Leased my G sedan back in March of '03 for 39 months. I've got 6 months until my lease is done....but I am weighing my options now so I don't have to make a half-@ssed, un-informed, last minute decision.

My main question is this....if I were to buy out my car at the end of the lease, is the residual negotiable? I believe my residual is like $15k or something like that....could I call Infiniti Financial Services and try to bring down the price of the car on the buyout? I know I signed a lease on my contract, so the residual is set...but I wanted to know if anyone ever had luck negotiating the residual price??

1 more question....

Would it make a difference if I paid the car off with cash, or re-financed the car?

Thanks a lot for your help.

 

If your residual is $15k, I would no doubt buy it out, because you can easily sell it for over $20k.

The residual cannot be negotiated, but you can finance the residual amount- check with a credit union before agreeing to the dealer's financing terms...

 

I think I might just buy it out an hold onto it for another year because between now and the next 6 months is a bad time to buy a new car IMO.

I don't care for the new IS, the BMW 330 is really appealing but it's not too smart to get one right now with the rumors of the upgraded engines on the horizon. Also, I wouldn't want to trade my G in for another one because even though the upgrades on the new ones are significant...it's not all that different from my '03. Plus the new G35 sedan is coming out next year too.

Wow, and the way Lexus and BMW have upped the ante on their models...no doubt the next generation G is going to be taking names and kicking @ss.

 

$15k is way below what 03s are going for. Unless you have a base base model with cloth (which I doubt). At least in my area 03 autos are going for $23,000 and up.

 

I've got sports package, blose sound system, and sunroof, auto tranny, hid's, and black leather interior.

I also have some add on's to the car like eibach springs, injen CAI, double din dash with an alpine mp3 player plus ipod connection, full dynamat from the doors to the trunk, JL audio 12w7 hooked up to a 500/1, and some limo tints.

Should I try to sell it with the mods? I guess I can always try to sell it modded, and then if no one bites for the price I want, take everything off and lower the price...right?

The negative thing is, I have the Caribbean blue color which is really unique and stands out. I personally like the color, but I think a lot of mainstream buyers would just be wanting either white, black, or silver.

 

Put a feeler here on driver. Your style may just match up with someone elses.

If not, I would defintely part out as your car has a 10x better chance selling without mods than with them.

 

Since it's modded, and since the residual is $15K, I would buy it out.

Also, residuals ARE negotiable, I've done it before. I leased a '97 Grand Cherokee, loaded V8. When I leased it, they gave me a very high residual value (~70% after 3 years). The residual was like $28K, but these cars were selling for around $24K on the market. I told them I would buy it for $22K, take it or leave it. They took it. Otherwise, they would have to deal with selling the car.

However, on your car... they have no reason to come down on the residual since it's worth more than the residual.

 

^+1

 

^ +1, your residual price of $15K is well below market value. The dealer will lead you to believe that your car is only worth about $14-15K depending on miles. If the dealer takes the car back they'll sell it for at least $22K.

 

It won't hurt to try to negotiate the buyout price because the lease company doesn't really want it back. they have to dispose of all lease turn ins one way or another and it is cheaper for them to sell it to you. If they won't negotiate, then you still have a great residual rate and you should take it.

I wouldn't finance it for more than two ot three years though because you don't want a long term loan on a three year old car and be paying for it fo so long.

For $15K, I'd fly out to Cali, buy it from you, and drive it back home to florida.

 

There seem to be 3 prices according to car sites, tradein, private party, or dealer selling price.

I'm assuming that the $23K price you mentioned are the prices from a dealer. Unfortunately, you can't directly compare that price to the $15K price, which is probably equivalent to the tradein price.