Demystifying the Marketing Ad

Published 2010/06/072010/06/09 by G

Many of you have probably seen TV/Internet advertisements promoting “incredibly cheap” lease payments on premium vehicles such as BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Infiniti (to name a few). I am also willing to bet that many of you – who otherwise wouldn’t be in the market for a new car – were probably enticed by those ads as well. If those low payments have peaked your interest then some marketing guru just earned their paycheck.

These ads have one simple goal – to get you interested. Does it mean it’s that cheap? In most cases, it’s not. In the world of auto leasing, potential lessee must understand two things… 1) The less you put down, the better. After all, you have to return your car at lease end, so why give away so much of your hard-earned money? 2) Options, fees and individual tax situations can change the deal from a seemingly “good deal” to a “bad”one.

Lets examine Mercedes Benz’s “Special Lease” offer on the C300 Sport…

The ad states a $349/mo lease payment, exclusive of sales tax. In Los Angeles county, we pay around 10% tax. So that $349/mo payment, its more like $390/mo. Next, we have the obligatory “first month” payment, which is due at signing. Then, the deal requires that you “contribute” roughly $3000, to bring down the payments to that “$349/mo” range. Now lets talk fees. More often than not, the bank will charge you an acquisition fee, in this case, it is $795. This fee covers the processing fee of applying for a lease loan and it typically covers the GAP insurance as well. I say typically because not all banks offer that (i.e. Toyota require that you pay extra). At most MBZ dealerships, the bank fee is usually bumped to $1095 (a $300 mark-up) for the bank acquisition. Is that legal? Yup, it sure is. Dealers are allowed to impose any fees they want and they can also mark up the money factor, therefore, it is your job to filter out the phony ones from the legitimate ones.

In the end, your out-of-pocket will end up being roughly $4200 due at signing. Also keep in mind that ad doesn’t include sales tax on the fees you are paying, DMV registration, county and state fees. In the end, you would be looking at $5000 out of pocket, $349/mo + tax. Not as good as it used to sound, does it?

The Right Way to Lease

The proper way to lease a vehicle is not too different from buying a car. You have to negotiate a sale price. Do not negotiate payments unless you know what how much you SHOULD be paying. Payment negotiation should be left to those who have pre-calculated their payments in advance. If you are relatively new to leasing, try breaking down the numbers one by one so you know what you are paying for. For more information check out my Guide To Auto Leasing.

2010 Mercedes Benz Lease Rates – June 2010

Published 2010/06/072010/06/08 by G

logo_benz My Take: Numbers are unchanged from last month, which were pretty much the same as the month before. I think there’s going to be a rate change for July/August so if you don’t like the quotes you are getting now, I would wait to see what July has to offer. There are a few models worth looking at due to the low money factor. These include: CLS550, ML450 Hybrid and to an extent, the SLK300 and SLK350.

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2010 Mercedes E550 Coupe

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2010 Mercedes Benz Incentives

Lease rates provided by LeaseCompare.com

2011 BMW Lease Rates – June 2010

Published 2010/06/072010/08/12 by G

logo_bmw My Take: Overall, some of the lease rates have come down on a good number of 2011 models. To sweeten things up a bit, BMWFS also added some cash rebates on certain models, such of the $1840 AWD credit and the diesel credit of $4500. It isn’t a bad month to get a BMW since the residuals are strong and the money factors have come down since the 2011’s rolled into dealerships. I am personally liking the 135i right now. Solid residual and a .0004 point drop in the money factor. That’s savings right there.

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2010/2011 BMW Incentives

Lease rates provided by LeaseCompare.com

2010 Nissan Lease Rates – May 2010

Published 2010/05/282010/05/28 by G

logo_nissan Updated: Added Altima and Murano numbers. Hopefully some of you can take advantage of it this weekend. The Altima numbers look very good. Murano, not so much. My Take: Just a little disclaimer here…I will be posting all things Nissan on this page. The title will change as I add more lease rates for other Nissan vehicles. Now lets move on to the Maxima! There are some incentives available on the Maxima right now, making it a very attractive lease. Look for $2000 retail cash plus another $500 customer cash. You can’t use the $2000 on the special financing APR 0.0% – 1.9% that NMAC is offering, but it should qualify for the lease. The lease rates got inflated a bit, so your lease should look even better than March/April. Don’t bother looking for a S model at this point. Not only will you have a hard time finding one, but it’s also not worth the effort since the SV is already looking very attractive.

