[ppiano23]

Hey team..

I know this topic is as old as Terry Bradshaw's jokes, but I am still interested on everyone's view. Being a lower priced Mercedes, are most going to opt to finance it?

 

[CrazE4cars]

I plan on a lease it just works for me I can drive 12K per year for 36 to 48 months and then I'm ready for something new. Also I just pay tax on the amount leased and not the whole amount of the car saving money there as well.

 

[ppiano23]

Good point. Do you accept the standard lease options or add your own options?

 

[Prefon2]

In Oregon we don't have sales tax, so there is no tax advantage to a lease. Even though I turn over cars fairly quickly I like to buy, it is easy to go over 12K miles per year in a region where everything is so spread out like the NW and the penalties for doing that suck. Also once you've built equity and can transfer it from one vehicle to the next it makes it easier to buy cars.

 

[CrazE4cars]

I go directly to a dealer and negociate the sale price of the car. Dealers can use rebates, incentives etc to get the price down on the lease. Some leases are more attractive depending on how many months you want. The C class lease is much better at 48 mo. than 36 mo. I have a paid for Toyota Tacoma (I'm in Tennessee you know we all drive pick-ups LOL)I can drive from time to time if I get a little high on allotted miles.

 

[I want my A-M-G]

I will lease unless there is a significant financial penalty. With a new model, I don't want to get stuck if resale values are low.

 

[osiris_x11]

I generally keep my newly-acquired vehicles for quite awhile, about 4-5 years for myself & then at least another 4-5 years in the household/family. And purchases have ranged from $25k - $35k for the most part.

If I had the ability to financially write'off a vehicle-expense, I would for sure lease. Likewise, if I was purchasing high(er) priced new-vehicles (susceptible to greater/significant depreciation), leasing would be the way to go. Often, the post-lease buy'out price is quite good, and obviously the lease terms can be negotiated from the start (try to get the vehicle as discounted as possible thru dealing, manufacturer-incentives, factory-cash, dealer-money/rebates, etc) in terms of low(er) down-payment & low(est) monthly payment.

 

[chrisiden]

in the past i have leased cars that i wasnt sure of buying... and it worked out... some of them i gave back at the end of the term to get a new generation model and some i purchased...
if you have your own business it may be better to lease... but then again if your not sure you could lease for as low as 12 months....(some dealers with great credit score over 750)
anyways, i know this post was probably of little value to anyone here and i will end... lol
THe EnD :mblogoblack: of the Beginning!:tongue:

 

[ppiano23]

in the past i have leased cars that i wasnt sure of buying... and it worked out... some of them i gave back at the end of the term to get a new generation model and some i purchased...
if you have your own business it may be better to lease... but then again if your not sure you could lease for as low as 12 months....(some dealers with great credit score over 750)
anyways, i know this post was probably of little value to anyone here and i will end... lol
THe EnD :mblogoblack: of the Beginning!:tongue:

Good info!!

 

[Leov16]

hi guys, i have a question, I am a Realtor in Florida, and I have my own company (PA), so if I lease the car do I have to get it under the company name or under mine?? because the insurance difference between commercial and personal insurance on a lease car is huge!!!
Does somebody who has a company leased a car before and write it off from taxes???

 

[outsider]

Hey team..

I know this topic is as old as Terry Bradshaw's jokes, but I am still interested on everyone's view. Being a lower priced Mercedes, are most going to opt to finance it?

Having done both for >30 years, I have a slightly different take on the question.
Without special factors in play, lease and purchase ultimately work out the same if you run through the entire contract term.
If you purchased the car, you can sell the vehicle anytime you want to at whatever price you deem fit.
When a car is leased, you can still sell the car and at whatever price you deem is fair but the lessor determines how much you owe
and that number can shock you. The reason is because a vehicle takes the biggest hit in value the first year where as when you lease,
you are paying the depreciation on a fixed basis ( e.g. 36 equal monthly payments.) So say after one year, you want to get out of your lease
on a $30000 car with a 60% residual value of $18000 and you have paid $333 depreciation a month for 12 month = $4000. Your lessor may ask you for
a payout of $26000 because you only fulfiled one third of your obligation although the car may only be worth $22000 on the secondary market.
In other words, you have to come up with $4000 just to break the lease.

So my strategy is to take the lease if there is a super lease deal where the manufacturer gives a ton of incentives including low interest, high residual value and discount.
If you buy the same car, you usually get just the discount but not the high residual value ( has no relevance ) or low interest. Or low interest in lieu of discount.
BMW is well known to give sky high residual values and low interest but little discount - hence their best deals are always leases. That's by BMW's business design whereas MB will
do everything when they want to and nothing when they don't want to as in the case of the CLA.

