Seeking advice. Need a vehicle for daughter who is heading off to college, 1100 miles away. Budget is $7500. Do I find a “reliable” used vehicle or is there a one-pay lease option that would fit that budget? Tried throughout June to get a Dodge Hornet but never came close and numbers are way off for July. EV won’t work - lack of infrastructure where she heading. Maybe an 18-month one pay Nissan Murano? Any other suggestions? Vehicle will be registered in MA.
Dodge Hornet on 24 months may work. Try again, talk to brokers.
Depends on whether you want to be on the hook again for the next lease or two? And a third or fourth time through grad school?
Because that’s what I’m noticing with friends who have kids that age.
Nobody ever intends to have adult kids fiscally dependent on them for things like their cars, but that’s the road they’re traveling down without ever intending to.
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The $4500 conquest going away is a killer for this month on the hornet.
Your 18 year old daughter does not under any circumstances want to be responsible for a rarely charged Stellantis PHEV. I say this as a happy Stellantis (well, FCA when I bought it) PHEV owner.
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$7,500 is around 300 a month at a 24 month term or 200 a month for a 36 month term. How long a term are you looking for? Instead of limiting yourself to One Pay leases (which not every manufacturer offers and/or they don’t always provide a huge benefit), why not focus on how much car you can get for that money, regardless of how it is paid? If you do a zero down, zero due at signing lease and put the $7,500 away to pay for it over time, does it really matter if it is a One Pay or not?
This is something that should be considered if leasing. Those miles could get eaten up QUICK if this car will be used for those kinds of trips with any regularity.
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Years ago I had a chunk of money saved up for a cheap lease and my dad insisted on giving me an extra 100 a month because he wanted me to get something else. I think he just wanted to feel he was helping me out, including at the dealership which I didn’t mind since he’s pretty good at it. He still gives it to me even though I said I didn’t need it. So yeah, this could go on for a while 
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My dad does the same in reverse, he says he’s willing to pay more if he gets to choose the car color and make this time (he asked for a Volvo), he’s on here in read-only now, but nice try Dad, you’re getting a Cayenne in February (this is how you find out).
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That’s my primary concern w/ a lease, too.
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Appreciate the view points. Vehicle would not be driven back and forth those miles so that’s not a big concern. I’m most likely just going to find a car down around her school for under 10K and she can drive it into the ground.
Quite a few Nissan’s leasing well. @AutoCompanion has some sub $200 payments for Murano and Altima.
really about minimizing depreciation though and there are many reliable rides that can hold decent value. Around 10k though it’s tougher to get reliable and not 10+ years old.
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If it’s just going to be driven around school and town have you looked into whether the college has any kind of accommodations for EVs? There’s tons of grant money out there for institutions to adopt this kind of stuff so maybe they have parking facilities where the car could be charged.
$10k doesn’t buy much now. You can get lucky and find some low milage “little old lady that only drove to the grocery store” cars, but they are few and in-between. Your average $10k car is going to have over 100k miles typically. Do you want your kid that far away from you if something goes wrong with an older car? At least if it’s something new he/she can take it to a dealer for service and it’ll have roadside assistance as part of the new car warranty (typically) if the car is immobile.
Your 18 year old daughter does not under any circumstances want to be responsible for a rarely charged Stellantis PHEV.
May I ask why? Of course a PHEV does not make much sense to own if you can never plug it in, but other than that is there a technical or reliability issue? I ask this as a very satisfied Pacifica hybrid owner.
Hi fellow Pacifica hybrid owner. Mine has had a s*** ton of recalls and weird lights. We love the thing and can’t find anything better, but it’s definitely nice to be down the street from a dealer a service writer that knows my wife and I by sight. (Saw him in Home Depot once!)
As for the plugging in part, my experience across three PHEVs is that they work better when plugged in regularly.
@ElectricEliminator I can count on one hand the number of EV charge points on the Ole Miss campus. And as a sophomore, she is living off campus in a complex that has zero charge points. I would say MS is far behind on its EV infrastructure. If it was a different story, she’d be going in a Blazer EV or something similar.
@harrydogyo yes however AutoCompanion won’t sell to MA residents due to our f’d up RMV laws. I learned that with them on the Hornet and then tried to get MA dealers to match their offers back in June. No avail. I will try with Ma Nissan dealers. Thanks as always.
@Bostoncarconcierge is often quite helpful for MA residents and I know he has offered CDJR deals frequently in the past.
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Mine’s a 2020. We had a recall but not much in the weird lights department. I did have a coolant bypass valve go just out of warranty which was disappointing, and a roller on one of the sliding doors replaced under warranty. But so far the electronic gremlins other have reported have stayed out of our car, knock on wood.
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Agreed @valek.jw I’ve got 5 weeks before she heads down so hoping some incentives change mid month or early August. Also seeing if Dodge/Nissan/GM dealers in/around Oxford MS would be willing to deal with our antiquated MA RMV rules - no temp plates, paperwork, etc - everything to make it difficult to buy/lease out of state