Thoughts? Expires Wednesday night

[JoulesThief]

I didn't realize that this forum was for autodidacts only. I guess it's time to delete the whole thing, then, given how useless it is to ask experienced people if they can shed any light on anything at all. No point in asking any questions to anybody if the only way to learn is by doing everything yourself with no outside help. Why do you even bother commenting on these threads, I wonder?

Why don't you go to a bank or a savings and loan company and ask them? Or did you even try to Google it? You have a search engine, a computer and Google at your finger tips, maybe try using them?

When buying or leasing a new car, only you can determine if it's a good deal or not. There are a myriad of factors. If you live in an area where people are stupid, specialized rich with cash flow and money, due to good paying jobs, and your job sucks, car prices and lease factors are going to be high. If you go to a dealership in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by cheap land and farmers, and their overhead for the shop costs less, the odds are good you can find and get a better price. Of course, you'll have to still drive it home or get it trucked home.

If you do all of your homework, and negotiate well, you earn the savings on the cost of the new vehicle or lease.

Moral of the story? There are no shortcuts, or cheats... do your own homework, negotiate as best you can, and when you are happy with the deal, and only then, sign the paper work. Only you can determine if you are happy, and the deal is worth doing. Keep doing homework on your own, until you know you can do no better, then sign.



http://www.leaseguide.com/lease07/

 

[cctop]

I didn't realize that this forum was for autodidacts only. I guess it's time to delete the whole thing, then, given how useless it is to ask experienced people if they can shed any light on anything at all. No point in asking any questions to anybody if the only way to learn is by doing everything yourself with no outside help. Why do you even bother commenting on these threads, I wonder?

Don't worry Dokterrock. Some of us enjoy talking about leases and seeing where the market is headed, especially on a forum entitled "Buying/Leasing the e-Golf". It was my first time ever leasing a car so I appreciated the knowledge here.

Hang around long enough and you'll get to know our friend JoulesThief better.

It's hard to say if any deal is good or bad because e-Golf prices have swung wildly over the past year, and also because prices vary immensely in different areas even between northern and southern California.

My impression is that your deal is on the high side of historically average for an e-Golf lease but not unreasonable. If you called around several dealerships and that's the best offer you could get at this moment, I'd be happy with it. We're not talking a lot of money here total anyway.

 

[JoulesThief]

I didn't realize that this forum was for autodidacts only. I guess it's time to delete the whole thing, then, given how useless it is to ask experienced people if they can shed any light on anything at all. No point in asking any questions to anybody if the only way to learn is by doing everything yourself with no outside help. Why do you even bother commenting on these threads, I wonder?

Let me share with you a good deal. It took me 5 days and 7 or 8 different dealerships to put it together. VW was in the news every single day, and it wasn't good new, 10 to 11 months ago. Dealerships were not moving hardly any cars, gas or e-Golfs. I was looking for a white with tan 2015 year end e-Golf SEL. MSRP was $36,300 on the one I bought. I qualified for VW Owner Loyalty at the time, another $2000 off. I live in Southern California.

I wrote a check for $27985 or there abouts, tax, registration and license included, on Oct 6th. Diesel gate had happened 2 weeks before. My cost before tax and license was between 25,200 and 25,300, if I recall correctly. I got another $2500 back on the State rebate, and another $7500 back in Federal income taxes. So my cost before tax and license, on a car I bought was somewhere between $15200 and $15,300. For me, with the homework I did, it was easily affordable to just buy it. You can't act like you need a car ASAP, and you can't act like they owe it to you either. To me, leasing a car just seems too expensive and unnecessarily complex and ripe for being ripped off. I don't buy something unless I can afford to buy it, outright. Borrowing is for fools and those that want to owe their life to the company store.

There may be a few that got better deals than I did. But timing, and location, location, and location is everything. If you are surrounded by liberals and greenies that buy these things to make a political statement or to be smug about it, deals are a lot tougher to find. Find some areas where it's a Republican bastion, and the dealerships are more willing to come closer to giving these away for cheap, to move a few. If you really, really really want a good deal, find a few 2015's to either buy or lease. There are still a few out there.