Also, most novice lessers are not aware of the fact that when you return a leased vehicle, they will charge you for rock chips on wind shield, paint, door dinks, bumper dinks and most
will require the tires to have better than 50% of treads or you will be charged with a new set. I usually just voluntarily put on a set of inexpensive but good tires before I turn in the car.
If you missed a required service because you think you are close to the end of the lease, that will be billed to you. Or for stains in the carpet where you spilled a cup of coffee.
Mercedes and BMW are damn serious about those items because they intend to put that car right back on the used car lot and they want you to pay for everything.
Oh, there is also the obligatory $395 lease-end disposal fee which is outright highway robbery. Of course, if you lease another car from them, they may overlook a few of those charges - wink wink.

 

[Sue Esponte]

For what it's worth, some of what you said about leasing does not apply across the board. For example, Honda has a $250/panel damage allowance on its leased vehicles. While we own my wife's current Pilot we leased an earlier generation of the Pilot and returned it with some...well...relatively major paint damage. "Someone" who is most definitely not the author of this post evidently drove a little too close to our mailbox one afternoon when picking up the mail. There was a relatively deep scratch that went from the front driver's door to the rear quarter panel. The other side was damaged by a tree limb that came down in our driveway...just a very bad scratch but it was rather gnarly. Both happened pre-inspection but months before our lease ended. At the inspection the guy laughed and said he'd seen much worse. He also told us that the $250/panel covered the tires. That meant that, since tires for the Pilot didn't cost more than $250 a pop, you could return the car with bald tires and not incur a fee.

-Eric

 

[outsider]

For what it's worth, some of what you said about leasing does not apply across the board. For example, Honda has a $250/panel damage allowance on its leased vehicles. While we own my wife's current Pilot we leased an earlier generation of the Pilot and returned it with some...well...relatively major paint damage. "Someone" who is most definitely not the author of this post evidently drove a little too close to our mailbox one afternoon when picking up the mail. There was a relatively deep scratch that went from the front driver's door to the rear quarter panel. The other side was damaged by a tree limb that came down in our driveway...just a very bad scratch but it was rather gnarly. Both happened pre-inspection but months before our lease ended. At the inspection the guy laughed and said he'd seen much worse. He also told us that the $250/panel covered the tires. That meant that, since tires for the Pilot didn't cost more than $250 a pop, you could return the car with bald tires and not incur a fee.

-Eric

Honda is then far more generous than BMW and Mercedes. These guys really want their lease returns to be pristine. As they say 'Just like the way you drove it out of the lot on day 1.'

Some dealers are pushing a lease end cover all package. At VW, You can bring the car back short of missing a fender and you can just walk but they want $6500 for it. I laughed when told of the price and the finance manager said ' how about $4500', '$3500' '$3000' and finally 'so what do you think it's worth ?' Of course, he offered to wrap it into the lease which would cut the price effectively by two-thirds for only $180 more a month...

 

[Endaar]

In NY, and presumably most parts of the US, you have a legal right to obtain a blank copy of the lease contract even before negotiating pricing. The terms for "excessive wear and tear" will be defined within. And yes, as noted, it will vary based on the manufacturer and the leasing company. My current Acura lease (Honda financial) waves $1500 in total damage so long as the repair cost per-damaged area is less than $500, and requires 1/8" tread on the tires.

It's worth noting too that if your dealer buys the car from the leasing company at the end of the term (i.e. when you return it, if it's something they want to resell) none of this comes into play. If the leasing company doesn't get the car back (which of course they don't if the dealer buys it) excess damage, mileage, etc., is all irrelevant.

 

[outsider]

The sad thing is, most buyers / lessees are blinded by the beauty of the shinning vehicle on the showroom floor. They just want
to drive it home and to hell with the fine prints...

 

[SuperCLA]

I'm paying cold hard cash :crying:

 

[outsider]

I'm paying cold hard cash :crying:

Like my parents used to say, if you are not buying with cash, you can't afford it...

 

[CEB]

Like my parents used to say, if you are not buying with cash, you can't afford it...

Your parents sound like mine. They never had a car loan. I'll be paying cash for my CLA.

 

[MrProb]

Like my parents used to say, if you are not buying with cash, you can't afford it...

I cant afford CLA then

 

[Superjak95]

Going to go with Star Advantage to finance my CLA 45 AMG