That is not a great strategy. You need to search Shared Deals and Marketplace sections
I have driven all 3 and liked them all. I rented a RAV4 for a summer while working, so that is the one I am most familiar with (used it for 3 months everyday).
I used the Marketplace as my guide for pre-incentive % off MSRP when negotiating with Dealers. If I saw a broker get 10% off on a RAV4, that’s what I would use. Would you recommend I do something different?
All 3 are great cars. Just pick the best deal, but I am a fan of the quality and reliability that comes with a Toyota. K5 is also a good car, just more of a Toyota fan myself. Glad to see that some have their priorities set right after graduation instead of leasing a $50,000+ car because their salary allows them to.
Do not look at discounts in isolation. Were they attached to buyrate MF or markup? What were doc fees and addons like nitrogen, LoJack, etc that clawed back part of the discount?
After that question is how much lease cash is there and how many rebates can you stack on top?
Taxes? Are you in SC or NC?
You should look at the the Texas sales tax laws and make sure leasing a car and moving into Texas is a good option.
Gotcha, I was using Edmunds for MF & Incentives, and ignoring the other factors and going straight for the % off MSRP (which worked for the RAV4 and Camry, K5 a little harder).
For taxes, I am in SC. Which uses an Infrastructure fee: $500 paid upfront in taxes, then a property tax every year after, de-escalating as the car loses value (~$900 in year 1, less in year 2, etc.)
I had not considered that. SC uses a yearly property tax on cars while Texas has a 6.25% sales tax. I would then stop paying the yearly SC tax and instead pay the Texas sales tax? I will have to do more research.
I think you should be looking in South Carolina/surrounding areas if that’s where you will be purchasing the car/are in University.
The cars you are looking at aren’t very expensive. Unlikely to be worth it to take a trip down to Texas to buy it even if tax credit makes tax situation a little better.
From Texas comptroller website - New residents – $90 new resident tax due in lieu of use tax on a vehicle brought into Texas by a new resident, if the vehicle was previously registered in the new resident’s name in another state or foreign country. There is a chance that a lease is different but the car will be registered in your name, just titled to leasing company.
So you actually do well. Pay lower South Carolina purchase tax and then avoid the annual tax there
Are you currently employed? You may find it difficult to get approved if you’re not working yet and your start date is that far in the future.
I am not currently employed. I have savings to pay off the lease if needed and can provide the dealer a proof-of-employment contract, do you think that would work? No dealer had mentioned it when they ran a background/credit check.
I think you’ll struggle with that this far out. There are new grad programs with some manufacturers that will accept an employment offer, however, I’ve never heard of one that’ll work with your new employment being 10 months out.
Thank you for the heads up. I was planning on using the grad program since it usually says “Must graduate in the next 6 months” which I am (May 2021). When I decide on a car, I will make sure the Dealer is entirely aware of when I will start employment so there is no surprises, thank you.
Be aware that there are two different things at play with some of the grad programs. There are incentives offered, that are usually dependent on when your grad date is (they’re usually something like 6 months before to 1-2 years after) and then there are the credit contingencies that rely on your offer of post grad employment.
You shouldn’t have any issues here with the incentive, it’s the credit side of things that you’ll need to be very mindful of.
Thank you for providing more info.
It will help all the people here to help you with a new car decision.
Gotcha, I will focus on making sure I get credit approval. I worked really hard to get a good credit score, fingers crossed it will work.
Thank You for your help. My original post was extremely vague, I think I assumed people would say one car is far superior to the other 2, I am learning a lot, thank you.
Which is a great place to be as you exit college, but you have to remember that approval on a lease isn’t just about your credit score. Credit history and income will come into play.
Someone will inevitably come in and say “with good credit, they may not even ask for employment verification, so don’t worry.” In my experience, when using the new grad incentive, they automatically require employment/income verification, even with established credit that normally wouldn’t require the income verification.
Blockquote
From Texas comptroller website - New residents – $90 new resident tax due in lieu of use tax on a vehicle brought into Texas by a new resident, if the vehicle was previously registered in the new resident’s name in another state or foreign country. There is a chance that a lease is different but the car will be registered in your name, just titled to leasing company.
If I am reading this right, this means that I will pay the $500 infrastructure fee and first years SC sales tax, but then after that I would only pay$90/year in sales tax in Texas? That would be awesome.
If that is right it’s actually even better. Just 90 dollars on registration. No annual tax