Sell 2015 Audi Q3, lease Lexus RX – is this a terrible time to do it?

Ask the Hackrs
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1

I purchased my 2015 Audi Q3 in CA a few years back. I’m now in GA and looking to sell/trade in and start to lease instead, ideally the Lexus RX, which I’ve had in the past. I’m brand new to leasing and trying to educate myself in general. I know this is a great time to sell, but is it a terrible time to lease (or buy, if I went the certified route again)? I want to get rid of my Q3 sooner rather than later but don’t want to saddle myself with a bad deal either. My main incentives for leasing are that I never hold on to a car more than a few years, I like having the latest tech/safety features, I like the comfort of being under warranty, and I want the lowest possible monthly payment for the best car I can. Trying to figure out the best way to do this but I’m overwhelmed! Any advice is greatly appreciated.

2

This is the worst time any of us have seen for getting into a new car for the same reasons it’s a great time to sell your old car. I’d wait if you can.

As for where to start with learning, we always recommend the following method before you ever contact a dealership. If you do all of the work up front, you’ll have a stress free dealer experience and set yourself for success.

  1. Read Leasing 101 (Blog | LEASEHACKR) to understand how to calculate a lease payment and the variables. Monthly payment is an output, not an input!!
  2. Pick a specific vehicle that you want to target
  3. Gather the current MF, RV and incentives from Edmunds forums for your zip code
  4. Research the LH marketplace and other deals that have been made recently on your vehicle - what was their pre-incentive discount? How did their lease terms differ?
  5. Plug your numbers into the LH calculator (CALCULATOR | LEASEHACKR), and use a pre-incentive discount similar to what you have seen
  6. Create a target deal, this is what you’re trying to negotiate to. You can try different terms, selling price discount, etc. and see how your monthly payment is affected. It is also possible that different trims of your vehicle may have different MF and RV (i.e. this is very common with GM), so make sure that you look into that. Come up with a set of inputs that give you the output that you want - your desired monthly payment.

With a target price determined, you now have a deal to pursue and compare dealer offers against. More importantly, you have a solid foundation to work from.