 

[Dokterrock]

Or did you even try to Google it? You have a search engine, a computer and Google at your finger tips, maybe try using them?

First of all, I'm not OP. And guess what? Google leads me HERE, which is a forum dedicated to people talking about whether or not they're getting a good lease deal.

And thanks, cctop. It only took me about three threads to see what a "special" contributor JoulesThief is. Just shitting on every thread for people not automatically knowing every feature and function of a car that's barely been on the market for two years. What a great resource.

 

[JoulesThief]

Or did you even try to Google it? You have a search engine, a computer and Google at your finger tips, maybe try using them?

First of all, I'm not OP. And guess what? Google leads me HERE, which is a forum dedicated to people talking about whether or not they're getting a good lease deal.

And thanks, cctop. It only took me about three threads to see what a "special" contributor JoulesThief is. Just shitting on every thread for people not automatically knowing every feature and function of a car that's barely been on the market for two years. What a great resource.

You're welcome. See, the thing is, you were not smart enough to use the proper terms... it's irrelevant the brand of vehicle, it's a lease. It applies to all brands of vehicles, irregardless of brand. Leasing is a financial tool, not a car buying exclusive tool. Go take some basic 100 level college finance courses to get up to speed, Doctor.

 

[johnnylingo]

Surely it's okay for someone to ask for confirmation that they're not getting ripped off? Dealers pull all sorts of crazy shit and it can be really overwhelming if you don't know what to look for.

At the end of the day the lease deal really comes down to the "sales price" of the vehicle, in other words how much they're knocking off MSRP. My rule of thumb: 10% is OK, 15% is good, and 20% is great. Unfortunately most dealers will do everything possible to hide this number until you're sitting in the hot seat.

So a trick I've found is run their quote through leasehackr's calculator, but in reverse. This is easy to do provided you know the residual. For my 2016 SE it was 46% and it shouldn't be drastically different for an SEL. I punched in your numbers ($36.5k MSRP, $2000 down, $7500 taxed incentives, .00065 money factor) and got a $3600 drive-off, $200/month, matching to a Sales Price of $30,500.

 

[Dokterrock]

Again, I'm not OP. But thanks

 

[johnnylingo]

Realized that, but figured the info still applied.

I was a n00b to leasing too, and it took a while to realize that just like buying, it's really all about sale price (aka cap reduction) and interest rate (aka money factor). The dealers hide these numbers by constantly changing the offers, but dig through the details and you'll be able to see for yourself if it's a deal to jump on or something to pass and wait til next month for.

 

[Dokterrock]

It's surely much more helpful than suggesting that I'm an idiot for trying to learn from someone else's experience while at the same time telling me I'm somehow not utilizing the internet properly by doing so in a forum dedicated to just such an endeavor.

 

[johnnylingo]

Another cheat I've learned: take the total cost (down payment, fees, taxes, monthly, etc) and total them up, including the federal rebate but not the state, and divide by lease duration. Assuming 36 month lease and 7500 miles with California taxes, it should come out to $200/month for an SE and $300/month for an SEL on a good deal. Shorter lease term and more miles will of course drive those numbers up a bit.

The OP's final offer came out to $315/month for 30 month so I'd say that's good. Someone else here recently did a 2 year lease of an SEL with zero down and $385/month; the consensus was that he could have done better

 

[bizzle]

Hang around long enough and you'll get to know our friend JoulesThief better.

If you click on the profile button under his posts you will be taken to a page where you should see "add friend | add foe" under his name. Clicking on "add foe" will hide his posts.

 

[cctop]

If you click on the profile button under his posts you will be taken to a page where you should see "add friend | add foe" under his name. Clicking on "add foe" will hide his posts.

Nah, I appreciate the content-rich posts and I'm amused by the content-free ones.

JT, I am going to guess you were either an electric engineer or an IT professional in your pre-retirement days.

 

[forbin404]

And the 1% wins! $2500 rebates for everyone! haha (Except me as I already cashed in twice)