If you're considering buying a car coming off lease -
11-15-2004, 06:40 AM
#1
New Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Nov 2004
Posts: 143
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
If you're considering buying a car coming off lease -
This may be common knowledge around here, I dunno, but I lucked into learning about it and it really helped -
I decided to buy a colleague's '01.5 S4 at the end of his lease. It is the most meticulously kept car I've ever seen, and has never been driven hard. He was going to turn it in (got a new S4), and he offered it to me at cost.
Then his salesman suggested that the dealer buy the car, run it through the Certified program, and sell it to me "at dealer cost". I was naturally skeptical until the salesman explained the motivations and the financial part, but it's turned out to be a great deal.
Audi imposes quotas on dealers for used car sales - they're aggressively working to get dealers to move cars through the Certified program, I presume to help get used values and lease residuals up.
It turns out the dealer can apparently buy a lease car for a bit less than the residual figure, and also doesn't pay sales tax when they buy it. If I had done what I originally planned, there would have been double whack of sales tax (6% times 2), once when my buddy bought the car and again when I registered it (seems wrong, but that's the reality in CT). The lease company wouldn't issue title directly to me.
I'm sure the dealer's making a buck off it, but at bottom line (i) the car went through certification, (ii) was nicely detailed (though hardly needed it), (iii) now has almost 3 years of warranty going forward, road service and loaner car coverage, and (iv) the dealer's taking care of the registration hassle. All this for only about $700 more than if I had done the purchase privately. And the dealer offered to finance it at 3.9% if I wanted it. Getting that warranty is a huge value.
Sorry for the long and probably boring post, but maybe it'll help someone else considering buying an Audi at the end of a lease.
Matt
p.s.: the car's an absolute joy to drive. 6 speed, black/black, Bose, cold wx package.
I decided to buy a colleague's '01.5 S4 at the end of his lease. It is the most meticulously kept car I've ever seen, and has never been driven hard. He was going to turn it in (got a new S4), and he offered it to me at cost.
Then his salesman suggested that the dealer buy the car, run it through the Certified program, and sell it to me "at dealer cost". I was naturally skeptical until the salesman explained the motivations and the financial part, but it's turned out to be a great deal.
Audi imposes quotas on dealers for used car sales - they're aggressively working to get dealers to move cars through the Certified program, I presume to help get used values and lease residuals up.
It turns out the dealer can apparently buy a lease car for a bit less than the residual figure, and also doesn't pay sales tax when they buy it. If I had done what I originally planned, there would have been double whack of sales tax (6% times 2), once when my buddy bought the car and again when I registered it (seems wrong, but that's the reality in CT). The lease company wouldn't issue title directly to me.
I'm sure the dealer's making a buck off it, but at bottom line (i) the car went through certification, (ii) was nicely detailed (though hardly needed it), (iii) now has almost 3 years of warranty going forward, road service and loaner car coverage, and (iv) the dealer's taking care of the registration hassle. All this for only about $700 more than if I had done the purchase privately. And the dealer offered to finance it at 3.9% if I wanted it. Getting that warranty is a huge value.
Sorry for the long and probably boring post, but maybe it'll help someone else considering buying an Audi at the end of a lease.
Matt
p.s.: the car's an absolute joy to drive. 6 speed, black/black, Bose, cold wx package.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
