I got 99 problems and a Frontier ain’t one. (A new year’s guide to a transitory lease in a car you probably don’t want)

I feel the mileage isn’t abnormal either. It is a relatively potent, sizable, V6 motor - what do some people expect? What other midsize truck, that doesn’t have hamster wheel for a motor, achieve significantly better fuel economy?? Lets look at some competitors… Colorado, Tacoma, Ridgeline, Gladiator. They all fall within that same realm.

I’m personally not a fan of midsize trucks to begin with, but in my eyes the Frontier & the Taco are the top dogs (and have been). No question about it.

That’s true. It worked for us only because we have 3 Diono seats front-facing, and for now, it actually works for our 8,6,3 year olds. The only issue was the back strap latch for all there since I needed to get access behind the seats.

The last time I had a truck, it was Tacoma, and the seats were much bulkier - Britax Marathon ClickTights - and kids definitely didn’t have much leg room left.

Diono seats are much slimmer vs Britax, and thus kids have decent size rooms - meaning going from Leaf to Frontier they feel actually gaining legroom. Since by now, they forgot how much room they had in QX60 :rofl:

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Not that it matters much, but I think this may demonstrate the value of the upfronts not being capitalized. The interest is saved in so doing of course, but the line 5l value is reduced as well. In other words…for the folks who want to penny pinch and extend 6 months, theyll save a few bucks on those last 6 months.

That said…if a dealer was offering a giant discount and needed to show the acq fee etc as capitalized, that could work as well if the discount was high enough.

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I find solace that my lease extension is cheaper than your lease extension. :joy:

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Fingers crossed that I’ve got a deal done, will know on Monday.

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Signed and brought it home today. $261/month effective - details here.

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What are the tips on finding a dealer to do this?

First and foremost, determination and the belief you’ll get the right deal done. The majority of the Nissan dealers I contacted were incompetent. The remaining 25% needed serious help getting the one pay figured out. Of the dealerships where I received a semi reasonable and holistic quote, I had two deals fall through due to dealers playing games prior to finding this dealer.

You’ll need to understand the program by reading posts here, get a quote or two that you can shop, and find a dealer willing to understand what you’re asking for then execute it.

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Seems like your lease extension should be under $200? :sunglasses:

$182 per month :rofl:

I am also in Houston. Any luck finding any dealerships that are willing to make this deal happen?

Unless NMAC happens to have tax credits this month, Texas taxes will kill this deal.

Man, this is really difficult, spent four hours with the finance people trying to figure this out. I’m not sure if this is worth it. Most the time was with them spent talking to NMAC and they told them that a lot of these deals aren’t being funded. They are basing the monthly payment with taxes and fees, then asking me to also pay them upfront. There’s obviously 1400 difference between the initial cap cost and total cap cost, so it seems apparent the fees are being added to the monthly payment. But they’re not really sure how the cap Cost is calculated.
And then they’re taking all my payments and making it look like it’s cash down so it’s making the cap cost thousands and thousands below residual, so they are worried it won’t fund.

I just used a simple apr lease calculator to get monthly payments, add tax,X 18 months, add fees. That should be one pay.

Update: they are insistent that the taxes and fees have to be added to the monthly payment. And they are still unsure how to get the cap cost above the residual because they are adding my monthly payments to cash down , making it 3000 under residual…

At this point…might be wise to just go to a dealer that knows how to do it? I dont think its all that difficult if they read the NMAC program guides.

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Time to move on - the dealer doesn’t know what they’re doing. A few thoughts:

  1. Consider calling dealers in your area and asking the salesperson if they do One Pay leases. You can add that you’re aware of SignatureONE but also understand some dealers aren’t willing or don’t know how to do a One Pay. If you use this approach, you should be able to weed out dealers who can’t and/or won’t ever get it. If your initial search isn’t fruitful, expand your radius.

  2. When you speak to the salesperson, get their email address. Follow up with them based what you’ve discussed. This includes providing the information they would need to give you a holistic quote (example below).

  3. Keep reading. Even if you find a dealer who can manage to quote the One Pay, you’ll need to coach them at some point. Your example is a good one - NMAC won’t allow for the fees to be capitalized (they must be paid upfront) nor would that make any sense since all payments are being made at one time.


Great speaking to you and looking forward to seeing if we can come to an agreement on a deal.

I am looking for a SignatureONE lease on a [insert vehicle here]. Preferred color is [insert color here] but I am willing to consider alternatives as needed. My only requirement is [insert requirement(s) here] and to take delivery [insert timeline here].

Please see the detailed offer from a dealer in my local area attached to this email. I need [insert commercial requirement here] which yields [insert the deal you’re seeking here]. My preference is for [insert preference if you have one], but will defer to you based on the economics.

Ideally we can get to “yes” or “no” quickly as the decision is binary for me - either we get there and have a deal or we don’t. My zip code is [insert zip code here]. Let me know if any questions.

Thanks,
[insert your name here]

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From what I’ve seen, a dealer that uses NMAC’s electronic contract forms is more likely to be able to figure it out and submit a fundable deal. If the dealer uses a third-party lease calculator software that prints the contract out on carbon paper using the old-school dot-matrix printer, it gets tripped up on the MSDs being calculated on the pre-MSD MF but the lease payment being calculated on the post-MSD MF.

Checklist for a fundable one pay + 9 MSDs deal:

  • Use the correct residual. NMAC publishes the 15k/year residual. Add 1% for 12k/year. Add another 2% (3% total) for 10k/year.
  • Use the one pay contract form not the monthly contract form (3001-1P-XX not 3001-XX).
  • Don’t capitalize any fees. All fees paid upfront in Section 4. Selling price = gross cap cost = adj. cap cost.
  • Adj. cap cost needs to be greater than or equal to residual + $100. If you are up against this limit consider bumping the annual mileage up to decrease the residual.
  • MSDs are calculated based on a hypothetical monthly lease at the pre-MSD MF (0.00286). Round up to the nearest $50.
  • Rent charge for the one pay is calculated on the post-MSD MF (0.00196).
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They said they are having issues with their software, they said they use dealertrack, so maybe that’s the third-party software are you talking about?

The difference between fees financed and not is $175, so not much. It does add to the msds though. I did see a previous post where nmac sent back the contract and they blacked out the fees.

Has anyone bothered to get an offer to buy one of these trucks? I’m curious how in the hole we are currently vs our MSRP.

I was wondering same…but have no current plans to not keep this one 24 mos since its so cheap.

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