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What did you pay for your lease terms?

6K views 25 replies 10 participants last post by  sf5 
#1 · (Edited)
Hi! I'm a new member here. First post; so please forgive me if it's in the wrong area.

I leased a '12 Civic Si Coupe last month to learn manual. Love the car. Great on gas.

Anyway, I'm wanting to know if I got a steal, got ripped off, or got an average price. I paid a total of $2,150 at signing and agreed to $220 per month. It's a three-year lease, and I got them to throw in splash guards and installation for free.

*Edited because I did my math wrong on my total.
 
#3 ·
You made out quite well, HoNdA, as I didn't get navi.

This is a little off topic, but are there any mods you can recommend that are lease friendly? Since I'm learning manual I'll probably need a repair eventually down road for something, and I don't want Honda blaming it on the mods. If I got Hondata, how much do they charge to reflash/reprogram at the end of the lease, if you know?
 
#5 ·
I have a baseline LX, I talked him down to $16,700 from 21,xxx, I traded in my EJ8 for 1500 and put zero down and I pay 150 per month, I have all maintenance (to include oil, and brakes) covered for the life of the lease.

As for mods, I'm only sticking to basic audio (being I want to retain the stock head unit) and I'd like to do some suspension, maybe rims if I get a job in the next few months.
 
#7 ·
I'm curious what the benefits of a lease are over purchasing. I've never explored leasing before since it always seemed like it was a longterm rental so to speak (like an apartment). Do they cover all maintenance or just warranty stuff?

I'm sitting at $300/month for my loan with 0.9% interest. It doesn't seem like leasing is much cheaper. Not bashing leasing or anything. :) I'm just curious.
 
#8 · (Edited)
I'm at $268/month with 3k down and 4750 from a corolla trade-in and 0.9%. Leasing is definitely cheaper to do, you have the option to get rid of the car at the end of the lease without paying penalties. Or, in another sense, you could buy it at the end which in turn makes it like an 8-year finance option.

Also, most leases cover the first 2 years of maintenance also I believe.
 
#20 ·
Unless you plan on buying the car (at a good price negotiated up front) it usually isn't a good financial deal. sf5 is going to pay $2150 + $220*36 or $10,070 over 3 years. If I think about buying the car new (you can get a 12 Si for ~$20k) would be worth more than $10k at the end of 3 years? (A quick search on Auto Trader shows 3 year old Si with 35-45k miles listed for $19k and KBB lists it as worth $14-17k).

So if he buys it after the lease, he will come out the same as buying it, maybe less $1k in fees or something. If he turns it back in, he pays the dealer $10k and then the dealer can turn around and sell it for $15k (plus TTL!!) so they just made $25k+ on a 2012 Si.. Easily $5k profit over if they had just sold it to you.
 
#25 · (Edited)
What does it matter if the dealer sells it for more? you got the car, drove it for 3 years, and paid only 10k, most people change cars after 3-5 years anyway
So it is just if you want to pay for convince or if you want to have the most economical option. OP's reason is that he may damage the transmission - or even decide he does not want a stick shift and the reason for the lease is so he does not have to worry so much about the results of him learning stick. But if he had spare cash, he could of paid a bit more on the month to month and then sold his car at the end of it and ended up taking maybe a $5,000 loss over 3 years instead of $10k. The last example is a $7,000 2 year lease that if you went through buying and reselling would cost you (assuming a 2012) maybe $3-4k.

There are circumstances where you don't want to/can't make the higher payments - but the reality is leasing is often much more expensive than buying a car. It is one of those situations where not having money, costs you more money and perpetuates the cycle. I got my truck for $8800 in ~2005 and am still driving it. If I had leased a car at a low rate of ~$3.5k a year, I would of spent $24.5k so far (and yes, had new cars) - but that $20k savings (truck currently worth about $4k) will let me buy a new car, and if I so choose, perpetuate the cycle buying/selling a new car every few years with a net gain of a few thousand every couple years.

There are circumstances where leasing may fit your situation. There is the common argument that "I can buy the car after my lease so it will be a good deal" (although out of 3 people I personally know who said that, none of them bought the lease). Just some thoughts to consider, maybe a different perspective.
 
#26 ·
So it is just if you want to pay for convince or if you want to have the most economical option. OP's reason is that he may damage the transmission - or even decide he does not want a stick shift and the reason for the lease is so he does not have to worry so much about the results of him learning stick. But if he had spare cash, he could of paid a bit more on the month to month and then sold his car at the end of it and ended up taking maybe a $5,000 loss over 3 years instead of $10k. The last example is a $7,000 2 year lease that if you went through buying and reselling would cost you (assuming a 2012) maybe $3-4k.

There are circumstances where you don't want to/can't make the higher payments - but the reality is leasing is often much more expensive than buying a car. It is one of those situations where not having money, costs you more money and perpetuates the cycle. I got my truck for $8800 in ~2005 and am still driving it. If I had leased a car at a low rate of ~$3.5k a year, I would of spent $24.5k so far (and yes, had new cars) - but that $20k savings (truck currently worth about $4k) will let me buy a new car, and if I so choose, perpetuate the cycle buying/selling a new car every few years with a net gain of a few thousand every couple years.

There are circumstances where leasing may fit your situation. There is the common argument that "I can buy the car after my lease so it will be a good deal" (although out of 3 people I personally know who said that, none of them bought the lease). Just some thoughts to consider, maybe a different perspective.
Right on the money.

Buying is great for the long term, but if you lose your job, decide you don't like the car, or have a kid, you're totally screwed because you can't break a loan like you can a lease for $500. Of course, you can sell the car, but taxes are going to hurt, and it will end up costing you big money, not to mention the trouble of finding a buyer or dealership that will pay you anything fair.
 
#9 ·
I meant to put $2,150 for my total down, not $3,600. I knew something looked funny. Bad math.

I lease because I want to learn stick, and it's a tax write-off. After owning an auto 335i, I'm planning to save for a standard 135i, but if only the i-DTEC engine could come to the U.S...
 
#11 ·
Tax write-offs are always good. Do you get that write-off even if you don't itemize and take the standard deduction? Or, do you have to itemize? I never can write off enough to make itemizing worthwhile.
 
#15 ·
I could never understand the concept of putting money down on a lease, just put the down payment in your car payment account, why pay them up front, you would almost be better off purchasing with such big down payments, just my opinion. Leasing is just like a long term rental.
 
#23 ·
I leased cause I couldnt afford a 450 month payment. And I change cars every time I can.. Ive been living in Va for 2 and a half years and have had 4 cars already... I get bored fast... the lease basically forces me to stay with it longer..lol
 
#24 ·
i pay $240 a month for mine and i have a $1,200 down payment and i only leased for 2 years. I think its a pretty good deal. then my buy out price is like $14,000 which is great if i plan to buy at the end
 
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