Help us brainstorm FAQ topics!

A few months ago, we added a Frequently Asked Questions, or FAQ, category to the forum. The goal is to help new users understand the basics of leasing more quickly, so they can get started right away.

An FAQ section could also reduce the number of redundant and overly broad posts, like: “What’s the best car to lease?” (Of course, we still welcome new posts for questions that arise over the course of researching and shopping).

And there’s more! A FAQ section could serve as a central repository of lease-related knowledge that’s been gained over time. There are awesome nuggets of information that’s buried deep into old topics.

With all that said, help us brainstorm FAQ topics! What are some topics you’d like to see? Here are some I can think of:

  • Extending a current lease
  • What’s the cheapest car to lease, period?
  • Ways to reach out to dealerships
  • Incentives: How to find them? Can they stack?
  • How to search for loaner inventory
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  • Where to find MF and residual numbers
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is it worth to buy add-ons (wear and tear etc)

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“Help! I’m way over my miles and/or negative equity”

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What happens at lease end?
What brands have covered maintainence?
What brands allow lease tranfers?
Which brands that allow lease transfers keep liability with the original lessee?
Can I extend my lease?

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Why does SoCal/NY get the best deals?
Why won’t my dealer budge on price?
Where are the best deals?
When is the best time to lease?
What brands lease the best?
Why did someone get x price on the same car I’m looking at, and my price is much higher?
What brands incentivize based on registering zip vs store location?

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That is a great one.

Those are two great ones as well.

This FAQ [expansion] would be very helpful. Most find this site when they want to head to the dealership/begin negotiations to lease. That is the wrong approach. It takes time, and you have to learn - that is not going to happen in a few hours or a day. So under Jeopardy format, if an answer could include that to negotiate the best deal you are going to have to put in some effort, I believe it would cut down on unnecessary posts and people asking others to do their work for them.

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I actually wrote something that answers this. I think I put it in the suggestions topic

If you can post a link, that will make it easier for Michael to find it.

So you want to get out of your lease? You could be over mileage, in need of a larger or smaller car, or simply desire something new.

First, check to see if the bank your lease is through permits lease transfers here: http://www.swapalease.com/help/lease-company.aspx

Some companies, such as BMW have relatively few restrictions, while others such as Infiniti require the original lessee to remain liable if anything happens to the vehicle. Others, such as Hyundai, do not permit transfers at all.

Assuming you can transfer your lease:

If you got a great Hackr deal, you could post it in the marketplace section to gauge interest.

If you didn’t get a good deal, you should probably post it on Swapalease. Anyone with half a brain on Leasehackr doesn’t want to pay $550 for your stripper 320i with manual seats. Sometimes a cash incentive that effectively reduces the payment is necessary if it is not a good deal or if there are few miles remaining.

If you can’t transfer your lease (or believe you could have equity), see how much Vroom, Carvana, Carmax, etc. will offer for your car. If their offer is higher than the buyout, you will receive a check for the difference. If their offer is lower, then you would be required to pay the difference. It also makes sense to check to see if you have any positive equity at lease-end. This will avoid the disposition fee and any wear and tear. Please note, some companies, such as Ford, give dealers different buyouts than you, the lessee.

If you have negative equity (you owe more than it is worth), you have several options. One common option is to negotiate with the dealer to decide whether it’s better to make your remaining payments and return the vehicle or have the dealer buy out your lease and apply the negative equity towards a new lease.

Assume you have a lease with a $200 monthly payment and you have 5 payments left to pay and the disposition fee (let’s assume $395 for Chevrolet). The dealer could pay $1000 to close that lease and add those payments to a new lease (and you would receive a bill for the disposition fee). Adding $1000 in negative equity adds approximately $33 a month to your new lease (assuming 36 months).

If you believe that you must get out of your lease because of mileage overage, first look into whether or not you can prepay ahead for miles at a discounted rate. Some manufacturers have programs that allow this

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Lease calculations… help! Keep getting different numbers than the dealer.
How do I determine my lease payment?
How do I determine my outstanding lease balance?
How do I determine my lease payoff?
How do I calculate taxes?

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How about depositing well-written articles on leasing in a central repository?

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How about a direct link to the forum tutorial? I’ve been here for months and still cannot find it lol (was recently reminded of it when I saw my badges)

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How about an online leasehackr calculator tutorial? Many users don’t know its limitations; what it can and can’t do.

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A glossary. Not only with commonly used leasing terms, but also some of the jargon I see pop up on here. (I still don’t know what “20202020” means and was too shy to ask. There, I did it.)

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It should be 10101010 now

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202020 or 101010 etc are used to help a very brief post achieve the min character requirement

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Not sure if it’s already been mentioned but “Why does the selling price on a lease vary from an advertised/purchase price?”

A matrix describing how MSD work—how much is it possible to save, how are they calculated, which manufacturers allow them, what happens if car is damaged, etc.

Dealers are regularly clueless about MSD, so a tutorial here might be very valuable to many folks.

Leasing out of state - is it possible, how to do?
Tax on lease - how each state handles lease tax?
How does one handle leasing tax when moving from state to state?
Lease return - how to / inspection / dealer refusal to take / etc

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