Spacecadet_CC

Hi everyone,

I've been lurking on this board for a year or so - I think this is my first post. Been saving up for a 1.8 UlSp.

My dealer was saying that there will soon be a 3-year lease that is more aggressively priced than the 4 year lease, so that returned cars will still have a year of warranty (much like the BMWs). He was shying away from telling me any more details, though. Does anyone know if this is acurate and if so, when this is planned for?

Dying for a B6!!
Thanks
wogglesworth

Turbosport

39 month leases are already done quite often, and can be as agressive as 4 year leases for not much longer than a 3 year lease...secondly, you may want to consider doing a balloon payment...the purchase is actually a buy, so the car would be in your name, but the payment structure is just like a lease (w/ milage limitations, lower payments up front, etc.) and like a lease you would be able to walk away...the benefit to doing a balloon payment is that the payment would probably be a little bit lower, because of a recent policy shift....Audi seems real hot on balloons these days, and may be worth checking out

GTakacs

Audi does 24-27-36-39-42-48 month leases. They also do 60 month but the 60 month lease has such a high money factor it's not even worth looking into, plus see my other points below.

They also do 10k mile,12k mile or 15k mile leases as well as you can buy any mileage up front if you want to get over 15k miles/year.

The only question is, how much it is going to cost you in the long run. They might have a very lucrative 36 month lease by high residual value and low money factor, however I still think it will be more expensive than a 48 month lease.

I have the current lease residuals and money factors, however I have them on my laptop and I don't feel like firing it up. I can get you the specific lease rates if you are interested though for any given Audi. They are pretty good rates as they are, I don't think there is anything special about pushing 36 or 48 month leases. VW for example is pushing the 48 month lease on the Passat very aggressively this month (I just leased one for my wife) wqith a 0.00002 money factor and $1000 dealer cash.

As for the 39 month lease term or anything else in general: NEVER lease past the warranty period. That is the stupidest thing you can do. If you drive 12k miles a year, lease for 48 months, it will be cheaper than 36 months, I guarantee! If you drive 15k miles a year, the 39 month lease is the optimal solution for you, so you stay within warranty for the entire term. These two lease terms give you the bggest bang for your buck, don't believe what the dealer tells you. You can run the numbers, but I have yet to see that a 36 month lease was actually cheaper than a 48 month lease.

The second very important factor is: ALWAYS lease with as many miles as you are going to use. Buying miles up front is a lot cheaper than paying for them at the end. If you drive 20k miles a year, you should do a 27 month lease and buy 5k miles/year extra up front on top of the 15k mile allocation. It is not going to be cheap, but this is going to be your best bet. If you drive that many miles you will just have to pay the price....

And now let's address the Premiere Purchase/Driver's Option/Balloon Loan option. I am actually doing a 39 month Premiere Purcahse on my A4 because it yielded better monthly payment than a lease for the same term.

There are states where you pay sales tax on the entire purchase price of the vehicle whether you lease or you do a balloon loan. In these states doing the Premiere Purchase makes perfect sense if the lease money factor and the PP interest rates are about the same. Right now actually the PP interest rate is 0.45% while the money factor is 0.00010 (0.24%) making lease cheaper. However with the lease you have to pay the bank acquisition fee ($575) which makes the interest saving a wash essentially. You can run the numbers on both to see which one makes more sense, but noone can say flat out that one or the other is the better option. In states where you only pay sales tax on the monthly payments and not on the entire lurchase price of the car, leasing generally yields lower monthly payments.

If you feel like you need more help, feel free to shoot me an e-mail or look me up on IM (see my signature).

Good luck!

Spacecadet_CC

Thanks for the thorough post. I think for now I am good on the lease numbers that you offered (but may hit you up in th future!) Your help has been great!

Looking forward to becoming part of the family!