TT NIUM

Since financing the depreciation of a vehicle is the point of a lease, I would think being this far into the model year would affect monthly payments. At first I thought it might be lower, but then I reconsidered that the residual value would be lower and so really the payments would be higher. Is this somewhat correct?

CarTTman

The residual will almost certainly be lower. However, since the residual is calculated off of the MSRP, you might benefit if your getting a discount off MSRP (which would presumable be larger than that for an '02).

Tron (///M)

Yes I believe you are correct. Since the car is worth less at the end of the lease. The lower the residual the higher the payment. This is what I was told. Any one else care to shed light on this.

Vishal

RobertDinkel

They play with their money factors to incourage continued leasing near the end of the model year. Usually they drop the cost of money to offset loss of residuals. Otherwise, it would only make sense to lease at start of model year.