Yes, and at first it was hard to navigate and not very informative. However, with a little more digging, I just found where they do comparisons and it’s not too bad.
I didn’t realize that about a fully loaded Camry.
I think I didn’t really ask the question clearly. It is more about what’s your opinion of spending the extra money to load-up a Camry when you can get a subjectively better car for a few thousand more or, as you pointed out, maybe around the same price.
Jumping back to the difference in leasing programs, and please forgive this newbie question, how much of a difference would the leasing program make? By that I mean, assuming the leasing programs are kinda similar, you are going to be paying for either a 40,000 car or a 36,000 car.
I really appreciate you taking the time to respond to my questions. It has been a big help. Thank you.
I think you may want to look through the marketplace and realize that it’s possible you may be paying more for a Camry or accord, especially fully loaded, than for a Volvo or bmw loaner.
Nothing wrong with a Camry but they’re boring and you can get more car with Volvo
Good to see you are doing your homework. You are that much closer to driving a new Camry or Accord (good choices).
How much of a difference do leasing programs make? A little to a lot - you won’t know until you plug the numbers into the lease calculator. At the end of the day leasing is one big math problem.
Besides the price of the car, the 3 big variables that drive the cost of a lease are a. RV (the bigger the better), b. MF (the lower the better), and c. incentives (bigger always better). Please note, it’s all three of these variable taken together with the selling price that will determine your payment. No one variable is the most important. For example, a high money factor can be neutralized by a huge RV or huge incentive. No two car makers configure their lease program variables the same - each has their own recipe. And as you know, Edmunds is where you go to find the recipe.
Also, please do not ignore the conditional incentives (loyalty, conquest, 1st responders, etc). All things being fairly equal, the cheaper way to go is pick the car with the best conditional incentives (once again, you need to run the numbers) you qualify for (ignore conditional incentives at your own risk).
Also, bear in mind Honda and Toyota are fierce competitors. They compete for the same customers. At certain times of the year H & T will run a big promotion and the other will get out of the way - so in Honda’s big promotion window Toyota may go quiet promotionally (and vica versa).
One more tip for you. This is a great time to figure out how leasing works and how much your H or T will cost you. Deals suck right now. Dealers are running out of new cars. Covid 19 killed production and new car inventory is tight. If you don’t need to lease a new car right now wait. You will have a better leasing window once the new 2021 come into the market and the traditional Holiday sales push (I don’t have a crystal ball so look into the future and place your bet).
You know the next thing I am gonna say - go ask edmunds (if you haven’t already) for your Accord and Camry figures and go run some numbers.
I see what you are saying, but this is what is still confusing me and where I get overwhelmed.
Let’s say I can pay between $250-325 a month. I feel fairly confident that I can get a decent Camry for that price, without trying too hard. But if I was able to get an Avalon with some of the nicer amenities for that, I’d be much happier with that.
I think being a newbie at this, I lack the confidence that I would be able to get such a deal on an Avalon. And I don’t want to waste my time (or the dealer’s) on something that is not possible.
My example of a fully loaded Camry, was just an example. I don’t think I would do that.
I understand that I can get more car with a BMW or a Volvo, but I don’t drive that much to begin with and this is going to be more of a commuter car, so I don’t need for it to be too exciting.
Do your homework. Look at deals posted here. That’s where confidence comes from. You sound just like many new people here. Initially you are overwhelmed with the apparent complexity of it all and before you know you will look at a post boasting he got a X5 for $325 a month and you will quickly wonder why he put so much money down. You will get good at this. You might even get really good at it.
What about you basing any of this on? If you don’t want to understand how leasing works and how the payments are achieved, then we are all just wasting our time trying to help you.
I appreciate your reply and I get the point you’re making. I see I wasn’t being detailed enough.
The basis of the numbers were just meant as a generalization from my research so far. For example, looking at Toyota’s Payment Estimator a lease for a Camry LE AWD 2.5L 4-Cylinder 8-Speed Auto is 36 Months, 12k Mileage $2,927 at signing, $277 a month. An Avalon XSE 3.5-Liter V6 8-Speed Auto is 36 Months, 12k Mileage $3,145 at signing, $495 a month.
Being new to this, I’m not so sure it is my lack of wanting to understand how a lease works (which I still am learning), I feel it is more of me trying to wrap my head around what my expectations should be. The Toyota example above is what I would think would be for your average non-Leasehckr. Not having the expertise that you and others on this forum have, what should my expectations be?
For example, above, max_g says:
There are people leasing $50k and maybe $60k cars for what your $40k Camry might lease for.
With that in mind, should I be looking at a car $10k - $20k more than I would if I didn’t have the generous support from those here in the forum? I don’t think it would be smart of me to expect what Scott Smith achieved in the Leasehacking Basics Video with the BMW Series 4.
I sincerely would like to understand leasing better. I’ve been reading through other’s posts, the Leasing 101 articles, etc. If you think there is something that is clearly lacking in my knowledge so far, please let me know.
Thank you for the help.
-Max
p.s. I hope that the above is taken in the way I intended it, sincerely and without being snarky.
This comparison isn’t very useful. For all we know, a more expensive and better Camry might lease cheaper than that LE. And that Avalon XSE might be the worse program for Avalons. That’s why you need to look at the leasing programs.
Again, you are only looking at MSRPs. You need to look at the overall lease programs/incentives/discounts. Once you understand what makes a good lease, then proceed with what you should/can get.
Max, just an example for last month. Last month a 55k Volvo XC90 t5 mom, with Costco and generous discount on a new unit, could go for under 485 with 1.1k and MSDs das.
However, look at a similarish cost bmw, a new 52k m sport line 3 series could have been had for with the same parameters for 495/month and no 5k in MSDs at signing. You can’t quantify just msrp, it’s like looking a photo in black and white versus the full color spectrum.
