Hi, I’m a few days away from my lease ending on a 2020 Pilot (currently 6k miles over agreed total), with a dealer lease end buyout quote of 27k (incl tax etc), and Carvana offers to buy it for 29k. I need a van so looking at leasing a 2023 Odyssey, preferably EXL trim (only EXL dealer has on the lot is a lightly used certified ‘22 with 11k miles and good history, don’t know if I can lease that) or Sport trim (of which they have several).
Honda/Dealer runs a general lease incentive of 3899,- down and 499,- monthly for a Sport at the moment.
I have had a decent enough relationship with them over the past 6 years that I would consider returning the Pilot if they somehow give me 2k I would earn earn through Carvana, as in for example: 2899,- down (-1k), add roof rails and crossbars plus labor (~1k value) to my Odyssey (which I may return - NOT…), for example. Is that realistic? Can I expect to push the lease incentive down further regardless?
Thanks for reading, any input/advice welcome, and sorry for the long story.
I am fairly confident only you or a Honda dealer (or dealer that has a network of Honda under them) can buy out your lease. You don’t need to buy it to sell it to a dealer in this case.
Get actual numbers of the buyout for a Honda dealer as they don’t pay tax on the lease buyout, vs what the car is valued at. You may have a lot more equity than you think.
As for the lease, the advertised “special” 99.9% of the time doesn’t include tax, tag, title, dealer fee etc so those numbers are probably way off.
I am in the market for a minivan and unfortunately a “good deal” right now is MSRP or a slight discount if you are lucky.
If you are open to getting into another Pilot, there are some “deals” to be had on a 22, but be prepared to be paying way more than your current lease.
Hope this helps and if you have some more questions feel free to ask.
Don’t expect this to mean anything in terms of getting a good deal from them.
Call Honda Finance to confirm if you are restricted from selling the lease to only Honda dealers. Regardless, get as many buyout offers as you can to establish your max trade value and insist on getting that value from whomever you sell it to.
Then shop around all area dealers for your minivan and get the best deal that you can. Then you can choose how you want to handle your equity in the Pilot. I would advise posting your quotes here as dealers love to use trades to add confusion to a deal.
Thanks so much, I figured there is not much to be done in the way of getting anything better than that generic offer plus maybe 500 loyalty or some token.
Can you explain the buyout idea from my pilot lease one more time - I didn’t understand how I can get the real number without taxes and how that would help me. I thought my options are either too but out myself (paying the taxes) or doing a regular lease return? Sorry, I have no experience buying out of a lease.
I would at least get the programs, for both the trim you want and the trim they have, and pencil them out to see what it should be at buy-rate. The trim you think you want may not lease as well, you may have to expand your search to other dealers.
So you basically have 3 options when your lease is up or you want out of the car
Pay termination fee and damage and turn the car in and walk away (least favorable)
Purchase car yourself (this includes sales tax for you as an individual) and register the car and title it in your name or new lien holder. If you do this you are responsible for tax, so your equity is less.
Sell your car to a dealer or 3rd party (in this case a Honda dealer). Dealers do not pay sales tax. So say your buyout is 30k. You would pay whatever your sales tax rate is. So you could be paying an extra few thousand dollars. A dealer not paying this would have a buyout of 30k, but the car is worth 35k to them so you walk away with a 5k equity check.
I’d add that many brokers have access to Honda dealerships as well as many dealerships have sister dealerships with Honda so they are able to buy the car
The dealer buyout offers are always less than the private sale value, so you should see what similar Pilots are asking for near you to see how much that difference is.
Since you’re here, you may as well submit for a quote with equityhackr. Also try Autonation, TrueCar, and Edmunds. There’s another thread on here with many other third party buyers. In my experience in the last 1.5 years, my best offers have come from AutoNation and the dealer referrals from TrueCar. And remember that you can shop the buyout offers against each other just like you would buying a new car.
Thanks so much, that’s all very helpful. Seems like my biggest issue is time, so maybe the best next step would be to prolong my Pilot lease by a month or two while I shop around. I’ve reached out to several Honda dealers in the area, will post offers as I get them.
Meanwhile initial offer from my current dealer is:
Always separate your trade from a new purchase unless you have shopped the trade well and are getting a competitive price from the new dealer. Plug your numbers in a calc and people will chime in
You shouldn’t be talking numbers with any dealers until you know exactly what the lease should be and what your current vehicle is actually worth. You can not effectively negotiate without knowing where you’re actually trying to get to.
First step with your Pilot is establishing market value in general. What do all the third party buying sites offer? Even if they can’t purchase it, you can establish what the market value is. After you have that, then you can approach anyone and everyone that can buy it out (which isn’t just Honda dealers, but anyone affiliated with a Honda dealership).
With a new lease, you should establish that by looking at broker offers, completed leases, etc, to establish market value selling prices and then calculate the lease based on the programs, incentives, etc that apply you your situation.
You should know exactly what the lease should be and what the purchase price for your pilot should be before speaking to any Honda dealer.
Focus only on negotiating the selling price before incentives with all the dealers, not the lease payment. And don’t even mention the trade. Handle buyout quotes separately with all parties, not just Honda dealers.
Go to Edmunds and find out the residual, money factor, and incentives for the specific trim you’re shopping. These will help you pencil the deal once you’ve agreed to the selling price. (You may find that purchasing would be better than leasing depending on the lease terms.)
When you are satisfied that you’ve got the best deal on the new car, then you can ask the dealer to match your best buyout offer on your trade. It’s better that they cut you a check for your equity separately from the new lease so that you won’t get confused on the numbers.
Thank you! It goes without saying, but as I’m negotiating the best selling price I would basically not mention the fact that I’m considering a lease as well, but pose as a regular buyer, right? Once a dealer makes me an offer for a selling price on a new Odyssey, can they not honor it once I mention that I want to lease? I got the numbers of Edmunds. Understanding different parts of the puzzle at different times…
