Also running the math using that benchmark …let’s say I get the same hit.
3yr residual per leasing is supposed to be 61% ($37k) but let’s say it’s actual $15k less than that = $22k -> seems a huge discount on a 3 yr old $61k new car? Surely Volvo couldn’t afford to eat that across the board and stay afloat financially?
Quick research suggests the 3 year old XC90s are going for close to current residual % of new ones (and they were a bit cheaper when new given inflation).
“I drove it like a rental.”
Mine was a 2 year lease. MSRP was about $62k, rv was about $42k. Buy out offers I was getting at trade in was $27-28k. Not only did Volvo get killed on the rv, but my cap cost when I got it was in the mid to high 40s
This is what I was hoping to get people’s perspectives on. I had this view initially but the numbers are making me think twice. Shouldn’t the short tenure as a rental + 4.5 year (initial + 1 yr CPO) warranty give me comfort?
I absolutely would! - if it was something like a Camry or hell even a Sonata. Especially here in CA. They’re usually just driven by business folk coming in an out, occasional roadtrip and serviced well and come with some sort of warranty. I would have zero concerns
But a modern Volvo with their current reputation around reliability? Naaaah. Lease it.
Accounting at work… I’m no corporate accountant, but those types of write-offs can be offset in many ways (e.g. loss provisioning, deferrals, etc). There are usually reserves set aside for situations like these.
It’s all about the payment, what’s the payment difference on the lease vs buy? That’s what it would come down to for me
I can cash buy / flex terms so not sure - but I think of it as how much is it going to cost me as financing payment includes some equity ownership even if of course the value declines over that period. Leasing = financing fixed depreciation, buying = paying upfront and you find out later the depreciation if/when you sell.
I thought leasing made more sense but the already depreciated down value here makes my think twice.
This is what I wanted to understand - how much headache am I risking buying (with a 4.5year warranty) vs leasing. Won’t the reliability issues kick in during the warranty, and same inconvenience factor as the lease?
Helped a family member look at some CPO former rentals a couple years ago… cars with 20-30k miles and not a single service record on the carfax.
Even if the entries did exist, who’s to say they used the right synthetic of the correct rating instead of the cheap sh!t they can buy by the barrel?
Maybe fine for a Camry but even then if one assumes they use non-synthetic it should have been changed every 3k… did they?
That’s literally the worst way to look at this situation.
Says who? For me it’s all about cash flow, why have a big payment to own something in 5 years that’s not worth jack. Plus if you buy you take all the risk if you get in an accident, now you got a euro suv with a bad carfax, have fun trading that in. If the lease payment is $200/mo lower than the buy, why bother with all the risk. This is a lease forum, not a buy forum.
There’s no equity in cars! They are a depreciating asset, do the numbers and see what makes sense and remember the risk factor if damage occurs and ruins your trade value. Is a possible $1000 gain worth the risk, no, $10k yes. Just do the math and do what works for you.
Deals like this would make me lean toward leasing, with MSD’s and zero DAS it’s $508. Not sure if its fully hacked though.
I think I got confused here. Is this a CPO that they couldn’t sell as a “new” loaner or a rental car (from
3rd party) that was then traded in to the dealer and CPO’d.
If it was a loaner that was CPO’d, that is probably a good deal. If it was given to a dealer from a rental car place and is now being sold off, I would probably stay away unless you can track down some service records. CPOs come with CarFax IIRC and usually dealers note if they did any service.
My thought process is: why would a rental car company get rid of a car (and lose a ton of money) for a car that has a lot of warranty left and a ton of initial depreciation (which they probably did not make their money back on).
It’s a rental rocket and if you haven’t noticed the demand for rentals is down a bit, hence Hertz and the like have started liquidating vehicles.
Gotcha. Well then who knows if it is good or not 
.
Yes, it’s a former rental blow out. There was a load of them sold in auction when those firms liquidated a huge chunk of their fleet due to covid.
It has clean carfax (fwiw) including a service at a Volvo dealership before the fleet auction sale (where a different dealer bought it and CPO’d it).
I guess here’s the pros/cons as I see it:
-> $$$
+ve: using law of averages, historical Ave sales price for 2/3/4yr old XC90s etc I should come out financially a fair bit ahead of a lease on cost of ownership…
-ve: …but I wear the downside risk if residual values fall a lot
-> Reliability / warranty
-ve: unknown risk of how it was driven before as a former rental and I wear that risk
+ve: 4.5 yr warranty (3.5 yrs left on original + 1 year additional CPO) should cover major issues, and supposedly the later model XC90s have smoothed out the early model kinks?
Maybe reach out to that dealer and inquire about what was done to the vehicle? Also, ask for the CPO inspection report (if there is one?). You could also ask to take the car to a reputable independent mechanic to get it checked out.
Nobody holds the crystal ball that says how much a car is going to be worth in a couple years. Make an informed decision based on the information available and hope that it works out in the future.
one big thing to consider - if someone rears owned volvo, you are on the hook for extra $. In case of lease - you just give it back at a fixed price. Owning a Volvo is a gamble.
Adding to what has been mentioned. A few comments/questions:
At the end of the day, you need to run the numbers and figure out whether there is any cost savings in buying this CPO instead of leasing one.