i figure this, my lease on the s2k i can get for 400 no money down for 42 months. at the end of 42 months that is 16,800 dollars.
if i buy, at the end of 42 months with the same amount of mileage, how much will it be worth if i sell it? im thinking, if i buy and then sell, if that would indeed be cheaper than just leasing

 

doesn't that depend on what the buy amount at the end of the lease is? BTW if you lease now, 2002 model and sell in 3.5 years that means the car will have been out for 6+ years or roughly close to 7 Model Years. Others might disagree but I don't think the car will have the same appeal by then as it does know. Especially if the design changes somewhere along the line.

 

well if i lease im not going to buy at the end of the lease.
so what do you guys think?

 

It's virtually impossible to know how the car will hold it's value 3.5 years from now. Currently, they're holding value quite well, but that might easily change as more and more S2K's come on the market.

More important I think is to ask yourself if you truly want the car to be "yours." People that lease are really only borrowing the car for whatever length of time the lease is for, paying a generally high premium for that "borrowing privilege" then have to give the vehicle back. Doesn't make sense to my way of thinking, I'm going to keep mine until after hell freezes over

 

hondas leases tend to be cheap because they have high residual percentages. you only pay for what you borrow. that is if you know how to negotiate. you have to go in ready to calculate residual and money values.

 

You need to know what the residual value will be. Usually, they are very high so the payments will be lower. That makes the purchase option a bad idea.

If you want to know you "screwed" level, just add the total number of payments to the residual value. Every dollar over the price of the car is finance charge. If you end up having to finance the buyout, you get screwed twice.

Leases are sometimes ok for the buyer but they are always great for the seller. You can definitely get a good lease deal with an incentive but it usually better to avoid it if you can. Some makers, like BMW, have an "ownership lease" which is better from a legal standpoint but still expensive.

I guess that's the bottom line with leases. They are constructed to feel like they cost less, but the truth is you pay way way more and end up with nothing to show for it. I leased for years but finally "broke the habit."

-Dan

 

Have you done this successfully?

I've leased a bunch of Hondas and every time, those number were cast in concrete. It's not up to the dealer to set the residual value, it's up to the underwriter. The dealer couldn't care less, but the underwriter who expects a certain asset value back cares a whole lot. There is no way they are going to let you increase their risk in the deal by reducing those numbers.

If you have done this, please let me know, I'd love to hear what you did. As far I my experience goes, there is nothing to negotiate with a lease. Only the sticker price is negotiable, and even that's not always the case with Honda

-Dan

 

i picked up a pilot with my bro in law. what he did was he asked for the numbers from the mgr. he caculated them himself and found the dealer added on top of the residual and money factors. plus they added sec deposit, bank fees, etc.

what he negotiated was the sec deposit, etc. he had to pay a little more than the residual/money factor numbers because the pilot is so new they arent to let go of it cheap.
if we bought we could have gotten the car for msrp, but with the lease they worked from 1k over msrp

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by speedlife
[B]i picked up a pilot with my bro in law. what he did was he asked for the numbers from the mgr. he caculated them himself and found the dealer added on top of the residual and money factors.

 

I've leased before and it sucked that you have to keep an eye on your mileage limitation... especially in a car like the S2k that is so freaking fun to drive!

They allow very few fluctuations in the contract, but I think you can negotiate your mileage limit but the max they will allow is 15k/year?