help....my lease is up in august this year. so now we're debating whether buying it or return it for a new one. so i got a reminder letter from honda yesterday, saying 'lease it up' and 'make up your mind' and 'sale price is not negotiable'. while i can understand why the lease price should not be negotiable, i'm wondering if that statement holds true in the current market.
has anybody bought a car out of a lease for less than the residual value ?

btw, this if for our ody, not the S2K; however the issue applies obviously for all leased hondas.

cheers.

 

I've haggled residual values with the various banks on behalf of numerous friends on all sorts of leases... except with Honda. I don't know about this very instant but the answer in the past has always been "no dealing on residual value."

 

The "no dealing on residual" is kind of a bluff. Of course they want to stick to the negotiated residual, making money on the lease depends on that. If they sell it to you for $2k less than residual, they just gave up any profit they made over the life of the lease. But, at the same time, they really don't want the car back if it's worth less than the residual. If that's the case, they lose money holding it, and they'll lose money when they sell it at market value. It doesn't hurt to ask, the worst they can say is no.

If you really want to try to save some bucks, turn the car in. Then, buy it for market value from the dealership after it hits the used lot.

 

[QUOTE=jeffbrig,Feb 27 2009, 04:51 PM] The "no dealing on residual" is kind of a bluff.

 

it's a total buyer's market right now, should you decide to stick with the ody. I mean if the residual value is more than a newer ody with lower milege, then it makes sense. I mean it's win win for everyone when the dealer can sell the car right away without having to send it to auction. If say the car went for 15k at an auction and the buyout is 20k, I see no reason why they wouldn't want to sell it to you for 17,500. I mean 17,500 is probably what they'd list the car in the used lot anyways. It's not like you're under any obligation to buy it out, so f them!