I work in finance in NYC, haven’t had a car in 10 years and cars before then always came through family friend who was Ford dealer so have never dealt with this process. Have looked a a bunch of 7-seat SUVs (Mazda CX-9, Kia Telluride, Infiniti QX60, Audi Q7, Volvo XC90 and Lexus RX350L) and found the lease terms wildly divergent and not at all in line with MSRP or cash price. All of these are 36 month 10k mi leases and for example
CX-9 with a $48k sticker is $750/mo with $3.1k down and $83/mo on top for maintenance
Audi Q7 with $59k sticker is $933/mo with $5.8k down and maintenance $1k upfront
Lexus RX350L with $58k sticker is $664/mo with $4k down and maintance included
Don’t have lease price on the Volvo yet but buddy leased an XC90 with $55k sticker for $459/mo about a year ago.
I am super perplexed as to why the high divergence. Is this being driven by lack of inventory and dealer/salesman incentives? Do different manufacturers/dealers have wildly divergent residual value assumptions? Is the fact the mid-tier models are fully loaded and those feature don’t hold up as well in residuals?
Or is it just that I need to come back and negotiate as these were all just datapoints we were gathering as we try to make a decision?
In short, there are many variables that are driven by different factors. I suggest you read “leasing 101” (somewhere in the site) and get yourself familiar with the calculation first.
Thanks, have read a bunch of those and get the factors but still a bit perplexed by what I am seeing. Granted I didn’t negotiate and we came in just looking to start which I now realize is a less than ideal approach.
Well, I would say it is because of the free market. There is no fast and hard rule in pricing. Some sellers will extract every penny out of the uneducated buyer and won’t refrain lying twice in the same sentence, some will be straightforward but both will want to make the maximum profit off of you. Like said above, you are a perfect candidate for a broker and fee you will pay will be money well spent.
If you go in blindly and ask a dealer how much they want you to pay, you’re going to get a number they’re happy with. If you do it without doing your homework first, you have no way of knowing just how bad it is.
Talking to a dealer is for finding someone to do your deal, not for finding out what something should lease for.
I see a few three row, and sardine size three row suvs. Have you decided what suits your needs? You can waste time and get dealer quotes all day, but you need to figure out what you genuinely need. A q7 is a stark cry from a rx350l’s third row. Trust me (any knees above the age of 9 will thank you).
in NYC- just leased my first car. Definitely go through a broker. Mine even had the car delivered to my apartment. And saved me a lot over going through a dealer directly.
NYC residents - especially those with means - have been rushing out and getting cars (new and used) during the pandemic to get out to the suburbs/upstate/LI and avoid public transit. Dealers are taking advantage of the increased demand. Pretty simple.
Funny thing is that a year or two from now there are probably going to be a TON of folks trying to get out of these leases when they decide to move back to the city full-time and don’t want to pay $500+ month to park them
Supply and Demand. Leasing is hard right now many of the luxury cars are 300-500 bucks more expensive than usual. So, go through a broker right now or just wait a few months.
Thanks for all the replies. Sounds like a broker is the way to go, should I just go check the broker forum or anything beyond that in terms of finding one.
And on the comment about knowing what we need, I wish we did. If so, would be buying have narrowed it down to 1-2 makes/models and gone into get a deal done. Instead we have general guidelines but in a way this lease is a test for buying in the future. May decide we don’t even need a third row but with a 1 and 3 year old the whole idea is it is used only when needed (and those models all have more trunk space).
Yeah, we are spending more time getting out of the city and as kids age will have more of a need to take them to sports practice, etc. We were planning on waiting until spring (pre-COVID) but have accelerated timeline so we have stuff to do this fall. Been renting which is fine but not something my wife can do to take boys up to Central Park for the day if I am working.
Something to keep in mind that was brought up for NYC - make sure u know your parking costs and the size of the vehicle. Check with whichever garage you want to park at for their charges for the specific vehicle (e.g. if it’s wide or oversized).
Except the CX-9. The third row is useless and the trunk space is way less useful because of the shape of the back of the car. I’d suggest anything but that miserable vehicle. I have such happy memory from the day we got to trade ours in.
Driving to Central Park during the week? I am not sure I would subject anyone I cared for to that sort of experience. Just parking will take time/money and then a walk to the park. Isn’t that what taxis are for. You could take a $30 taxi ride every day of the month and spend less than what it would cost to buy/lease, maintain, park your targeted vehicles.
Yep, except throw in two car seats and journey is a lot less possible. I myself recognize that even having a car here is not practical and pure convenience. At the same time I would rather get a 4 year old used SUV for a decent price than pay out the nose for a mispriced luxury lease.
I sincerely hope that I am looking back in 9 months and wondering if we really needed a car as we have a COVID vaccine and my wife can just hop on the subway with the kids, but we are planning for the worst which is whole reason we accelerated getting a car by 6-9 months.
XC90 is one of the best luxury SUV you can get right now, and its pricing and incentives set it apart from most others. If I were you I’d reach out to Mike (@aronchi) and see if you can lock in his last one @ $518/mo. Good Luck!
