Volvo XC90 vs Land Rover Discovery Sport Lease

Ask the Hackrs
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In the market for a 3-row SUV and have narrowed down my choice between the Volvo xc90 and Land Rover Discovery Sport S trim. Trying to get a lease.

With the trims and configurations I’m looking at, I’m estimating being in the low to mid-40k range for the final selling price post dealer MSRP discount. I’ve done my research on the Edmunds forums and fully educated on the incentives, RV’s, and tier 1 money factors for each vehicle.

I have a tricky credit profile with a dismissed chapter 13 on my record from 2017. Been building my credit up since, but not a whole lot of open revolving credit at the moment - just 3 accounts with only a 2k credit limit combined and low balances - under 20% utilization. Was actually able to finance a vehicle via Capital One (13% APR ouch) which is my only open installment account at the moment and have a perfect payment history for 2 years now.

My experian Fico Score 8 is 638 at the moment and the highest of the 3 bureaus. Obviously, the Chapter 13 history is still weighing my score down. I have zero debt outside of the car I’m financing with Cap One and 3 paid off revolving auto loans/leases on my credit. All were paid off with a perfect payment record but last one was in 2016. Income is solid where ~ $500 payment puts me at about a 5% lease payment to net monthly income ratio.

So the question is twofold:

  1. Does Volvo and Land Rover/Chase pull from Experian? That would be my best shot as my other two scores are hovering in the very low 600’s.
  2. Any feedback on which option (Volvo or Land Rover) would give me the best shot at lease approval at a decent rate? I’m expecting a lease approval scenario will bump up my money factor given the bank’s perception of risk, but hoping that’s capped at a 2x-3x vs. tier 1 current MF rates.

Thanks!

2

It depends where you are. My VCFS (Bank of America) lease pulled Experian, but it can vary by region.

You are not going to get a Tier 1 with that score, and possibly not even Tier 2. Your best shot with LR is if you are a Chase Private Wealth client and they can use your internal Chase score (assuming the Finance Manager is adept enough to call their buyer for an override and has that kind of relationship).

You should strongly consider a non-lux lease this time around (eg VW Atlas, Subaru Ascent, Kia Telluride) and something that accepts MSDs to buy down the MF (VW).

It’s both a different rate and can affect other aspects. When you leave Tier 1 you often lose your sense of what buy rate is (unless someone shows you the rate sheet) and your are much more likely to get bumped — so if T1 buy rate is .001 and T2 is .0015, Finance Manager might tell you it’s .002 as long as they are inside of lending guidelines (what they’re allowed to markup) and advance.

Good luck.