Just signed a lease yesterday - did I get screwed?

I haven't leased a Prius but it sounds about right. Find out why there are two diffent gross cap. costs. And, don't let them talk you or your sister into any dealer add-ons like extended warranties or protection packages.

 

I just started a lease on a new black 2010 Prius II last week (what's the blue logic add on?). My numbers are pretty close to yours. I only put a couple hundred down rather than the $2000+, and just spread the rest out over my monthly payments, so my payments are a bit higher than yours. If you got screwed I'm right there with you, but I don't feel like I did.

Still worked out to less per month than what I was paying for my '07 Corolla LE. I know, I know, now at the end of the term I don't own anything, but the benefits outweighed the minuses for me at this point, so I'm happy.

Enjoy!

 

I don't think you got such a great deal--here's why. MSRP of $23,849, cap cost (selling price) of $23,391, so you got a $458 discount. Given the current environment, I would think you could get 3 times as much discount.

FYI--the difference between the 2 cap costs ($650) is the lease inception fee, which is added to the cap cost.

The dealer has played the leasing shell game with you--getting you focused on money down and lease payment. Net selling price is where you should start the negotiation, and then apply the lease variables to calculate payment, money down, etc. Also, putting ~10% down on a lease makes no sense to me.

Since you didn't take delivery of the car yet, and given you have another potential sale for the dealer, you might be able to renegotiate the deal (not sure what the laws are in your state).

I posted an excel lease calculator spreadsheet a few times (do a search if interested). Ask the dealer for a copy of the vehicle inquiry report, which will show the official TFS residuals. Ask what the money factor is and compare to what others have been getting (this is an area where dealers love to add profit). Plug the variables into the spreadsheet to confirm the dealer isn't playing any other games. Good luck.

 

You did good. I wouldn''t worry about the above poster, alot of people are still paying close to msrp. Maybe you could have done slightly better, but you could have done way worse. I hope you enjoy the car and that it saves lots of gas.

 

Attached below.

 

Money factor should be 0.00075, not 0.0075. Corrected spreadsheet attached below.

Just to give you an idea, I also attached one that shows what the payment would be ($169 vs. $199) if you got a $1,500 discount (instead of $458).

 

hello to all !!!!!! i traded in my 07 impala with 5 lease payments left at 347.48 in on a 2010 prius III a lease with a MSRP 24,419, I PUT 500.00 down at 321.78 for 36 months with 12000 miles a year......

 

I have seen the local adds for the $199/month Prius lease and am considering it. I found this thread on google and am interested in your spreadsheet. I haven't leased before, so I'm not sure which items are negotiated to get to the final lease payment. From your posts, it seems that you can negotiate the discount from MSRP.

Do you also negotiate the residual value? How about the money factor?

Sorry if this sounds dumb, just trying to get up to speed before I go shopping.

Thanks,

Rob

 

if u have not signed the dotted line, u can always renegotiate. personally i think u did very well

i also did a lease for the first time ever on a Leaf. my rental charge was 3800 but mostly because i got pretty poor terms but mostly because i was using standard Nissan lease financing not knowing that the dealer can change the "money factor" which controls the rental amount.

i also did 36 months and increased my down payment to reduce the
rental charge. now they did give a pretty hefty discount which i could have gotten on a purchase (which was the original deal) but i would have missed out on a pretty good chunk of the $7500 tax credit (which would really kill me if Obama gets his way and changes it to a rebate) which is one of the reasons i decided to lease.

just out of curiosity, if you were to decide to buy, would your payoff be the residual plus principal plus a purchase fee?

 

From my experience leasing my Prius from TFS:

--Sales price negotiable.
--Residual set by TFS--dealer can't modify. Ask dealer for the Vehivle Inquiry Report--it will show residuals for various lease term and mileage combinations.
--Money factor: minimum set by TFS--some dealers mark it up. Leasecompare.com is a good place to get the "official" money factors.
--Acquisition fee: minimum set by TFS--some dealers mark it up. It was $650 when I got my Prius in June 2009--some dealers tried to mark it up by several hundred $.

 

*cough*

http://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/business-equipment-buying-vs-leasing-29714.html
Leases do not have absolute tax advantages greater than purchases, but sometimes the deduction timing is different.

I just checked online purchase pricing through USAA in Atlanta GA, since that has been a low-priced area in the past that will ship cars. The Prius 2 '10 is ~20k, the '11 22k. Financing through Penfed.org which has a 3% apr along with a 2k downpayment works out to $323 a month for 60 months for the '10 model. After about 36 months the total allowed expense amount to tax deduct has occurred, and then you have a 3 y/o car that you owe about $7500 on you can either keep or sell. Compare that to the lease RV.

Unfortunately this is another case of a lease with msrp built-in.

p.s. OP was wondering why different cap amounts showed on her contract. I'll guess one included the TFS lease fee.

 

Just a little correction to some perceptions above. At the end of a lease you DO own something. You can buy out the car for a cost that is quoted up front. That cost is usually -less- than the car is worth, so don't just return the car. Buy it out and sell it privately or keep it. There is usually $1000 to $2000 value in the car more than the buy out price, maybe more. The dealer will usually want you to just return it so they can recoup that value.

A lease is a waste of money if you can't write off the lease costs on taxes. In Canada we (private individuals) can't. But if you can or you are using for a business then it's ok.

 

Lease also gives u a much lower payment. I did put 10,000 down on my Leaf but my lease payments are only $162.02 a month. It would have been more than double on a purchase

 

Rob, I'm not an advocate of retail leasing, but I do understand there may be some deals available to you. I don't know if the $169- 199 lease deals are still available as the original post was from 03/2010. The dealer will probably use a "Lease Guide" valuation service such as ALV and residual values are not negotiable. Since RV's are based upon mileage, year and certain equipment make sure you get your mileage forecasted right the first time. You don't want to have to deal with excess mileage charges after 2 or 3 years. Also, if you lease then exercise your option to buy out the lease after xxx amount of years, you'll end up paying slightly more for the car than if you would have bought upfront in the beginning. The lease negotiable is Cap Cost (based upon what you buy and how you negotiate.) I've never heard of dealers negotiating RV and mileage charges. By the way, I assume you're referring to a Toyota Lease Program and not a dealer's private in-house leasing company.

 

This thread is nearly a year old, btw.

But anyway it sounds like a normal decent Prius lease.