benzcl500

Im interested in either buying an older maxima (2000 SE) or leasing an 03. Whats a reasonable lease rate for the 03 assuming i put 3k down. thanks

jjs

Uh, dude...how about some more info?????

Length of term?
Mileage allowance (if you will try to negotate a higher allowance)?
Model?
Options?

Geez!!!!

NT2SHBBY

there's probably gonna be discrepancies here, but here's my take....

You'll probably get a better deal on an 03 if u finance it, but if ur gonna lease, don't put ANY MONEY DOWN!!!!

why?? well your down payment not only reduces the payment (slightly) but really goes towards the residual value, assuming you buy it after the lease is up.

you will find if you crunch the numbers, your down payment hits the residual more than your lease note.

Just my $.02

Jules Maximus

I asked about leasing an '03 but it didn't make much difference in the payment because of the residual (don't ask me to explain this). It worked out to less than a $10 difference in the monthly payment between leasing and buying.

I would recommend buying an '03 rather than leasing it.

BiggD23

I considered (for about 2 seconds) leasing a 2k3 before I bought mine last month. With the deals the way they are today, once we looked at the numbers it just didn't make any sense. With the combination of 1.9% financing, $2,000 instant rebate from Nissan and a lower than MSRP price to start with we were in the same ballpark to lease it or to buy it. So unless you're someone who just wants a car they can drive for 3 years and then get something new again, why not buy it and have some equity that you can reuse? My $.02

MaXBoost03_SE

Ok, here it goes.

Alot of people believe that by leasing a vehicle the monthly payments will be lower. Yes the monthly payments for the vehicle will be lower, but guess what? On lease vehicles the insurance company requires you to have Policy limits of 100/300/50 instead of 10/20/10 when the vehicle is bought.How do i know this? Well I work for an automobile insurance company. So overall your either paying more monthly or about the same. Now im not saying that people only lease cause they believe theyll get lower payments, but im just giving some info. So dont start a war with me now.

jjs

That may be true, but in this day and age, I would not feel comfortable running around with anything less than full coverage at the best levels I can find. 100/300/100 is just fine to me and noone else has to 'force' me into getting it.

MaXBoost03_SE

Thats cool if you wanna go with the best. But please note that the purpose of my thread was only to explain that by going with a lease may not save you $. If theyre not gonna tax you for the monthly car payments, The insurance will get you!

MONTE 01&97 SE

iTrader: (1)

Agreed!

studman

Here's a way to look at it:

Negotiated car price is $30,000. That price includes all taxes, fees, profit, etc for either Scenario

Scenario 1: Pay $500/month for 36 months. To buy it at the end of the lease, it would be $579/month for 24 months. No down payment on either the lease or the lease purchase.

Scenario 2: Pay $579/month for 60 months. No down payment.

As you can see, Scenario 1 is actually a better option. I'd just ask the dealer what the residule is if you decide to lease. Anything over $12k is too much

benzcl500

Well im looking at an 03 maxima wuth a sticker of 26K...im sure i can get it for much less (what do you think is good?). if there are good financing rates i might buy...esp if its around say 22K. otherwise, i may just lease and then buy at the end, because i think the resiudals will be pretty low.

Evan

If you are planning to own your car for a period that is longer than it would take you to pay off your car if you bought it outright, it should be significantly cheaper in the long run (but likely more expensive on a monthly basis) to finance rather than lease.

With a lease, rather than repaying the amount borrowed over the life of your loan, you are repaying an amount equal to the value the car is expected to depreciate over time ((purchase price - downpayment) - residual value). Because you are paying off the amount owing at a slower rate, there is always a higher principal amount outstanding than there would be under a loan of the same term, and you will end up paying more interest over the same period of time. The monthly payment, however, would be lower since you aren't repaying the entire amount (unless lease rates were dramatically higher or the term of your loan was dramatically longer than the lease).

However, that is not to say that a lease is not a better option for many people. Personally, I plan to turn my car over every couple of years and, when I was negotiating to buy my 2K3 the lease rate was not dramatically higher than the financing rate, so I decided to lease. My payment is significantly lower than it would have been if I bought (although I will pay slightly more interest over the life of my lease than I would have over the same term loan) and I effectively have an option to buy my car at the end of the lease. If the used car market sucks I can simply turn it back to Nissan, and if the residual value is lower than what it is worth at the end of the lease, I can buy it from Nissan and sell it back to the dealer.

Another thing that surprises me; many people think that you just pay whatever Nissan's advertised lease rate is. You shouldn't. Go in and negotiate the same way you would if you were paying cash. Once you've settled on an appropriate price, tell them that you plan to lease. (A downpayment is not applied against the residual value - it is applied to the starting principal value, which decreases the principal amount that you'll pay back over the life of the lease and reduces the monthly payment. However, if rates are cheap (like I assume they are now) you are better off using your money elsewhere and skipping the downpayment.)

It is a useful exercise to calculate what your lease rate would be assuming different purchase prices and downpayments so that you know what you have to negotiate when you walk into the dealership.

benzcl500

great reply! although i this isnt new to me, you bring up some good points. so do you mind sharing your terms with me so that i have an idea? thanks

Jules Maximus

Can you beat $429/mo on leasing?

That is my payment on my '03 Max SE w/1.9% financing and I will own it in 59 months. That is with zero down.

benzcl500

i hope you mean financing...

or maybe you mean can leasing beat that payment. Well a mixma with 999 down is 295 a month according to my dealer, but then again you will own it in 5 years so its two different things

i personally dont think leasing is a bad i dea for this car. just talked to dealer he said if i put 3k down, id have 250 a month plus taxes. then residual is 12k, and its only a 39 month lease. so i say, lease it a that rate, then buy it outright at the end and sell it again (im sure itll be worth more than 12K)

Jules Maximus

Yes, I financed my car. I plan on keeping it until it's paid off and I always take good care of my cars.

So, in 39 months you will pay $9750 and if you're lucky you will not be upside down in the car. If you do buy it at lease end you will pay quite a bit more though-interest rates on a used car aren't nearly as good as what they are on a new car. That is why I'm not a fan of buying at the end of a lease. I'd rather just buy it to begin with.

Evan

I'm from Toronto so my lease rate (in Canadian dollars) isn't all that comparable. However, I am paying just over C$500 including taxes, zero down, 48 month lease (somewhere around US$325-340). I have a 2003 SE with all options.

I'm not sure what Nissan's US leasing rate is but I assuming it is something like the 4.2% that I paid when I bought mine (maybe its lower now?). Your $250/month scenario ($12K residual, 39 months, $3K down) works out to a purchase price of around $22,570.