2010 Nissan Maxima SV
36-month | 15k miles | residual 55% | .00100 base money factor

2010 Nissan Altima Sedan 3.5 SR
36-month | 15k miles | residual 57% | .00130 base money factor

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2010 Nissan Altima Coupe 2.5 S
39-month | 15k miles | residual 55% | .00202 base money factor

2010 Nissan Murano LE AWD
36-month | 15k miles | residual 50 % | .00197 base money factor

2010 Nissan Murano SL AWD
36-month | 15k miles | residual 54 % | .00197 base money factor

2010 Mazda Lease Rates – May 2010

Published 2010/05/18 by G

logo_mazda My Take: I recommend buying the CX-9 due to the 60 month 0% APR offer going on right now. The cash isn’t available for leasing and the loyalty cash probably won’t apply to many of you. Skip the lease, buy the car.

2010 Mazda CX-9 GT AWD
36-month | 15k miles | residual 48% | .00124 base money factor

2010 Mazda CX-9 Touring
36-month | 15k miles | residual 49% | .00134 base money factor

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2010 Mazda Incentives

2010/2011 Honda Lease Rates – May 2010

Published 2010/05/182010/05/18 by G

logo_honda My Take: Some of the lease incentives are still in place for the month of May so make sure you factor that into your calculations. I think there are some good deals to be had here, so call your dealer and get a sale price quote and crunch your own numbers to see if it comes close to theirs. My sister is looking to lease a family hauler, so I might recommend the Odyssey to her since the numbers look pretty good and there is $1500 in cash available.

2010 Honda Accord Coupe EX-L V6
36-month | 15k miles | residual 52% | .00158 base money factor

2010 Honda Accord Coupe EX-L V6 w/ Nav
36-month | 15k miles | residual 50% | .00158 base money factor

2010 Honda Accord Sedan 4-cylinder EX-L
36-month | 15k miles | residual 56% | .00158 base money factor

2010 Honda Accord Sedan 4-cylinder EX-L w/ Nav
36-month | 15k miles | residual 54% | .00158 base money factor

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2010 Honda Civic Coupe LX
36-month | 15k miles | residual 59% | .00127 base money factor

2010 Honda Civic Sedan LX
36-month | 15k miles | residual 57% | .00127 base money factor

2010 Honda CR-V EX-L AWD
36-month | 15k miles | residual 58% | .00200 base money factor

2010 Honda Odyssey EX-L
36-month | 15k miles | residual 53% | .00117 base money factor

2010 Honda Odyssey EX-L w/ RES, Nav
36-month | 15k miles | residual 51% | .00117 base money factor

2011 Honda Pilot EX-L 4WD
36-month | 15k miles | residual 55% | .00195 base money factor

2010 Honda Incentives

2010 Acura Lease Rates – May 2010

Published 2010/05/132010/05/18 by G

logo_acura My Take: Incentives are available on leases for the TL and TSX right now. AHFC generally doesn’t offer marketing cash on leases, but they have been seen late last year (probably to boost sales in this weak economy). This is good news for us because the cash discount is pretty big, enough to cover drive-off costs. Anyway, I really enjoyed my Acura lease, as you can see on my latest post about turning in my wife’s TSX, so I highly recommend an Acura lease if you like their cars.

2010 Acura MDX Base
36-month | 15k miles | residual 56% | .00150 base money factor

2010 Acura MDX Tech
36-month | 15k miles | residual 54% | .00150 base money factor

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2010 Acura TL
36-month | 15k miles | residual 58% | .00172 base money factor

2010 Acura TL Tech
36-month | 15k miles | residual 55% | .00172 base money factor

2010 Acura TL SH-AWD
36-month | 15k miles | residual 56% | .00172 base money factor

2010 Acura TL SH-AWD Tech
36-month | 15k miles | residual 53% | .00172 base money factor

2010 Acura TL SH-AWD HPT
36-month | 15k miles | residual 52% | .00172 base money factor

2010 Acura TSX Base
36-month | 15k miles | residual 59% | .00160 base money factor

2010 Acura Incentives

2010 Mercedes Benz Lease Rates – May 2010

Published 2010/05/122010/05/12 by G

logo_benz My Take: Sorry to dump all the MBZ numbers in one post. I figure this would be the quickest way to get the info to you in one shot. It’s going to take some time to sort out, but at least everything right in front of you. There has been a drop in residuals on most MBZs so the bank adjusted their money factors to keep the payments similar to last months. If you where paying around $479 a month for a C300 Sport, you would be looking at around $478 this month. Other notable changes are the residuals on the popular E-Class and GLK. There isn’t any cash available right now, but good discounts can be had, so don’t feel too discouraged by the lack of rebates.

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2010 Mercedes Benz Incentives

Lease rates provided by LeaseCompare.com

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RIDE with G

For those who lease cars

Author: G

Demystifying the Marketing Ad

2010 Mercedes Benz Lease Rates – June 2010

2011 BMW Lease Rates – June 2010

2010 Nissan Lease Rates – May 2010

2010 Mazda Lease Rates – May 2010

2010/2011 Honda Lease Rates – May 2010

2010 Acura Lease Rates – May 2010

2010 Mercedes Benz Lease Rates – May 2010