[jdceel]

I have been studying up on how the federal rebate is applied to a Volt lease and thought I had it figured out:

The $7500 rebate would be taken by the leasing company (owner of the car) and either 1) used to reduce the cap cost or 2) used to raise the residual. In either case, this will reduce the difference between the two, which is the depreciation cost that I will pay over the term of the lease. Net result is lower payments for me.

My dealer is telling me the rebate has been *subtracted* from the residual to leave a lower buy-out cost at the end of the lease term. I am confused.

Here are the numbers they have given me:

2015 Volt loaded (premium trim, safety 1 and 2, nav and bose)

MSRP 39,310
Dealer discount 700
Lease cash 3700
"Other incentives" 2000
Acquisition fee 595
Net selling price 38610
Net cap 33505
Down payment 0
Residual 18869 (48%)
They are stalling on giving me the money factor, but...

Lease term 36 months
Monthly payment w/o tax 445.84, so I could calculate it out, I think.

So, this seemed awfully high compared to other good deals I have seen on this site, so I asked how the federal rebate would be applied to these numbers - would it be used to bring down the cap or raise the residual. I was told that it already was used to *reduce* the residual (which was 24K before the adjustment???).

Please help me understand! All the residuals I have seen on this site have been around 50% and it did not look like they were adjusted by rebate amount.

BTW, today they offered me $35,500 "out the door cash price" if I wanted to buy instead of lease. From this I could take the $7500 at tax time, leaving net $26,500 (then possible trade-in of my beloved old Civic of $6K to get to $20,500 in the end).

So, I clearly am not going to take the lease deal as presented, as it seems pretty poor.

Thanks for any help on understanding why they are treating the rebate as they claim in the lease deal.

-jc

 

[jdceel]

Thanks, Even-Steven. Helps me understand that I am not going crazy! Sounds like leases can be difficult to sort out. I have never leased before - always bought and driven for 7-10 years.

Volt just too tempting right now, Civic at 8 yrs but only 61K miles. But my 20-mi round trip commute would mean all electric all the time.

Did you end up buying instead of leasing?

I also am looking at buying one of the many 2012s that I see for sale - there are many with about 29k miles, presumably coming off lease.

Any word on how the older Volts are holding up?

 

[jdceel]

Thanks for all your replies! The reason I was looking at leases is that I have imagined turning in a 2015 in three years for something more advanced. I don't mind paying a little more for that convenience of switching easily. But if the lease options here in KC are so much worse than buying, then I'll either take the plunge and buy new or find a deal on a used 2012-2014.

Looking at used prices, they seem to be holding value pretty well (considering the "pre-depreciation" offered on a new one by the federal rebate). Makes new look like a smart move when I can get one for not much more than a 1-2 year old low-mile car.