Ridiculous Leasbusters offers?

[mmret]

Has anyone noticed that a lot of the deals shown on leasebusters are really, really bad?

Take this one for example:
http://www.leasebusters.com/en/details.asp?ID=84607

2008 SLK280.
Mileage is 15k

20 months remaining at $763 + tax
Buyout is $38,160.

Ignoring interest, your total commitment if you intended to buy out the car at the end would be $53,420 + taxes.

No incentives or anything offered.

Why do people not understand the concept that depreciation is nonlinear while lease payments are linear?

[Railton]

You have to be really lucking to snag a deal on that site.
Railton

[sailor723]

It has never made sense to me. If you are just taking over the existing lease terms in effect you're paying "new car" lease payment levels for a used car lease.

[mmret]

Which is why a large cash incentive is required to make the deal work...or alternatively it could make sense if there are very few payments left but the buyout is well below market value (not that likely though, imho).

But people don't get this and they think "well I need someone to take this over, I owe $X so I will list it for $X". Stupid.

[vdk]

Just wait(!) and find someone who needs to get rid of their car fast....


That being said, some time ago I found someone selling a GTI with $0 incentive, 18 months left on the lease and no free KMs remaining.  Good luck there buddy!

[safristi]

Hell,there are ridiculous car "deals" on Kijiji/AutoTrader your local car lots OLDE & NEW....imho the best raison d'etre for a LeaseBusters is trying LOTS of cars for a short while without the pain of Buying new(ish) and having to unload them......

  e.g an 8 Month Miata deal starting in April........an interesting 4 WD you have always wanted to try over a Winter......a BIG CRUISER for that Summer trip across Canada/States dream trip...etc   etc.......we can't ALL be Ov'r 50's ......and swap our dream cars like underpants.............

[y2chuck]

yeah, the deals have really gotten worse over the last couple of years, very rare to find something half decent IMO.  I'm waiting for a compact/sub-compact with ~6 months left at a really cheap price for the winter so I can store the Mustang.

[Flinter]

....imho the best raison d'etre for a LeaseBusters is trying LOTS of cars for a short while without the pain of Buying new(ish) and having to unload them......

  e.g an 8 Month Miata deal starting in April........an interesting 4 WD you have always wanted to try over a Winter......a BIG CRUISER for that Summer trip across Canada/States dream trip...etc 

Agreed, I think these lease takeover listings only make sense for 6-12 month terms unless the current leaser is willing to step up to the plate with a sizeable incentive.

I did a similar thing a while back where I took over a lease on a Toyota Highlander from a family member for ~6 months during the winter. I found it to be a great way to sample a vehicle for an extended period of time without a huge commitment. If the vehicle grows on you, there is the option to purchase at the end of the lease.

[ktm525]

I noticed the same thing, the large cash incentives have been disappearing, and without them there is no deal. With lease return  inspections getting tougher it really does not make a lot of sense.

[farleywilbur]

I have been checking the site out looking for a replacement vehicle for my wife as she will lose her company car for 10 months while on maternity leave.  It's either a lease takeover or buy a used Toyota Sienna in the US and take advantage of the current exchange rate then sell the van after her leave (for a profit maybe??).

[inco]

I admit I don't spend a lot of time looking at the site so really can't comment about the current state of the business. However I do believe there are still some deals there to be found.

Some people, for different reasons, put down large payments up front. Sometimes it's the car company that requires that in order to get the payments down. Either way people can take advantage of this and get good deals. At the end - move on or buy out.

[Careener]

It's pretty rare to find someone who made a large downpayment on Leasebusters Inco.
They also sell cars..I've always wondered if they don't snap up the best deals for themselves before they go public on the site.   

[johngenx]

People used to be bailing on the lease of their Acura TL 'cause they were upgrading to a Lexus LS460 and didn't mind throwin' a few thou at someone to get rid of their now-low-status "clunker" of a two year old Acura.

Now, with unemployment way up, leasebusters is populated with broke, unemployed people dying to get out from their payment.  Do they have wads of cash to burn?  No!!

[Railton]

It's pretty rare to find someone who made a large downpayment on Leasebusters Inco.
They also sell cars..I've always wondered if they don't snap up the best deals for themselves before they go public on the site.   

Bingo+inspections also tougher nowadays = high risk.
Railton

[TopGun]

My sister has an A4...and a change to her working out of her home more often means it was way less kms than she's allowed.  My guess is that the dealer won't give her any value for those kms.

Maybe she should put it on lease busters as a way to get some value for it as there is no way she'll be able to "use up" the km adjustment with the time she's got left on her lease.

[Canada Stig]

It's pretty rare to find someone who made a large downpayment on Leasebusters Inco.
They also sell cars..I've always wondered if they don't snap up the best deals for themselves before they go public on the site.   

I guarantee it.  I about 3 months ago inquired about a vehicle that I was currently leasing that is larger than I need.  Only 15 months left and I got an employee price on it (a real employee price, not one of those summer promotions).  Needless to say, I was not desperate to get rid of it, but it is a heck of a deal.

So, I got a call back almost instantly from Leasebusters who said it was a near sure thing it would be gone quickly - the payment is easily 20% lower than the same vehicles on their site and the buyout is attractive, plus we were about 8,000 under the km allowed at that time.  I said I would think about it as I had the option of flipping it at the Honda dealer early, and if I wanted another Honda that would be easier for me.

2 days later, another call - with a 1/2 price listing offer.  I said I'd think about it.  3 days later, an offer of a free listing.  Why?  My car was so attractive.  Then I asked the $64000 question - "Is leasebusters interested in this vehicle for themselves"??

Yes.  Since the payments + buyout work out to $5K less than comparable vehicles on used car lots, they were interested because they wanted to re-sell it.

Needless to say, the Honda dealer offered me $2500 off my new CRV based on the equity in my current lease, so that's the route I took.  And my old van disappeared off their lot within a week.