Cool Rod

A dealer mentioned that I could lease a new Corvette instead of buying one, and I wasn't interested. I thought it would be better to have some equity in the car when I wanted to sell it.

But I've been chewing on the idea and I think it might be a way to get into a 2013 and use it for a couple of years and then move into a 2014 when there were incentives offered, or maybe just move into a different kind of car.

I usually keep my cars for ten years or so, but if I leased I could get a new one every few years instead. I'm 64 and I'd probably only buy a couple of cars before I have to stop driving. I could lease 6 or 7 new cars by then.

What are the gotcha's in this idea that aren't obvious until it's time to sign on the dotted line? I hate getting screwed!

Thanks.

blitzebill

I know what you mean about getting up in years and wanting a vette. I'm 58 with my first one, and wanted to enjoy the 6 speed before my knees gave out. I hope to be driving for a while yet, and the vette I leased was a great deal.

I leased one back in April. No regrets.

Make sure you know and get a good money factor (interest rate) and residual.

Some dealers will work with you on multiple security deposits to drive down the money factor. Those deposits will save you money and be completely refundable at the end of the lease.

Of course do not pay sticker price on a lease. It is negotiable just like a regular purchase, but the $$ incentives from the dealer and GM will be different and not as good as a purchase.

I got a 3 year lease and hope the new C7 will have the bugs worked out of it by 2015, when I turn mine in, so I can jump in a new one.

Ketchum

A lot of folks must lease vettes. When I was shopping for the last two that I bought over the last three years I came across literally dozens of off lease vettes.

Ozzy12

A dealer can usually work just as good of a deal on a lease. The only question is financing. Usually there is a rebate on new GM product for going outside of gmac/ally. Sometimes I've seen up to $3000, so your dealer would have to find some other finance company to do the lease. My wife's CTS is through US Bank.

Leasing is a pretty great gig if you understand it and are going to want something new in a few years. Even if you don't want something new, you can always just finance your residual amount.

It's also a nice way too of insulating yourself from things such as new model releases and car accidents. For example, if you lease a car and are involved in an accident and it's repaired, you can still turn that car in with no penalty, it's now the banks problem that it has a wreck under its belt. Also, with the C7 looming, none of us know what it's going to be or if we are going to like it, or it maybe the best corvette ever made. Regardless, with a lease, if it's the best thing in the world and C6 values take a hit, you don't care because you just turn the car in at the end of your term: on the flipside, if it's a flop and you appreciate your C6 now more than ever, you can buy the car outright.

Oh and equity, let's say you have a 35k residual at the end of 36mos and let's say the car is actually worth 40k trade. Your dealer can actually take your car in on trade at 40k, pay the bank off their 35k, cut you a check for the positive equity of 5k and show the trade at 40k towards your new car to help you on sales tax.

IMHO with leasing you don't give up your options you just put more on the table at the end of your term.

Nyvetteguy007

You also are not beholden to the terms GM or their preferred leasing co is offering....

You can use www.leasecompare.com and get pre-approved for a lease at a set $$ amount, walk into a dealer and negotiate a purchase of the car...the leasing company pays them...you walk out with a leased car at the best negotiated price...

I have used them before and they are great to deal with...

2vette2

I have both leased and purchased over the years. It really comes down to the terms. You should check out both and see what the APR is for both deals and choose the least expensive one. At the end of the lease, you can choose to buy out the car or give it back to the dealer. Another consideration is what you will need to put down in order to get to the monthly payment you can afford. My current vette was purchased. I could not beat the 1.49% rate for six years.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Vette5.5

Leases used to be a good thing when auto makers were subsidising them, but not seeing much of that lately. For a company vehicle using up the contract alotted milage, and written off on the books, probably a good thing. For a lightly driven personnal toy, wouldn't do it.

RobLo

I've been a lease fan since 1992 but for my DD only, as I only put 4-5K miles a year on my Vette don't think it would pay, I'd be giving them back a practically new car in 3 or 4 years...and if I had to go for new tires ($1500-$2000) which might happen, it could get VERY expensive. Now if the Vette was going to be your DD or you were going to lease with the thought of buying the car at the end of the lease that might change everything, might be the way to go then....Good Luck!

