golalakers

Our current GS300 lease is coming to an end, and we would like to lease a 2008 GS350. Here is the deal I was offered using the December to Remember #'s here in So Cal.

MSRP of $49,310.
Selling price $1,000 over invoice
36 month lease, 12,000 a year .
Out of pocket cost are $1112 (first month payment/DMV fees).
Residual is 51%
Money Factor is .00185 (apx 4.4%)

Total monthly payments is $748 a month (includes tax and title).

We also have the $750 taste of Lexus coupon to apply which should knock about $20 off the monthly payment.

Does this sound like a good deal? Let me know what you think. I have about 2 weeks to figure this out before the lease ends.

Thanks

rominl

iTrader: (4)

deal is ok. 0.00185 is the december to remember deal, so it's good. you can use MSD (multiple security deposit) to lower the price further

the 750 can only be applied to your drive off / payments, it cannot be applied to cap cost reduction if i remember right

price of car itself is about right as the market price

given the info you have and that you are not using MSD, the number looks right and the price is ok. using MSD you will drop the price further (if you have the cash).

golalakers

So if I get this right, using the $750 Lexus coupon I would only have to write a check for $300? How does the MSD program work for Lexus? I am only familiar with the BMW program. If there is a link let me know. We do have extra cash that can be used if it comes back to us at the end of the lease.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

that's correct, with the coupon, 300 bucks and you are on your way out

the MSD works pretty similar to that of the BMW one. you can put down multiple of your monthly payment as "deposits", and each payment will drive down your money factor by 0.00008. since you mention your money factor is 0.00185, that means your credit score is either tier 1 or tier 1+ already. you can put up to 8 MSD, so you drive down the rate by another 0.00064, so the final is 0.00121. (normally you can put up to 9 MSD, but on this december to remember, 8 is max for tier 1 and tier 1+)

i am sure you can do the calculations yourself, but your final payment is probably around 700 bucks a month. that's as best as you can get in terms of lowering your payment.

i don't have a link, lexus doesn't say much about MSD on their site, but it's a great thing that i have been using. in fact, used that for the 3rd time today.

and of course, at the end of lease, you get all your MSD back.

hope this helps.

Bushwack

Sounds like a decent deal but *I* thing the residual is too low (for an '08 in December). But don't sweat over a few dollars difference as life is too short.

Get in and drive!

rominl

iTrader: (4)

the residual of gs is pretty low to begin with. if you check the 07 towards the end of the model year it was like 43-47% i forgot. for 08, when it came out it was already 51%

RFFG

Those are good #'s

Valueguy

What would invoice be for a 2008 GS350 rear wheel drive with all options and XM radio plus a swap for dealer/Lexus 18" Spider wheels? I know the XM is around $300 at the port and the dealer MSRP is $1200 for the spider wheels.


Should I be trying for around $47,500 for this car plus Tax, tag and title?
THe MSRP is around $53,000 with the XM and wheels. But, the wheel costs are INFLATED compared to the car. Should I try for $47,200?

I am in Florida but will purchase from any dealer in the SouthEast.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

ok, you need to define all options. the 08 gs350 now has the options of adaptive suspension, pre-collision, etc... the really really top you can get is msrp 55k, but that's VERY RARE. in fact, most dealership won't get that car

the most common "fully loaded" one is with ML and nav, around 52-53k. XM is just about 300-400 bucks, pocket change. with just nav and no ML it's about 50k.

invoice wise, i believe the one without ML is around 43k, the one with ML is around 45k (high 45s i believe)

with the same math, the really really fully loaded one (very rare, i have only seen one so far), invoice probably around 48-49k

i can't say much about the FL market, but in socal market your car could be gotten for less. but your price is not bad already imho

Valueguy

Sorry about the loaded part. I mean the usual bundled upgrade package of NAV plus ML. So, this means invoice is around $45,900 for the car? What do those Spider Wheels add to the dealer cost? Does it cost the dealer more like $300 to swap the standard 18" wheel for the Lexus 18" Spider Wheel?

One more thing. Why not buy the car from a So. CAl. dealership and ship it to my home for around $700-$800 if a dealer in my entire region can't match the OVERALL deal (incl. shipping cost from Cal.)?

Also, the expert lease dude over at Edmunds.com states the MF is a bit lower than stated above by the original poster for Tier 1 plus buyers? Is that true?

Thanks.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

ah sorry about the spider wheels, i forgot about that. the gs350 (i suppose) already comes with 18s, so swapping out the wheels to spider, imho, shouldn't be more than 500 bucks. imho more than that is too much (just me)

yeah i think the invoice is for the car is around 45,700 or so, give or take (the 08 is a bit flaky on options now with the longer list, including the illuminated sills, etc...)

you can definitely buy a car here in socal and then ship over. in fact my sales guy did business with someone from ny before, the final price ends up being cheaper indeed.

i don't know what MF edmunds posted, but i can tell you before wednesday (before december to remember starts), money factor for the car was like 0.00285 or so. so you can see december to remember already pulls it down quite a bit. i don't know if you can get any lower unless you use MSD (which pulls it down to what i stated above).

if you want my sales guy info you can pm me for details

Valueguy

Based on Residual and Money Factor what Lease term is best? 36 months? Does Lexus offer a better deal for 30, 33, 36 or 39 months? I am refering to the lowest monthly payment which allows one to drive 1,000 miles per month.

For example, some Manufacturers allow the use of the 36 month Residual and Money factor for a 39 month lease. Does Lexus "play" with the numbers for those odd monthly leases? If so, please let us know. Thanks.

Valueguy

The Car Man over at www.edmunds.com (lease section) stated that the Lexus Summer Event program had the GS MF at 0.00165 for a 15,000/36 month lease. Does this mean Lexus INCREASED the MF (or Interest rate increase of 0.5%) due to the weak dollar?

Car Man is usually dead on so this means the BEST lease deal on a Lexus is during the summer event because he stated the residual was still 48% on 36 month/15,000 mile per year lease. Plus, the dealers are much more likely to sell for Invoice plus $500.

At this time of year (Christmas) the "stealers" want that extra $500-$1000 for the car.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

i don't know about all the difference months, but i know for 36 and 39 months, the money factor is the same (again, in my case). you can always go 48 months, the payment will be even less.

about the money factor, it did got raised a bit from the summer event, due to a lot of reasons i guess.

Modeler

US interest rates have no relationship to the dollar exchange rate. Money Factor or 0.00165 is equivalent to 4% interest, which is obviously well below the market rate now as it was during the summer. The fact that MF is higher now simply means that Lexus is not willing to subsidize the leases quite as deeply as they did during the summer.