thehank

This will be my first lease and there are so many points to consider in the calculations. I'm supposed to negotiate the price of the car as if it were financed. Don't put any money down. All I have is truecar, and use that as average paid but where else should I look for numbers? Print them out, use for my power?

I don't want to go in requesting free floormats or anything, I'm looking for a serious deal and I don't want to get burned.

IS 350 F Sport (also liked the IS300 F sport)
$429 per month for 36 months with $0 due at signing. Dealership also had $2000 cash rebate and paid first months rate. (But ends today for that deal). Is it even possible to get MORE off? Should I wait until the 2017s come around in order to get more off of the 2016?

I'm on Leasehackr.com and things are making more sense. I'm considering a $1-2k MSD - but does this value go down by the time the lease is up, to around $900 ish?

I'm looking at lease deals nationwide, and they all seem about the same. I've read not to let the dealership change the 36 months to 40+ or less as this is how they make up their cost? Why is 36 months the sweet spot?

This all seems so intimidating. I'm hoping for a lease deal on paper that someone else did, with full transparency.

Coming from BMW 2008 335i, and looking forward to Toyota Maintenance - "just add water."

sdiver68

Do a search, there are a bunch of recent lease deals posted. I see you are in MO, St. Louis area? 2016's might be pretty sparse by the time the 2017 comes out with the current deals they are blowing them out. I went to Nashville to find the one I wanted a couple of weeks ago because they did not exist around here.

July lease program starts July 5 so it's possible today is last day for June program. $429 if tax included on the IS350 is certainly in the ballpark of a very good and fair deal, my 12/36/zero down IS350 F-Sport $45,899 MSRP was negotiated with perfect insider knowledge of negotiating and calculating leases @ $429/mo. To get more specific we need all the factors of your lease.

If you have a trade-in though it's very hard to tell because trade-in numbers can screw up the lease calculation.

sbkillz

It really depends. Running those numbers here I'm positive their going to bump you for the drive offs or it will be 429+tax. So 0 down will not be 0 down. Doing MSDs will help you buy down the rate and you also get the money back at the end of the lease.

thehank

What do you mean by bump me for the drive off?

thehank

I'm using leashackr.com calculator and the only thing I don't know is the residual rate. I see 62-71% on rates. Which seems to be the make or break.

sbkillz

Well I work in Internet sales for Lexus. So seeing the numbers your getting and running them looks like it is a deal that will only work if they bump you for the drive-offs. Meaning DMV tax title license and registration. Or they are doing a payment that doesn't include tax. But it also depends on what state your in, county etc for the tax rate and the MSRP of the car. But from my point of view it shouldn't be a crazy difference from state to state.

sdiver68

I got that deal, zero down, 8.113% tax included, exactly $429 month, max msd. So definitely doable.

Machine13

Everything you said sounds good except this one sentence. I would first merely aproximate the total price of the car, then shop at a few banks for the lowest APR%. Then, after that, I would negotiate the price of the car with the dealership as a cash deal, and only as cash deal. Do not ever mention you want to finance with them before you negotiate an OTD price. They get rebates from banks they sell higher APR's which is something they'll never give you the rebate details of. So, after you negotiate an OTD price, then you tell the dealer you're considering financing and ask about what APR they can do for you. And if you don't like it, ask them to match or beat the best bank APR you got or otherwise just go to that bank to get the loan. That's my $.02.

TrojanLBC

What he said. Always negotiate price first as if paying cash.

After you have a price you're content with, then negotiate lease terms. Financing terms are always based on the final selling price. Regardless if their current promo offers are $0 down, 429 a month for 36 months... those deals are typically based on MSRP and rebates/dealer incentives get the Gross Cap Cost to something that calculates that payment. So if you can get a lower sale price, your monthly will be much better than their promo deals.

After that. put in MSDs to lower your money factor significantly. Even lower payment! SCORE!

Disclaimer: I work for a major manufacturer's finance company...so I somewhat know what I'm talking about. lol

rld14

I have never seen a manufacturer's advertised special payment that was based on MSRP except for Saturn or Scion, not with a mass market car anyhow.

As far as MSDs go, with Lexus Financial Services each MSD will drop your money factor .00008 and you can do up to 9 for a total of .00072 off of the money factor. Generally MSDs, if you look at them as an investment to park your money in for the term of your lease as I do, give you an 11-12% ANNUAL return on your money.

NEVER put money down on a lease, ALWAYS do as many MSDs as you can afford.

TrojanLBC

Just because YOU haven't seen them, doesn't mean they don't do it. Just means you don't read the terms. But you know, I didn't say I work for a major japanese manufacturer's finance company. So what do i know. haha



Manufacturers typically always base promo deals off MSRP. Why would they openly price a vehicle lower? That makes no business sense.

MSDs are excellent. However remember once you're talking about 9 MSD, you're almost in the $4-5k ballpark. Depending on what your payment is supposed to be (MSDs also always round to the next higher $50)

Regarding "down payment". The "don't ever put money down argument irks me. Sure I don't like letting go of liquidity. I'd rather keep the cash in my pocket, however, the money you put "down" (if you decide to) simply is a "Gross Capitalized Cost Reduction". During your lease term, you are only paying for the usage of the car (Sale price-Residual, plus taxes). Any amount you pay up front simply reduces that amount. So it directly lowers your monthly payment. It's not "money lost" , you would've paid it anyway throughout the term of your lease. It's simply a matter of preference. Pay some of it now, or pay it during your lease. If you're leasing a 60k+ car, MSDs will only lower your payment so much as the Money Factor will allow. You would have to pay some upfront if you wanted to lower it beyond that.

TrojanLBC

12k Miles is 61% Residual. 10k 62%

Definitely negotiate to get the car AT LEAST $1k under invoice price. Once you have that locked down, negotiate lease terms. That will be mostly between you and LFS, not the deal (they're just the middlemen at that point). If your credit is Excellent (750+), then you pretty much have the power to demand the best terms possible. Start with getting the lowest possible Money factor before offering MSDs. Then once that's determined, if you have the cash to park for 3 years, put up to 9 MSDs. Usually will be around 4k for an IS350.

patgilm

It isn't fair to say that unless you know how his state charges for taxes on a lease. That payment is near impossible in my state because MD charges full 6% tax up front on the sales price of the car and if you do a zero down lease, it adds close to $3k to the cost of the car. It sounds like your state charges tax only on the portion leased. I hate MD taxes!

sdiver68

Kind of true, yes our State/Local tax is on the monthly payment only. But @8% higher than many. I said doable but maybe not by everyone in every situation....Oh and Ill be hit with personal property tax on it by the County, that will be another $1000 per year speaking of taxes. But our real estate tax isnt too bad here so they get you on owning other stuff.

patgilm

Yeah I guess it evens out somehow since we don't pay personal property taxes so I can't complain too much. It's just frustrating when I see such low lease payments in other states and the fact that we get taxed again if we want to buy the car at the end of the lease.