GCRoberts

You guys must know something that I don't. I purchased my 2012 GS Convertible in May. The car MSRP'd at just under $75,000 but I was able to get it for around $61,000 ($3,000 discount from Chevrolet, the rest from the dealer). At 0% financing, my payments are around $1100/mo for 5 years. When I inquired about leasing, the lease payments were over $900/mo...after I paid money upfront! I couldn't see any possible value in leasing. What did I do wrong? I have no regrets in buying, but I am curious to know a way leasing can be done where it makes sense.

Jimmy C-6

I lease my daily drivers but buy my Corvettes, why? If you want to mod a car you can have problems with the lease.
Also I don't like to buy things like Vettes and new.

RobLo

WOW, great deal, $75K to $61K, $1100 a month, I'd do that in a heartbeat if I could get that deal, anything down or anything traded in? PM me if you'd prefer not to put too much info out there, thank you and congratulations!

Never-Enough

I was going to lease a new one, but I could buy a used one with more options for less $ so I did that.

P0234

Exactly, subsidized leases were great until the auto makers figured out they weren't great for them. Now it seems the dealers advertise owner subsidized leases (huge upfront payments). Those are not good deals.

mforman42

Leasing can be a good deal, IF you know why you are leasing and what you expect to do at the end of the lease. Like others, I lease my DD (in this case an '11 Jag XJL) and I bought my Vette ('09 Z06). I'm 70 years old, and I will likely not buy another sports car after my Vette is paid off. I'll have that as an asset I can sell at a later date.

The lease on my Jag gives me the flexibility to go to something cheaper at the end of the 36 month lease. It's difficult to trade down without taking a bath. Besides, I often have equity at the end of a lease, because I don't put a lot of miles on the car.

Cool Rod

Thanks for those great answers. I'm really leaning towards a lease, especially now that I hear a lot of you leased your cars.

Leasecompare.com is a good resource, I hadn't heard of them before. I'll do a lot of research before I pull the trigger.

There is a big car show down here in Miami in November and that's where I'm going to make up my mind on a Corvette again or something different this time.

mforman I wish I was you!!

Brian2006

I leased my 2006 C6 through the dealership, financed by GMAC. It was a closed end lease, so I knew the purchase price at the end . After 36 months, my car was barely broken in- and I bought it off lease, and still own it. For me , the $$'s made sense.

Eveyone's situation is different, but , if you can write off the cost, then consider the tax savings in the equation.

GCRoberts

No real secret other than you need to buy from one of the high volume Corvette dealers such as Kerbeck or Criswell. As I mentioned, $3000 of my deal was a Chevrolet rebate (TIMR). I was lucky enough to get on that list even though I had never bought a new Chevrolet vehicle in my life. Buying right before the new 2013's came out allowed me to use both the TIMR and zero percent financing. The rest of the deal you can get pretty much year round. If you go to Kerbeck.com now you can find a similar deal for a 2013.

G13184 Corvette Grand Sport Convertible Crystal Red/Black Ebony/Cashmere Auto 3LT, PYE, T43, NPP
MSRP $74,905
Kerbeck Discount $11,484
Your price $63,421
Potential Rebates $3,500 (not sure if this is TIMR or something else)

I actually bought my Vette from Criswell as they had the one I wanted in stock. They even paid for my plane ticket and taxi ride from the airport. I was considering another car in Ohio as well so I had a little negotiating leverage. But on a Grand Sport Convertible, you can get around $12,000 off without even much negotiation. I couldn't get anywhere near that price locally, even when I showed them the Kerbeck add online. The $11,484 discount you see above was bouncing back and forth from $11,500 to $12,000 when I was buying in May. I would have loved to get the 2013 back in May (as they were coming out in a few weeks), but I decided the 2012 had everything I wanted and I was able to get it cheaper (TIMR and 0% financing). Hope this helps.

Forget to mention....no I didn't put anything down....and no I didn't have a trade-in. My old vehicle is now my winter rat.

blitzebill

http://www.leaseguide.com/sn/corvette-lease.htm

Daekwan06

Yep. Its pretty much the same car.

Find a used garage queen in great shape and save tons. The only person who will know whether you bought it new or not, will be you.

c54u

Seriously, you are better off to buy a used great condition car and sell it when you want. I bought my 07 4 years ago used with 9k on it for $38k and could easily sell it for 28k today. That's just a hair over $200 per month. Heck even if I sold it for 18k (very unlikely though) that's only $400 per month.

Leasing = money pit!!