Got lazy and got hosed on a lease deal by ignoring the details

[heelfan]

I leased a Honda Odyssey during the vehicle shortage. I was actually pretty happy because I sold my previous lease for about $12.5K more than the residual and rolled $6k of that into the new lease to make the payments manageable. Where I got hosed is I only got due at signing and monthly payment without a detailed lease sheet from my online quote. I asked for a detailed lease sheet, but let them slide not providing one. I plugged their figures into a lease calculator and saw a better deal than the selling price would indicate and figured I should just be happy.

It wasn’t until late in the process at the dealer that they revealed a credit union as the bank instead of Honda finance. The credit union deal was worse in a lot ways:

• Higher acquisition fee
• Higher money factor
• Higher turn-in fee
• Loss of Honda $750 lease incentive

It was better in just one way:

• Much higher residual

Since Hondas have great resale value, I think I would have paid only $20/mo more for the Honda finance lease, but with a residual around $4k lower, I would have had a much easier time selling the vehicle and cashing out equity at the end of the lease.

I had gotten dropped off at the dealer and it was past closing time (9:15pm) when I found out and I made a bad decision rather than making them re-work the deal.

I post this now because LeaseHackr reminded me of this old post:

Isn't total payments the only thing that matters?

Newbie here so bear with me…but why does the sales price, residual and/or money factor matter at all? Doesn’t it all just come down to getting the lowest total payments to use the vehicle for 3 years? I’ve been offered $0 down and $289 a month for Tacoma Off Road V6. For a vehicle with a $37000 MSRP that seems like a decent monthly price. Especially compared to other $37K vehicles where $0 down leases are more like in the $350/month range (like a CX5). Am I missing something?? I could see th…

[Muwa]

For what it’s worth, depending on how much higher the residual value is, you could have broken even or come out ahead despite those reasons you mentioned. It just depends on the actual numbers. US Bank and CCAP (for Jeep) can be used interchangeably by dealers depending on the month.

[thevolvoguy]

You got the car you wanted with the DAS signing you wanted and a better than expected monthly payment…

Take your win and move on

[holeydonut]

So what score are you going to give them on the survey?

[thevolvoguy]

Nuke them from orbit. Would recommend you give them a 1/10

[heelfan]

Residual is $32k compared to $28k which the Honda finance lease. Payments would have been $700 higher with the $28k residual. If I can sell the vehicle at lease end for $33k, I end up down $3,300 with the deal I got.

[thevolvoguy]

If you can see into the future to predict car values, you can make wayyy more than just the 3300

[paranoidgarliclover]

@heelfan

If I can sell the vehicle at lease end for $33k, I end up down $3,300 with the deal I got.

But it’s if.

I dunno; I can understand why you’re annoyed, but I think, in the grand scheme of things, it’s not a huge deal. Getting the total lease cost that you wanted is a pretty big win.