WWMMD- car lease, updated in comments

[tripleshot]

What is the price of the RAV4? Those numbers add up to $42,520. That seems high. I have a RAV4 limited and it was about $30k, but that was 5 years ago. I know the hybrid is more expensive. What’s the interest rate they quoted you on the RAV4?

What is the buyout price of the highlander? You can get that number from the leasing bank. Compare that to the trade in value. I had a Mazda lease I hated and went to a Toyota dealer when I had about a year left to get the Rav4. The Toyota dealer basically bought the Mazda outright from the bank and I broke even on it. It didn’t matter that it was a lease so the remaining lease payments weren’t even discussed.

I would say if you can’t break even like I did, wait until you can.

[cuadrado]

I agree about exploring buyout of the lease or looking at other car brands. If that doesn’t work out then I would wait it out.

FWIW - I’m currently looking at the RAV4 and what’s annoying about it is that you basically have to buy the Limited with several extra packages to get features that come at lower trim levels on comparable compact SUVs. So I view that alone as not very MM.

[fryjack2]

That seems like a really high payment and DP for a Rav 4, but I’m not familiar with them.

I have an Acura MDX and negotiated the purchase price prior to telling them I wanted to lease it and my payment is $446. 3 year. We didn’t put anything down, but turned in another leased MDX (just shy of 3 year term. No penalty as we were leasing from the dealer again and they sent the request that we trade in) that we had put down 3k and had a payment of $406. That included oil changes for the duration of the lease.

I also negotiated the price of a Volvo x90 with 4k down and that payment was also going to be lower than what your rav 4 is.

I would shop around or see if somewhere will buy our your lease.

[fryjack2]

Also, a 72 month lease with 4k down and over 500 a month seems like a not great deal. 72 months x500= 42k. Add in the 4k down and you should just buy the car so you have something to sell after 6 years of payments. Are you sure the numbers are right?

[aprilsails]

Is there a lease busters website active in your neighbourhood? I’ve leased through that before (taken over the last year to 6 months of various leases), and it can be a useful way of getting rid of a lease without having to deal with the dealership. You could then go to whatever dealership you want and start a purchase or new lease from scratch.

I will say from a purchase perspective that buying at this time of year is the worst. Most dealerships run better promotions on ‘last year models’ in the winter and spring. I know this because my Stepdad is in sales and my Mom was too for over 15 years.

[SusanBAnthony]

I'd run the total numbers over let's say 7 years.

Scenario 1: finish current lease for two years, buy the car you want (lower trim level) and have a loan for 5 years. At the end you have a 5 year old paid off car with ~x miles that is worth y and spent a total of z.

Scenario 2: break lease, buy new car now, at the end of 7 years, have a 7 year old car with ~x miles that is worth y, and spent a total of z.

[wildrice]

I don't think I'd upgrade. You would be doing it so that you don't waste money, but with 4k down and over $100 more per month in payment, I am not sure you aren't wasting money there too. It would be one thing if this was your dream car that you were planning to buy anyway, but if this is an upgrade that is bigger and more high level than what you'd switch to otherwise, it might not save you anything.

What I'd do is figure out what car you DO want, and what it would cost to buy. Then compare this offer to what it would cost if you did that. What if you stuck with this lease through the end and then bought a car that is 30k instead of 42k? You'd still come out ahead overall if you did that.

Car sales people are very good at manipulating numbers to make it sound like a good idea to spend more.

[elcjet]

What is the buyout quote for the Highlander and then what would Carvana or private sale give you for it? If that's a wash, then I would sell the Highlander and get into a new car with no negative equity following you. Right now they are wrapping the remaining Highlander payments into that Rav 4 and making them unrealistically high.....

[ellipses84]

I think it’s a great idea to get out of the lease. If you have great credit, you should be able to negotiate hard for a low interest rate (take in a credit union car loan % guarantee and ask them to do better). Can you put a little more down to get the payment the same as your current payment or for a shorter term? The resale value will be good, even after 6 years. What’s the difference in cost between the model you want and the ones they have too much stock of?

[minzy]

If the next one is a car you’d want to keep for 8-10 years, I’d seriously go with an EV. I get that you’re stuck with the dealership for the car with the current lease, but am not sure why you’d necessarily have to go through them for the next car too...? If you could look elsewhere then you’d obviously have way more options. It’s probably not helpful but my ‘19 EV was still sitting untouched on the lot this July (probably because of coronavirus cooling the market) so we got a pretty good deal on it.

[melmel48]

Another thing to consider is sales tax... I don't know if there is sales tax in your state. MA is 6.25%. That also adds a significant amount of $$ to your purchase.

[silvercrayon]

Great choice! I love my 2018 CR-V. I looked at the Rav-4 when when we were car shopping. We both loved the Honda. No regrets at all.