friguy3

Or better put.....this

farmerjones

How is this lease rate unfriendly?!? It's the equivalent of 1.2% interest rate....that's pretty low, and it doubtfully won't go much lower. Residual is typical. I'd say this is about the lowest lease program you are going to get on this car. Only you can decide if the payment is is worth this particular car.

I don't understand how putting money down or pre-paying for a lease is so terrible....and I've leased an endless number of cars and sold luxury cars for years. A large downpayment doesn't just "disappear" should the car be totaled. You sign a lease contract in which you spend X number of dollars for X months to drive X car. If the car is totaled midway though the lease the car company is obligated to provide you another car to fulfill the balance of the lease for the same money...that's the lease contract, or refund you the unused portion of your lease, including your "down payment" in this example (50% of the lease left, then you get 50% of the X dollars you were going to pay over the term of the lease, pending you are abiding by the mileage/month). You may also have the option of starting a new lease all over again if you so choose, often at identical or similar terms (however this is partly at the manufacturer's discretion). Many people receive an additional lower payment through a reduced money factor for a one-time payment of the entire lease. Again, if you wreck the car and it's totaled you don't loose your entire lease pre-payment.....

Why are people making it out that pre-paying or a downpayment on a lease is foolish? A down payment saves you from paying any interest on that amount of cash, and that saves money...granted a low lease rate means you are only saving a small amount of money, but it's still saving money. No different that putting money down on a finance contract to own. In this example 1.2% on the lease fore 3 years and buying it outright at the end means the car will have had the first three years "financed" at 1.2%....that's another option with the lease and could be a very good value as well. Putting money down on a lease is virtually identical on a finance contract, so there is no additional risk. Only you can decide if that money down makes a good return on investment towards a car or would be better served being used in another manner (like paying down another higher-interest loan or kept in savings for a peace-of-mind cushion). That's an entirely personal decision.

ArvX147

The dude said his employment isnt rock solid, so why the hell would he put his free cold hard cash into lease prepayments? and over 10k at that...

12.5k is ~6 months of rent/mortgage ffs.

A5Newbie

Looks like you shouldn't be leasing the car until you figure out your employment situation, doesn't matter if you're getting the best deal in the world. The down-payment of $12K won't disappear if you total the car, however if you can't make the payments that is a different story.

Nola76

I probably exaggerated my employment issues. I've had a steady job since 2008 and admit that I got spooked after being laid off during the recession. There's some stuff going on at my current job that could either mean me getting a promotion or leaving the company altogether but I will be fine either way.

The A5 is coming in Wednesday and I've been in touch with the salesman regarding the lease after reading this threat and researching elsewhere. With no cash down payment and just my vehicle trade in ($7,500), the lease is $538 a month for 36 months at 10k miles a year. The lease includes gap insurance through their financial services company AFS.

I may kick in some cash to get the lease down to $500. My insurance will be $109 per month so I am potentially looking at $609 total per month for a brand new Audi A5 with all the features I want. Doesn't seem like a bad deal and barring any surprises, that's what I'll be doing on Wednesday.

Appreciate all of the feedback and welcome more if you have it!

ArvX147

The $7500 for your trade in is likely $8000-8500 in private sale or CarMAX sale and that equates to 12 payments @ 700/month.

There's no tax advantage to trading in on a lease so I highly advise to have someone (either Audi dealer, carmax or other) buy the car and bank the capital. Worst case scenario you have your first year of payments in the bag already.

If you can, please post the money factor, residual, MSRP and sale price of the vehicle.

Also, 10k/month is low mileage, something isnt adding up in my opinion.