Last week! Have been helping a friend whose son needs a cheap car to commute to school. She is looking at the Civic/Corolla. I also have a friend whose CX5 lease is maturing and she is deciding what to do but will not go to the showroom with either one of them, just give them suggestions.
I leased a Honda Pilot EX-L exactly a month ago, $390 39/12 completely sign and drive, did not even pay the first payment out of pocket. I did use the equity in my prior car’s lease which was in the grace period. @Lvs23 Really wanted the Highlander but there are none in my area and I needed specific equipment which was less available so settled for the Pilot and saved a bunch
Last August I leased a car as well during the other shortage. I was looking in the CRV/Rogue/CX5 category. I did not like the CX5 but they were definitely leasing under 3 without a cap cost reduction (taxes and fees upfront, I usually do not roll everything in, my state refunds taxes if the car is stolen before the end of the lease I am told but I could be mistaken) as I said depending on Trim. In the sport and touring trims they are under 3 if you know what you are doing. I think I was looking at the Touring or Grand Touring trim (it is whatever has blind spot and possibly leather, car was for my kids so I am not sure I cared about anything other than blind spot which I am not sure their base had). I got a decent offer around $279 but my SO hates Mazda due to past ownership experience. Did not end up with a Mazda but got a sub $300 lease for a mid level trim (not leather but with power seats, blindspot)
I also helped my cousin buy a car in November 2020, went with her to the showroom and while she ended up with an Acura, we looked at the CX5 because she already has one and loves it and thought about getting a second
Honestly after seeing the deals on Signed! I am shocked at how much people pay for leases. Even some people who leased in 2019 and are getting out of their lease now, way overpaid for Civics and then other people get amazing deals
Actually the deal I was offered without a trade was $399 39/12 plus DMV, Taxes, $995 Bank fee (credit union but one recommended by people on here). I initially told them I was keeping my car then after I got the lowest I could go, got the trade price. I also priced it with Vroom etc. I had a TFS so I could have sold it to a 3rd party for more but my SO is the legal owner and would have had to come with me to drop the car at CarMax two hours away and that was never going to happen. Ended up pricing the trade at about $3200 which took out the of pocket and then was applied to the payments. Theoretically could have gotten another $2K or so at CarMax but while it is money, I was not as eager to get every penny out the same way I would have been if I actually was trading the car in since this a temporary insanity and I was essentially selling air. Plus my SO does not do road trips and you have to know your audience. Also, with other ones such as Vroom, I wanted someone to see the car, did not want to find out after the fact that there was a problem
Note this was not the initial deal I was offered which was some ridiculous deal north of $500. It was after I pointed out that national Honda had a decent deal on the Pilot EXL for $309 36/12 with I think $4k down (translates to $120 a month obviously) that they were able to find something better and actually negotiate. It also helped they could sense that I did not really want the Pilot but was settling.
I was asked when was the last time I leased a car, answer last month! The fact that I had lease equity is not the point, rather it is that I have been in this market actively buying at least 3 times over the last year
Here is the current lease offer on a CX5 Touring
from one of the dealers on here:
I priced the buyout in March or April at CarMax and I was underwater. I honestly could not believe it when it was $5000 over a few months and many miles later! I really wanted the same car at the same lease price ($375 plus taxes, fees and DMV) in the new model. Ended up with a different model but equivalent and about $2500 less overall than I paid for my last lease
No you leased a EX-L for $399 + ~$2900 TTL , effectively $481. Your whole $390 S&D was fudged…greatly. Looks like you did save over $30/month with shrewd negotiation though.
Yeah but if you actually go the marketplace thread, they have been listing the CX-5 Signature trim for around $500 so not really apples (Ex-L) to apples (Signature).
Not saying you didnt get a good deal but that doesnt mean that the CX-5 deals are out of whack. BTW - Mazdas have been a little bit of a bright spot in this market for relatively affordable lease deals.
Very happy with my lease, except that it is not a Highlander but have learned to live with that!
Actually it was $399 plus tax, DMV (which here is only $200 total), $995 so around $2500 out of pocket plus first payment which I think you were double counting. I always calculate leases that way. I never do sign and drive because I believe I get the taxes back if something happens as long as they are broken out in the lease (or so I am told, could be mistaken every state and insurance varies).
As for whether it was $390 or $462, if it did not come out of my pocket, does not matter to me. I could not have gotten this deal a year ago or even in April because my existing lease was not worth anything then and I did price it then. Even without the trade, it was not a bad deal at $462 net!
The original quote was “Then I will try to lease something in $500/m range like Mazda CX5 or CX9” nothing specified the Carbon or Signature. The advice was go pay to get a $500 Mazda!
True but it does play in considering different lease deals. Not everyone would have $3,200 equity to trade in. so may be a $462 Pilot (EX-L) v CX-9 Signtaure for ($500) or CX-5 Signature for ($450) might work for someone.
Not saying it was not.
Yeah but we can assume based on the deals being posted that it was about the Signature trims because that’s what the broker has been posting.
I am not complaining if it was a bad or good deal but you said $390 Sign and Drive and someone will then say Saphire got $390 S&D when you didn’t. You got $462 S&D and then used equity to push it down. That’s all.
What the dealer shows on paper for the trade is pretty irrelevant. They move stuff around all the time. What you can actually get for it independent of the deal is what is relevant.
If you’re happy with the deal, that’s fine. Let’s just be sure we are comparing based on what the deal really is.
Where in the original quote is there a broker?! Or even advice on a specific trim? The Signature has an MSRP of $38K according to the broker I linked. It is false assumption.
Plus I never said OP should get a Honda or a Mazda. Simply answering the question of when I last shopped.
Except that I couldn’t sell it to CarMax because I could not get SO to drive 4 hours to save 2k (yes I know!) an it was not worth it to me to force SO. Plus even if SO had been willing to go, would have waited for the weekend, needed to transfer plates and so on (I have a reason for not wanting new plates and yes that was worth it to me too) I signed on a Tuesday. At the time they had two in the color I wanted and cars were selling. The showroom was packed on a Tuesday mid month no idea why
And No you are incorrect. The original deal was $399 plus about $2500 in fees, TTL plus first payment. That works out to $464 sign and drive, no trade. That is the reference deal. Keep in mind that includes my taxes which are almost 9%
I shopped the trade in a few places beyond CarMax, Vroom, Carvana, some others that do not buy in my state, an Acura dealer, another Honda dealer (they were not interested) and a Toyota dealer who wanted to give me much less toward a new deal and did not have the car I wanted available. Yes, in theory they made money on trade, good luck to them actually selling the car when they get the title. No idea what idiot is going to spend over $30K on a 3 year old Highlander after a 36/12 lease although the car is in great shape
It is not a false assumption, if you are tracking marketplace postings and other offers you can make out what people are talking about specially if a the person saying it is talking about going from GLC to CX-9 or CX-5 & Q5 etc.
Again, no one here is poo-pooing your deal. But we want to make sure that “real” numbers are compared to “real” deals.
But you’ve seemed to take this personally to show that your deal is superior to other deals because you were able to use the “equity” that didn’t come out of your pocket so it doesn’t matter. Someone without the equity would have to make that payment & thus the deal is not the same.
CX-5 and CX-9’s are a bright spot. Noticed the CX-5 inventory in Florida seems to have improved.
CX-9’s was quoted some good pricing (in the current market) from the Orlando area last month on CX-9 GTs and Signature. (About 4-4.5K off MSRP with $750 loyalty then add back the $899 FL dealer doc fee BS).
