How to purchase the car after the lease
Question
Hi YouWheel,
I have a question, I will finish my lease of an Audi A7 this year. When I signed the contract, I only considered the monthly payment for the two years' lease period without considering the total price and residual after the two years. Now I want to buy it but I realized the residual is too high. What should I do to negotiate with the dealer?
Thanks very much!
mopo
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2015-05-22 09:07:57
2 Answer
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Answers ( 2 )
Thanks very much YouWheel, the information is very useful, I will try one dealer and update this case here.
By the way, If I decide to pay the residual, can I refinance for paying the residual with another two-three years?
Thanks a lot!
Mopo
First of all, I do not suggest buying the car after the lease end, because this will defeat the purpose of leasing. Major concern is the "Bank Acquisition Fee" you have paid for the lease contract becomes your cost, which you do not need to pay when purchasing/financing the car.
But anyway, if you have to buy the car after the lease term ended, the following are my suggestions:
1. Do some research on the used car market (or certified pre-owned), see the average price level for the same car model, with similar options/packages, and mileage;
2. Compare the average price to your A7's residual value. Sometimes you may find that the residual value is even higher than the average market value, this means if the dealership get your lease car back and put it on the used car market, they may need to sell it under the residual value
3. Talk to the dealership, telling them that you are willing to buy the car at a 10% - 20% (try 20% first) discount based on the residual value. This is not a low-ball offer since you have already paid the bank acquisition fee (extra cost), and also the options/pkgs on the car should depreciate at a much faster rate than the car itself, therefore it is not fair to use an unified residual value to apply on both of the car itself and options at the same time.
If the dealership does not agree, just walk away. You can simply return the car and buy/lease another new car. You have many choices, but the dealership just has one: they have to take the car back and sell them in the market on their own risk.
By the way, please check with Audi NA about this: you do not need to return the car to the same dealership where you signed the lease contract originally, you can negotiate/return the car to any Audi dealership in the US.