I’m interested in leasing a 68k Mercedes 2025 glc coupe in PA. Can anyone advise me to how much my monthly lease payment should be with $0 down? Thanks!
Forget you ever heard of the 1% rule. It is one of the dumbest things ever created.
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Oh ok so what should my monthly lease payment be on a 68k car?
it doesnt work like that, every car is different. it all depends on the incentives available and does that car sell well. lots of different factors. start by searching the forum to see if the model has been hacked
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It never has applied, never will apply, and perpetuating it is probably the greatest disservice this website has done to people trying to learn to lease effectively.
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Click on Marketplace
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You may want to read this…
Building a Motor Vehicle Lease- Data Collection and Calculations.pdf (370.9 KB)
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Thank you!
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When two people can get the exact same discount in the exact same car, and one person’s deal is 1.2% and the other person’s deal is .7%, you should know everything you need to know about the validity of using a percent of msrp as a target.
The problem is people are looking for a shortcut metric to inform them of the validity of a deal and it just doesn’t exist.
A better approach for looking at the validity of something like the 1% rule is to ask “for a rule to be useful, what do we need to it to tell us?”
If that’s the question, I would say it would need to say one (or more) of the following:
- Is this a good deal on the car? (Meaning how does the deal compare to what is possible on this vehicle currently)
- Is this lease a good value? (Meaning how does the deal compare to other competing vehicles)
- Is this better to lease than buy (Meaning over the period of the lease, it would cost less to lease than to purchase and sell)
Now, let’s caveat this with one more assertion: it would also be helpful if the rule applied to at least a good chunk of the people that want to apply it.
So let’s look at each of those…
- Is it a good deal for the car?
It certainly doesn’t tell us that. All one needs do is look at the vast change in incentives and regional pricing to determine that. I’ve seen incentive swings between two people of $10k before. Two people can get the exact same discount, but because of incentives, be hundreds apart on the monthly payment. Throw in regional taxes and you can literally have the same deal be off by .5% of msrp per month. Further, even when incentives are standardized and taxes/fees are ignored, what is a good deal for a vehicle varies wildly. On some cars, 1.25% is essentially impossible. On others, .75% is mediocre at best. There are definitely times when 1% is a good deal, but it varies by month, by person, by region, by vehicle, etc. A stopped clock is right twice a day.
- Is the car a good lease value?
Obviously as payment as a % of msrp decreases, you’re getting more for your dollar relative to msrp, but so what? Some brands have a marketing strategy where they inflate the msrp and then offer large incentives so you feel like you’re getting a deal. Others don’t subvene their rates to hold value. There isn’t some magic % where this suddenly becomes a good thing.
- Is it better to lease than to buy?
The argument that gets used often with the LH score is that it gives some inclination as to when it makes more sense to lease than to buy. This, of course, assumes that you purchase at msrp with no incentives, no taxes, no fees, no interest, etc. The problem is that it doesn’t actually compare the lease terms against the financing terms. When the msrp gets subvened by significant incentives, a % of msrp number is suddenly a % of a completely irrelevant number.
So here’s where that leaves us… We have a rule that isn’t applicable to a variety of people, doesn’t tell you if something is a good deal, doesn’t tell you if something is a good value, and doesn’t give you any insight as to if leasing is a better financial decision.
So maybe if you’re looking for a bmw 330, in North Carolina, in January, after leasing a previous bmw, joining bmwcca, and are named jason it applies; but you’d only know that after actually calculating and researching, which is exactly what you need to do to actually answer any of the above questions.
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I just used the lease calculator on this forum and it’s giving me $1893/month with zero down for 36 month 10k a year. Sounds like an insane price! I’m assuming I missed inputting an additional number or something?
I think my monthly lease payment with top tier credit for a 68k car with taxes and fees should be no more than $750 month.
It helps a little more to click on the “share calculator” link vs a screenshot. At first guess did you input the MSRP and the selling price?
Since you’re not a super supporter on here, you went to the correct Edmunds forum and asked for the MF, RV, and incentives for the Mercedes model you are seeking?
Without the inputs being correct, it’s obv going to give an incorrect output.
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The 1% rule made a bit of sense when automakers had some logic to their pricing and EV junktastic discounts didn’t exist.
But today the 1% rule is as useful as greasing those muffler bearings. And since life is all AI now, it’s very useful.
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Then you won’t be leasing a GLC Coupe. Since it’s not a volume car for MB it’s going to be a “pay to play” vehicle.
What are you basing your $750/month number from?
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I took a look at previous 2025 Mercedes models of the same price point. Saw other signed lease deals on this forum.
I would have thought since the GLC coupe does NOT sell as much in quantity & is not as popular, Mercedes would be inclined to sell and get rid of it???
Nah, even then it didnt make sense due to regional differences in taxes, gov fees, incentives, etc. There were just less vehicles where it would have been so dramatically overpaying.
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That is not how it works either. Low volume cars usually don’t get much in incentives since they are mostly a niche market. If you can find one that has been sitting on a dealer’s lot, you might be able to negotiate a larger discount. This vehicle does not appear to have any incentives or subverted leasing deals available.
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Good point. I’ll check the model I want and look for ones that have been sitting for a while.
Just got a price quote from a Mercedes in NY for a 65k glc coupe. They want $9139 down and $899/month for 36 months.
After I showed them this deal in PA for a 60k glc coupe at $799/month with $3950 down. I’m assuming I should NOT take the deal.
You should never ask for a price quote and never talk numbers with a dealer without knowing what they should be first.
Further, that listing you posted is not for $799/month with $3950 due up front. That number is missing thousands of dollars in fees/taxes, and like every advertised price, completely useless.
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