[timmy]

Hi All,

First post, and hopefully the first of many. Yesterday I was quoted a fully loaded 2012 Volt (leather, nav, bose, etc), MSRP around $44-45,000. They gave me the offer of $1900 down payment (drive off) and $280/mon (included taxes and fees) for a 24 month, 12k miles/year lease. No closing costs at end of lease. They said the monthly payments can be so low because Ally is setting the residual value is up around 75% right now.

This seems absurd, doesn't it??? Am I getting screwed here?! Please let me know what you think!

 

[caronjeff]

So the dealer gets the $7,500 tax credit and sees that as his gain? I don't get it either, seems like somebody is expecting used Volts 24 months from now to sell for $35K or more. There has to be an "Aquisition" fee and a "Disposition" fee, they always do that and its $495 or something like that..

 

[Jedi2155]

I think that is absolutely normal. Notice the residual cost for a buyout on the lease. If you decide you want to buy the car at the end of the lease, yes you will be screwed because you'll be paying that full 75% residual and the bank has already pocketed the $7500 tax credit, that's how they're hedging their bets in order to make the lease a great deal. If the market for used Volts fall to around $20,000 or so, they're still fine.

 

[winchipper]

Hi All,

First post, and hopefully the first of many. Yesterday I was quoted a fully loaded 2012 Volt (leather, nav, bose, etc), MSRP around $44-45,000. They gave me the offer of $1900 down payment (drive off) and $280/mon (included taxes and fees) for a 24 month, 12k miles/year lease. No closing costs at end of lease. They said the monthly payments can be so low because Ally is setting the residual value is up around 75% right now.

This seems absurd, doesn't it??? Am I getting screwed here?! Please let me know what you think!

With 24 month Residual is around 66 percent at 12k

 

[DonC]

Definitely not getting screwed. Great deal actually. But at the end of the lease period you'll probably need to lease or buy something else because the buyout price will be very high.

Keep in mind that the advertised lease is $249/month. That's for a base model, not a loaded model like you've been given the quote on.

I'm not a big lease fan but at this price you'll probably save the lease price in gas every month so I can see why it would make sense.

 

[bonaire]

It may be that the dealer is making a moderate profit on the deal, gets the car "off the books" and into Ally. Then, they up-sell you on other options (there won't be an offer on extended warranty - but they may offer "supplemental insurance" and also "wheel/tire insurance"). There are like 3 or 4 items that F&I in a dealership can make money on - usually more money than the car deal itself. Is it an HOV-compliant Volt or a non-HOV? They should be offering the non-HOV's at less than that final cost.

Leasing is and should always be done based on "final cost" and not the monthly payment. You can negotiate the final price and then start talking lease. If they know you're leasing even before starting to deal - they have the upper-hand and work you over based on monthly payment.

12K miles a year is only 1000 miles a month. You are paying about .28/mile to rent the car plus your car insurance costs on top of that.

I would ask them to do the deal for the same numbers fo 3-years instead - you stretch your down payment over a longer period. Here, it is worth about $80/month so you really are paying $360/month.

 

[awm]

This seems absurd, doesn't it???

Yes, 75% residual for a 2-year lease is absurd. I doubt that Ally offers any 2-year lease program with such high residual and if they did, you probably could not drive more than 200 miles per month before the .20 per mile charge kicks in...