Hello hope everybody is having a good day. I live in California, and I’m a first time lease buyer. I’ve always bought my cars cash ( Older cars), to save money. I finally have a better job and built my credit so I want to reward myself. Since I’m new to lease and I got a couple questions. My credit score is around 740 with around two years of credit history ( All credit cards around 4), never missed a payment. Is 2 years of purely only credit card on my credit score too little for them to approve me? My income is around $40,000 and I live at home and don’t pay rent. I want to lease to take advantage of my tax deductions, and reward myself / also recently graduated from college. I’m 20 years old. I’m looking at alfa romeo’s just a little scared since I don’t have “strong credit” meaning I don’t have a lot of credit history (only 2 years), and no car or other loans they will reject me. Also what type of credit tier would I be in? Sorry for all the questions appreciate it a lot!
Most car leasing companies will have a recent graduate program and approve you with a small credit history (and throw in an extra rebate). I would encourage you to look at insurance rates on a new car before you take the plunge. At your age you might be surprised on how much it will cost.
Unless your are using the car for business you will not have a tax deduction on your lease.
You picked the wrong time unfortunately.
Really basic cars from premium brands like BMW X1s are now $200-300 per month more than they used be. I’m sure it’s the same for Alfa.
Alfa Romeo typically leases their cars through Chrysler Capital / Ally Financial who are typically on the stricter side as far as credit goes, especially with first time auto buyers.
Not to mention that even a base model Stelvio / Giulia is roughy a low to mid 40K car which is kind of a big swing for your first auto loan.
If you have a Co-Signer with a strong credit score and auto history I think you would have a pretty good shot of getting approved however without a co-signer I think it will definitely be a little tough.
Going look into that
Ah shoot, I noticed they sent me a "tier 1 credit " estimate without running a credit report and for a 2021 $36K alfa with the best rates it’s $2500 down $460 a month…
I do have a co-signer ( my mom), but worse credit than me but higher income would that help my cause or no? Ah shoot… Mercedes has been in my range too are Mercedes easier to get approved what do you suggest? Thank you
dealers rarely send the best rates unless you really hammer them.
without getting into your personal financials, is this a car you would want to drive for 3 years at that price?
I also understand the allure of a “European” car such as an Alfa. But a $36k Alfa is pretty stripped and not nearly as nice as something Japanese for tangibly less money.
Well the main thing is has she ever had an auto loan paid on time before? They want to see history, it’s not necessarily a debt to income issue.
Also I saw you comment to someone else that the quoted you on a 36K Alfa?
The base starting price of both the Giulia and the Stelvio is like 41-42K.
Yeah, I drove $2-5K cars since I was 16, and always been conservative with spending the money on a brand new one. I always had my eye on Alfa, or Mercedes and patiently waited. I do see myself driving that I’m just concerned with the approval and wishing it will be less than $420 a month which is not looking good according to this discussions.
Yeah she’s leasing a car and never been late the past 2 years. Yes near me a dealership is offering brand new 2021 Alfa 0 miles with a $5k discount at $36,000.
and yes using the car for business that’s why it gives me more of a reason to lease.
This is the worst time to abandon that habit. You’ll regret it once you see the payments here in a year or so.
Be careful because it seems like they are giving you or sending you some type of advertised offer.
Alfa believe it or not you might still be able to do okay with because I know dealerships in my area are still discounting however I am on the complete opposite coast of you.
I would target a minimal discount of at least 10% off MSRP so figure on a 41K MSRP you should at minimum be able to get roughly $4,100 off the cost of the car.
As far as being at a $420 per month payment now that’s a different story that’s gonna depend on the out of pocket money, miles, rebates you qualify for and full deal specifics.
I would say your next step would be to have the dealership send you a written breakdown of the offer, analyze the deal and if everything seems to line up with the correct MF, residual etc then have the dealerships work on getting you an approval.
Checkout Ally programs, they tend to be stronger than CCAP. You can get into the system here:
https://finance-quotes.allydealer.com/NetQuote/user/CreateQuote/NewQuote.aspx
Don’t know how strict they are with approvals though.
Market is so bad right now though. 43k sticker Giulias have been $300/month sign & drive type cars when everything lines up. In Feb-March generally previous model year units are possible to get at 20% pre, with conquest you could get to about $300, $0 DAS. Of course many more details to it, but this will give you a general sense of how much of a premium you’re paying to have it now.
@mllcb42 will grill you on this lol. If you’re getting to this number using the 1% metric, forget you ever heard of it. To build a target deal, pull the current programs, look for incentives you qualify for, add in a realistic pre-incentive % discount, and the monthly payment will be spit out.
If this is just your budget in general then no problem, but you need more data to create a target deal
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