Question regarding leasing

Never having leased before, is it possible to negotiate a sale price, then write it up as a lease? Thinking that may help bring the residual down later for purchase. Or once lease is mentioned, is the price not negotiable?

The Lease is a way to finance the purchase. Get your best deal, then pay for it as a lease. We used our Credit Card to put down $2,500, financed the rest on the lease. A couple of months later we got the check from the state of California which we used to pay off the Credit Card. It costs us a few dollars of interest, but the rate was low and this way it did not effect our finances. Our Gas savings help pay the monthly lease.

Enjoy! No regrets, we LOVE the Leaf. We chose the 15,000 mile per year option and ended up using the full amount the first year.

Thank you! Currently driving a 1 ton diesel each way to work, spending $460/month just for fuel. Truck is starting to need more expensive maintenance too. Looking forward to saving

Graffi said:

The Lease is a way to finance the purchase. Get your best deal, then pay for it as a lease. We used our Credit Card to put down $2,500, financed the rest on the lease. A couple of months later we got the check from the state of California which we used to pay off the Credit Card. It costs us a few dollars of interest, but the rate was low and this way it did not effect our finances. Our Gas savings help pay the monthly lease.

Enjoy! No regrets, we LOVE the Leaf. We chose the 15,000 mile per year option and ended up using the full amount the first year.

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YES! YES! YES! Just because it's a lease doesn't mean you can't bargain for it just as if you were going to finance a purchase, or pay cash.

Another way to bring the residual down is to put a higher down payment (known as a "Capitalized Cost Reduction" in lease-speak). However with NMAC leases in particular it is NOT recommended to put a lot of money down. The reason is because if the car becomes an insurance write-off for some reason, you WILL not get your down payment back. Put as little down as NMAC will allow for your credit rating, even though it will cause your monthly payment to go up.

Ok so leases around here advertise at $199/month and I believe $2399 down which includes the first payment. If I get nailed right after driving off the lot, I lose the $2200.00? Insurance wouldn't put me in another vehicle and apply that to the terms?

RonDawg said:

However with NMAC leases in particular it is NOT recommended to put a lot of money down. The reason is because if the car becomes an insurance write-off for some reason, you WILL not get your down payment back. Put as little down as NMAC will allow for your credit rating, even though it will cause your monthly payment to go up.

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Super interested in knowing this too. If you lose your entire down payment when the car is a total loss, there is very little incentive to put any money down??

I guess I'm about to put that theory to the test. 2013 S, only 6 months old, deer went straight thru the windshield and caused major damage to the tune of $20,000 estimated bill to fix. Naturally the insurance company is agreeing to total the car. Tomorrow I have an appointment with insurance to talk details. Where in my lease agreement does it talk about forfeiting the down payment I made at the beginning of the lease???

Yikes, do you have any pics of the vehicle after that?

truav8r said:

Super interested in knowing this too. If you lose your entire down payment when the car is a total loss, there is very little incentive to put any money down??

I guess I'm about to put that theory to the test. 2013 S, only 6 months old, deer went straight thru the windshield and caused major damage to the tune of $20,000 estimated bill to fix. Naturally the insurance company is agreeing to total the car. Tomorrow I have an appointment with insurance to talk details. Where in my lease agreement does it talk about forfeiting the down payment I made at the beginning of the lease???

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truav8r said:

Super interested in knowing this too. If you lose your entire down payment when the car is a total loss, there is very little incentive to put any money down??

I guess I'm about to put that theory to the test. 2013 S, only 6 months old, deer went straight thru the windshield and caused major damage to the tune of $20,000 estimated bill to fix. Naturally the insurance company is agreeing to total the car. Tomorrow I have an appointment with insurance to talk details. Where in my lease agreement does it talk about forfeiting the down payment I made at the beginning of the lease???

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You're just renting the car. Any money you put up at the beginning of the lease just reduces your monthly payments. It doesn't give you any equity interest in the car. Of course, you might be able to negotiate something out of this, especially if you are planning to lease from Nissan again. Let us know how it comes out.

Super interested in knowing this too. If you lose your entire down payment when the car is a total loss, there is very little incentive to put any money down??

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The only real incentive is it usually gets you a better deal. 0$ down is great in theory, but it can cost significantly more in order to be safe. You have to decide if you are more concerned with risk or with expense under normal circumstances.

My First Lease I paid $2,000 cash due at signing and my monthly payments were $167 for a 24 month 15K mile/yr lease. Shortly afterwards I realized that all that money was at risk in case the car was totaled.

So for my second Leaf lease I paid nothing for cash due at signing. In its place was Nissan's $1,000 Leaf loyalty cash so I ended up with $0 due at signing, $295 per month for a 24 month lease, 15K miles per year for a 2015 SV with Quick-charge package, floor mats, and splash guards.

If the car gets totaled for any reason, I'm not out the cash.

As others have pointed out, getting anything back on cash due at signing would probably be a negotiation, if possible.

I didn't bother with sales price. I e-mailed multiple dealers with the same criteria: How much cash due at signing I was going to do, what model with options, preferred colors, 24-month lease, 15K miles per year, and just focused on the monthly payment as a negotiating point between the dealers. Why? Because that's the main thing that mattered to me and it avoided the whole hassle of a dealer agreeing to a lower sales price and then padding it with high or multiple fees. By focusing on the monthly payment I bypassed all those games. I ended up $3,055 under MSRP with minimal fees which I think is relatively good for the Seattle area. There was a bit more left if I wanted to keeping playing the game but I was ready to get it done.