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      12-10-2012, 10:53 AM   #21
RWD4Life
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Drives: 2018 M2 (MG 6MT)
Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Boston, MA

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Quote:
Originally Posted by Freon View Post
This is why I tell people to never lease. People don't understand cap cost, miss that they still need to negotiate the "sales" price of the car, what a money factor is, tend to think its ok to have extra $$$ fees since it is a lease, always have really big bank/lease aquisition fees, etc. They think leasing is cheaper and also as a magic slap-chop-like bonus gets you a new car every 3 years, when nothing could be further from the truth as far as your long-term financial health.

I used to work for a software company that dealt in this arena and supported some pieces that helped pencil both leases and traditional finance deals. Specifically I worked directly with finance managers on the product to make sure it calculated correctly. I was constantly amazed on how they'd shoe in bad rates, BS fee on top of BS fee, automark sales price to MSRP for cars that normally never did, etc. But consumers always think "monthly price". There were a few that seemed to be pretty honest and only defaulted a $500 lease aq. fee and defaulted to a MF that was reasonable, but a vast majority always defaulted new deals to horrid numbers.

I strongly suggest traditional finance for everyone. Leasing, unless you are an expert and come armed with your own laptop and a strong understanding of how it all fits together you are making yourself extremely vunerable.

So many people are so uninformed on this I think dealers just don't feel like bothering with people who know what they're talking about. Perhaps that's where RWD4Life's disconnect comes from.

Solution? Don't lease! If you buy, pay it off, sell, then buy again, you will eventually be driving a nicer car with a lesser payment than if you had been leasing the entire time. While a car is not really a great equity investment, there still is a huge chunk of equity left in a car after 3-5 years, enough to make a huge dent and downpayment into your next car. I think leasing is a trap, and a vast majority of consumers get hosed on them and don't even realize it due to the complexity.
Thanks for you comments, I think you have valid points. However if you carefully read what I wrote, you will find that one of the reasons I think the dealer never got back to me is because I did my homework too well. I know what I'm getting myself into if I decide to lease. Also try not to put words into people's mouth next time you want to get your point across. I never said lease is awesome. But it is in effect an alternative that should be carefully considered in comparison to financing.
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