kleef

Hey all, I would like some advise here. I have always been the type to purchase my cars and hold them for awhile. But lately, I have been more inclined to sell after a few years (I am starting to like to get the newer models!). I have a ’03 SC430 that is paid off. I am toying with the idea of selling it, and leasing a new one. I am figuring that if the car depreciates around 8-10K a year, that is in the range of a year of lease payments anyway, so why not pocket a sale now, and go lease! Any advise here? Also, how does trading in work when leasing, does it just go toward pre-paying part of the lease? Thanks!

veilstylez

Not a bad Idea. But If your car is paid off i would just keep it. If not sell your car privitely so you get more for the car. Than just go to the lexus dealer and put only driveoff and pocket more than $30000 in your pocket. ....But now your stuck with monthly payments. If you were to trade it in and get lets say dealer gives you $30,000 for your 03. And you want to put $3,000 for a lease then the dealer would give your $27000 for the trade including the lease purchase.

dseag2

I've leased and purchased, and which you choose really depends on several factors:

-Do you want a new car every few years? If so, lease is the way to go, unless you are willing to take the hit from depreciation every time you trade a purchased car. Usually, it is better to buy if you are planning on hanging onto a car for a long time.
-Do you drive more than 15k miles a year? If so, lease may not be the way to go because you will be charged for excess mileage.
-Do you drive less than 10k miles a year. If so, buying may be preferable because in a lease you will be paying for a portion of the car you won't even be using.

As veilstylez said, if you trade your purchased car in on a lease, the dealership will apply a certain portion to the lease and refund back the rest. FYI, it is not a good idea to put a huge amount of money down on a lease. Better to put the minimum down.

One other thing to consider... there have been virtually no changes to the '07SC430 vs. the '06 SC430, so you may want to go pre-owned. I almost always go with brand new cars, but in this case I found a great '06 SC430 with less than 5k miles. It is just like a brand new one, and I probably saved $10k over buying a brand new one.

kleef

Thanks for the info. To me, if I took the trade-in amount and applied it to the lease, that seems the same as prepaying the lease which I wouldn’t want to do. I have also read a little about Multiple Security Deposits, where they hold the money during the term of the lease, which gives you lower payments, and then refund it to you at lease end. Maybe that would be a better way to go? But you answered one question I was thinking about: If you trade in your purchased vehicle for a lease, they will pay you out for the trade in rather than requiring the trade-in amount to be applied to the lease. I think I’ll go check with Lexus for details! And maybe lease a preowned ’06!

newr

what car do you have in mind?

Lexiss_sc430

iTrader: (2)

He wants a new SC (07)

kleef

Right now I have silver/black but thinking (maybe) of Black Sapphire Pearl with Saddle... quite a departure from what I have color-wise....