Ask the Car People.SM


Honda Fit Lease Questions

71 messages,  Last post on Dec 28, 2012 at 7:54 AM

You are in the Prices Paid - Buying & Leasing Experiences Forum.

What is this discussion about? Honda Fit, Car Leasing, Car Buying, Hatchback

Messages Page 1 of 7

#1 of 71 Honda Fit: Lease Questions by Car_man HOST

May 03, 2006 (2:46 am)

Hi everyone. Please use the following discussion to post any questions that you have about leasing a Honda Fit. Thanks.
 
Car_man
Host
Smart Shopper / Prices Paid Forums

#2 of 71 Re: Honda Fit: Lease Questions [Car_man] by pcat1

May 08, 2006 (5:27 am)

Replying to: Car_man (May 03, 2006 2:46 am)
I do have a question. I am thinking about leasing a Fit for 60 months, only to get the payment to $218. The salesman said he would put in writing that I could get out of the lease after three years.
My main concern is my monthly payment.
What do you think of this deal? It is for 12,000 miles per year, which is fine for me. $1000 down.

#3 of 71 Re: Honda Fit: Lease Questions [pcat1] by makabe

May 09, 2006 (2:30 pm)

Replying to: pcat1 (May 08, 2006 5:27 am)
You need some more information to determine if this is a decent price or a complete rip-off (I'm leaning toward thinking it's a complete rip-off BTW). You need to know what the residual value of the car will be, the interest rate, and the price of the car. A common mistake people make when leasing is that they don't negotiate the price of the car, but rather only the lease payment. Dealers like to say "the bank is buying the car" so they don't like to disclose what the purchase price is, but it isn't a secret. Just make sure you are getting the car for MSRP--not the "kick me" price of $2500 over sticker. Next you need to see what the residual value of the car will. On a 5 year old Fit, this should not be very high. This is the price you will asked to pay to purchase the car at the end of the lease. Obviously, if the residual is higher, then you will have to make lower payments over the life of the lease, BUT, it will cost more to purchase the car outright. Last, find out the interest rate. A 1% difference on a Fit is $900 in payments. Any money you put down at the beginning of the lease is pure profit for the dealership, and goes straight into the dealer's pocket. On a car like the Fit, the dealer NEEDS you to put money down to offset trying to charge too much money for the car in the first place. To put it another way, if the dealer is selling the car to the bank (which in a lease is essentially what they are doing), they can not sell it for $1000 over MSRP, so they get you to put in the $1000, and sell the car to the bank for MSRP, and you make all the payments. Don't you just love leases? Lastly, a five year lease is way too long. I understand wanting to get a certain payment, but with a lease, that payment is fiction because you still have to decide to "buy" the car at the end of the lease and that means a new loan.
 
Bottom line: get the price of the car, interest rate and residual value and we'll then be able to tell what kind of deal this is.

#5 of 71 honda fit lease by pcat1

May 10, 2006 (3:15 pm)

price of car: $15,200 plus tax, title and lic
interest: approx. 4.5%
couldn't give me the residual, he said until we work the contract up.

#6 of 71 Re: Honda fit lease by johnnyvj

May 10, 2006 (6:09 pm)

Don't SIGN anything until he discloses the residual and anything else you want to know.
 
If he's very reluctant to do so, that's a BAD sign and you should get out ASAP.

#7 of 71 Re: honda fit lease [pcat1] by makabe

May 10, 2006 (7:44 pm)

Replying to: pcat1 (May 10, 2006 3:15 pm)
Based on your numbers, and assuming $1000 down, the residual should be no more than $5391. (15200+tax, lic, title-$1000=$16000 financed) If it is more than that, then they are either charging you higher interest or not applying your down payment properly or charging more for the car. One other important thing to note: if you don't exercise your option to buy at the end of the lease, you walk away from any equity you may have in the vehicle. If you do decide to buy at lease end, you'll still owe $5391.
 
Leases are really tricky--you can get totally screwed at lease end with nickel and dime charges. Be very, very careful.

#8 of 71 Re: Honda fit lease [johnnyvj] by pcat1

May 11, 2006 (5:17 am)

Replying to: johnnyvj (May 10, 2006 6:09 pm)
Ok. I was also thinking maybe I should purchase, since I am going for a 60 month lease, it might be better to purchase. And this web site has the MSRP for the Fit as $14650. He is quoting $15,200. Should I make him come down the MSRP price, whether I buy or lease?

#9 of 71 Re: Honda fit lease [pcat1] by makabe

May 11, 2006 (10:05 am)

Replying to: pcat1 (May 11, 2006 5:17 am)
His price is MSRP + $550 delivery = $15200. Delivery is a totally standard charge. Documentation fees however are not standard and range from $50 to $500. Go for it. My gut tells me they are going to try and stick it to you on the interest rate--I've not seen lower than 5.5% on loans lately.

#10 of 71 Anyone Leased Yet? by rjw1

May 15, 2006 (12:21 pm)

I am hoping to do a 36 mo lease on a FIT sport AT for 15k miles/year.
 
Does anyone know what the top tier money factor should be for the FIT?

Messages Page 1 of 7

To POST a message, please Sign In.

Advertisement

Browse by Category

Browse by Vehicle
   View All Vehicles

Browse by Board
Browse by Topic
View All Topics

Edmunds Community

Advertisement