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How to Calculate Monthly Lease Payments

173 messages,  Last post on Apr 11, 2013 at 2:36 PM

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

What is this discussion about? Car Leasing

Dissecting the Deal - How To Spot a Good Lease
 
10 Steps to Leasing a New Car
 
The "Residual Value" of Leasing
 
Calculate Your Own Lease Payment

Messages Page 11 of 19

#92 of 173 Lease question by car_dude24

Mar 21, 2012 (8:10 am)

Hi all,
 
I am looking to lease a 2012 lexus or audi and would like your opinions. A friend of mine just got a lexus ES 350 touring edition (MSRP 40275) for 7000$ down and 300/month. Is that a good deal? This is in New jersey. While I am currently leaning towards the lexus I want to know if the above is a good deal and if I should try to get the same.
 
What are your thoughts?
 
Thank you for your help.

#93 of 173 Re: Question on Honda CRV [nyrgoal99] by kirstie_h HOST

Mar 21, 2012 (8:14 am)

Replying to: nyrgoal99 (Mar 20, 2012 5:25 pm)
Since your question is about a specific vehicle, you're better off posting in our Honda CR-V Lease Questions discussion. That's where you'll see other members posting their deals on CR-V leases.

#94 of 173 Re: Lease question [car_dude24] by kirstie_h HOST

Mar 21, 2012 (8:19 am)

Replying to: car_dude24 (Mar 21, 2012 8:10 am)
This topic is more for questions about how the lease deal is calculated. For specific vehicles, we have "lease questions" discussions for each make/model where you can ask about pricing, etc., for a particular model.
 
Here's the Lexus ES lease discussion:
http://townhall-talk.edmunds.com/direct/view/.f0cb415/2724#MSG2724
 
One tip - putting $7,000 down on a lease is NOT a good idea.

#95 of 173 Re: Lease question [kirstie_h] by car_dude24

Mar 21, 2012 (8:41 am)

Replying to: kirstie_h (Mar 21, 2012 8:19 am)
Thank you. I have moved it to the Lexus forum. Just out of curiosity though - what is the downside of the high down payment? Is there a difference between high downpayment + low monthly vs low (or 0) down + high monthly? The net amount will be the same right? Or is there something I am missing here?

#96 of 173 Re: Lease question [car_dude24] by kirstie_h HOST

Mar 21, 2012 (8:47 am)

Replying to: car_dude24 (Mar 21, 2012 8:41 am)
The high downpayment only reduces your monthly lease payment. Why do you want them to have your money instead of YOU having your money for that time, with the potential to earn interest off of it?
 
But here's the big risk: if your car were to be totaled, your insurance would pay off the finance company. They would not, however, return your $7,000 downpayment to you. You would then have no car and no $7,000 for downpayment on a new car. That money is just GONE.

#97 of 173 Re: Lease question [kirstie_h] by car_dude24

Mar 21, 2012 (9:39 am)

Replying to: kirstie_h (Mar 21, 2012 8:47 am)
That makes sense. Thanks. Definitely something I will keep in mind. I did think about the potential interest that could be earned but thought that with the rates so low such savings would be negligible. I thought in the deal above the low monthly was sweet enough to offset the high down.
 
The totaled factor is something I did not consider. That is a huge amount to lose in the worst case scenario.
 
One last question on this - the dealers who offer 0 down - how do they charge for the bank fee, acquisition fee, taxes etc. Is it all added to the monthly payments?

#98 of 173 Re: Lease question [car_dude24] by kirstie_h HOST

Mar 21, 2012 (9:46 am)

Replying to: car_dude24 (Mar 21, 2012 9:39 am)
I'll let someone else answer, as I'm not a leasing expert at all. I'm sure we have members around here who... know things.

#99 of 173 Re: Lease question [car_dude24] by jwilliams2

Mar 21, 2012 (9:56 am)

Replying to: car_dude24 (Mar 21, 2012 9:39 am)
One last question on this - the dealers who offer 0 down - how do they charge for the bank fee, acquisition fee, taxes etc. Is it all added to the monthly payments?
 
You are correct. It is added to the cap cost and included in the payments.

#100 of 173 How to find lease money factors and residuals by johngettler

May 19, 2012 (3:33 pm)

Hello all,
 
1. Unfortunately, there isn't a law requiring auto makers to publicly disclose their lease money factor rates (interest rate) or their residual rates 9calue of car after duration and miles are put on.) This makes it *very* difficult to compare lease incentives across different comparable makes, models and trims. I wish there were a law enacted that would force this information to be as clear as auto loan interest rates are today.
 
2. Somehow, Car_man who is a "host" on these excellent Edmunds Forums, seems to thankfully have access to nearly unlimited lease money factor and residual info from most makers, and for years has been reporting very accurate information in reply to each individual request. But he is only one man, and it can take some days for him to get back to each person. I have always been super curious, Car_man, where *do* you get this information, and how come we all can't just get to the data directly? I know of course, it's not up to you, but can you give us some insight on how you gather this info? And why edmunds.com can't or won't just publish this extremely valuable data in an open manner? Of course, thank you for all the information that you *do* pour out every day Car_man.
 
3. The best always accessible website that I have found that has a good amount of detailed lease info for many cars, is this link below (sorry Edmunds, it's from cars.com). It is *not* always accurate, and should be taken with a grain of salt, but I have found it to be helpful, but not nearly as accurate as Car_man. Note that this site lists money factors as a percentages, which is actually the money factor number times 2400 (for example MF 0.0006 x 2400 = 1.44%) to get a fairly comparable number to standard auto loan interest rates. Just enter you zip, and then click into each model and trim to see detail lease info.
 
http://www.cars.com/go/advice/incentives/index.jsp
 
4. Each dealer *should* be able to provide you MF and Residual for a specific car, with a specific lease length in months, and miles per year. But you have to "get involved" with a sales guy to begin to extract this kind of info. Ugh.
 
5. There is a company called ALG that publishes a "residual guide" each quarter of what they recommend as the residual for each model and trim, after different lease lengths of time, and different mileage usage. They *will sell* you a single copy of their "Residual Percentage Guide 2012 Models National" book for about $50 by calling the number on this link, 1-805-898-8400. The manufacturers *do not* always match these residuals all the time, but it *is* a fair way to generally see what models and trims would give you a relatively cheaper monthly payment, due to holding their value better.
 
https://www.alg.com/products/guidebooks.html
 
Hope this helps everyone.
John Gettler

#101 of 173 Lease Mercedes C250 Coupe Assessment? by jenbtravels

Jun 26, 2012 (2:56 pm)

Hi - I'm a first time car buyer and I'm planning to lease the Mercedes C250 Coupe. I don't believe this is a great deal, but I'd love to hear from someone about this that is far more experienced than myself:
 
MSRP: $44,250 (includes multi-media, premium package, and 18" alloy wheels, keyless go)
Residual: $30545
Annual Miles: 10,000
Months: 36
Payment: $647
Due at Signing: $1250
Sales Tax: 1.50% = 663.75

Messages Page 11 of 19

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