would be 224 a month… Is this based on money factor? For 1000 more down I get a whopping 31$ off the monthly, equaling around 900 over the course of the lease. This is what I have calculated, does anything about this seem strange LeaseHackr Calculator
You need to figure out what that original $1500 “downpayment” consists of. It’s not all true downpayment as there’s a bunch of fees that make up for it (though I guess if you look at it compared to a sign and drive lease where you capitalize everything, then it is actually downpayment).
Look at it this way - if you paid 0% interest, every $360 of downpayment works out to $10/month less monthly payment - $360/36 months. Since you’re paying interest on the amount you’re borrowing from honda finance, you wind up putting something like $330 down per $10 decrease in monthly. In the extreme case, lets say you wanted to pay $100 as the monthly payment, you’d put a downpayment of $5k. The new $/month the dealer is quoting you is just a multiple of this.
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Would you pay money up front to lower your monthly payment on an apartment?
Makes about as much sense as putting money down on a car lease.
That makes sense, The 35 doesnt seem like much of a noticeable difference month to month but that extra 1000 will affect me now. It is still tempting though
If your money factor is right (there are forums to find the latest numbers for specific cars), you’re effectively earning 5.76% return on that $1k for 3 years. But if you total the car, you won’t get your downpayment back.
Ideally you get a low interest rate close to free borrowed money, which is when you look to roll everything possible into the lease.
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ah ok that makes sense. So it is partially a gamble that you won’t total the car. In my case I see it as partial insurance – like if I use 1k for a higher downpayment and use my tradein I have a much more manageable payment should I lose my job or have some health problem where I dont get paid for an extended period of time - since I have the money now to blow it has me leaning towards higher down payment with this mindset… Are you saying if you total the car, god forbid, after insurance and gap coverage you get your downpayment returned, I probably should have looked into this factor
If the car is totaled or stolen, there’s a very high likelihood that you will not get your down payment returned.
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