Hi all..my 2008 Accord LX lease is up in September. Buy out around 15k. I just hit 15k miles! Do I buy my used car (finance), buy a new Accord, or just lease a new one? This is my third Accord lease. Everytime I turn one in, the miles are so low. What to do????

Thanks for any input!

 

WOW 15k?? man I wish i could do that. I average 1,500 a month on every car I have ever owned. Just curious since I have never leased, do they credit you for being under the milage? I think it really comes down to crunching the numbers. Go to the dealer, get loose quotes for all 3 options. If you need some help ask someone who is good with that sort of thing. IDK for sure, but all of my friends that lease always come back from the dealer with a new car. They all state they werent offered anything great for buying out their lease.....not to say every dealer/manufacturer is the same, just what I have heard.

 

Thanks 2010couper. No, I've never been given credit for low miles. And you're correct, this is the trap I'm in! It always seems the payment is cheaper if I just lease a new one. It's nice not to do anything other than change oil, and I never have to go to motor vehicles, which in NJ, is the pits. But I still feel a bit ripped off turning in an almost new car!

 

You are being ripped off.
You must know how to make a deal with the car dealership.

I bought a Rental deal that was only 4 months old and the car is loaded with all the right stuff.
Car was listed out at $20,109.00 and I stuck by my price and bought it
at Just over $ 14,000 including all tax's and cost's.

How'd I do it, I told them MY BOTTOM LINE and if I didn't get it, Bye, Bye...off to another dealer.
That is how you make your deals...don't ever forget you are the Buyer and YOU control the Wallet in your back pocket...

After, and I mean after the deal I made was agreed on...I demanded and got Free oil changes 20 of them with car wash's each time I went for one and a FULL Tank Of Gas....

WheelBrokerAng
WheelBrokerAng

 

I'm bringging ANG to the dealer with me for my next ride!!!!!!! 20 free changes? very nice

 

Mrs.WheelBrokerGail remined me that they offered me 10 Free oil changes, but then that's when I demanded 20 plus the free car washs at the same time..

Therefore I now stand corrected Some one has to keep me straight
once in a while...

WheelBrokerAng

 

WheelBrokerAng is right. My advice to anyone when dealing with dealers is always be prepared to leave and to negotiate up and not down. Has always worked well for me. I had a dealer in the past actually ask me if I was going to let under $200 prevent us from making a deal. My response was absolutely, I know what I'm willing to pay and if you don't meet it, I'll go down the street and see if they can. I left with the vehicle that day.

However; you have to be realistic with the pricing that you are giving them. The accord I just bought was purchased for not very much over net net invoice and quite a bit below the invoice you will see on sites like Edmunds, etc.

Anyway, to your situation. There are several factors that you have to consider.

1) What are your long term goals with the car? You are going to be turning in a car that has a great deal of life left in it. By the contract, the price is set for what it will cost you to purchase it. Depending on the state you live in, you may have to pay taxes on the entire residual price if you finance it also (it is that way in the state I'm in). With that being said, if 15K is what it will cost, you are probably looking at an additional $1k or so on top of that for taxes and fees. That equates to roughly $320 a month for 5 years. I'm not saying you should do a 5 year loan either, just using that for illustration purposes in comparison to 2). Obviously, the shorter the loan, the more the payment will be. The advantage of this route is you just aren't driving any miles. When it's paid off, you'll likely have an Accord with under 50K miles and plenty of life left. You also won't have any car payment at that point. That's the long term advantage. It would be cheaper payment wise this route versus buying new if the term was similar.

2) Right now, Honda is running a 0.9% financing on the Accord. If you qualify for that, that's a little over $17 per $1,000 borrowed. I have no idea what model and equipment you would want, but if you were to buy a new Accord and spent $25K, you would be looking at $426.25 a month. The advantage of this route is you would get to pick pretty much exactly what you would want and your warranty would start over. You're paying more a month to be able to do that, but you would have a newer car and basically be starting over. If you have exactly what you want already, then that route would be cheaper for you monthly and it's already taken the bigger depreciation hit. The long term advantage is the same. You would eventually have a very low mileage Accord with no car payment and plenty of life left in it.

3) Leasing would likely be the cheapest a month right now. However; does that make it the right choice? Depends. Do you want to continue with always having a newer car under warranty? Not having a car payment eventually is not one of your goals? You are going to be paying less a month right now most likely as you paying for the "usage" of the car. I put that in quotes because you're not really. Your paying for substantially more miles then you are driving, and you don't get that money back.

It's a tough decision. There are some factors that my opinion would be based on including what you would want to do long term. Also remember Honda right now has a $1,200 manufacturer to dealer incentive that can be used on a lease or purchase (not with the special finance rate though).

Also remember that you still can negotiate the price on a lease or a purchase. Sure there are things like money factor and the residual rate involved in a lease, but the selling price will have a major impact on what you pay a month.

Good luck!

 

More good advice for you to ponder over...

WheelBrokerAng