So with my lease expiring last February, I came to the LH forums and started building up my research on getting into the best possible lease deal on a vehicle I wanted. With your help, I was able to work my way into a great deal on an amazing vehicle. But!.. as I continued to look at the financials, something didn’t sit right with me.
My vehicle was showing value significantly above the residual payoff amount. So much so, that I thought it would be financially irresponsible to not take my buyout. The problem at the time was that my bank refused to give the dealer that same buyout price in order to roll some money down into my next lease deal. The dealer buyout was much more in accordance with the actual current value of the car.
Long story short, I bought my car (financed remaining amount over 3 years) and it continues to go up in value in this used market. At this point in time, I have about $16,150 left on my loan. The value of the car right now on trade is $28,000 according to KBB using the conservative “good condition” for the vehicle. The vehicle I was looking at before is no longer available. So I have a couple of questions:
What would you do if you were me in this used car market right now?
What cars would you recommend for me? I need this to be my daily driver. I like performance coupes and sedans, I need AWD, with lease terms of 12,000 miles annually, 36-42 months, payment underneath $500 a month.
Thanks to anybody taking the time to read and give advice. I really appreciate your help!
You’re in a very strong position, congrats on the positive equity. There are a lot of things you can do now and there are pros and cons for a bunch of various scenarios. However if I were in your shoes, here’s what I’d consider:
Sell now since used market is hot, hot, hot
While there aren’t many great deals out there, you seem to have some flexibility on brand which is great so you can take advantage of the “good” deals
Look at what deals are out there–Volvo S60 T6, BMW M235ix, and an Audi A4 45 are all fast (0-60 at/under 5 sec.) AWDs under your $500/mo goal
Use whatever you make in your sell to cover inception+taxes but pocket the rest instead of adding a down to make the monthly smaller
Since you don’t need a car now, there’s also a strong argument to wait it out. However used prices are a bubble, and since you aren’t too picky on what you want, I land on the side of taking advantage of historically high used prices and then picking up an average lease deal.
Thanks! I like your suggestions to get under that 5 sec mark. I was looking at the Giulia before, so MSRP around the mid 50’s. It probably is the right car for me with regards to my preferences for styling and performance, but the 2.0 L just felt a bit lacking. There were a great deal of incentives though for end of model year 2020. More so than its competition at a similar price point I’d imagine. I feel something like an M340i might be too much car for what I’m looking to pay. Nothing really jumps off the page at me.
