7% is right, but only on the cost of the lease, not on the cost of the vehicle. So $7100 times 7% is about $500. Your other costs are more like I expected, which is why $1305 or $1600 seems so high to me.

About the cars themselves: There are so many honda dealers near my house, they all have HCH's. But every one I asked about availability of a color or combination I wanted and they did not have told me they have no more ordered for now, so when these are gone, May/June will be difficult to find me one at all. This could be the usual bargaining on their part, pressuring me to act now, but it could be because the factory which makes all Honda hybrids is running full tilt making Insights right now (which are selling at much higher levels in japan at least then they expected).

We'll see.

Thanks so much for taking time to answer me, I appreciate it.

Mark

 

Ahh, now I understand why the tax seemed so low; thanks for the explanation.
I still wonder what could account for that extra $1305-$1600 though. Are they adding something else on, like...I don't know...an anti-theft system or something? It seems like you should be able to find out the information before you actually sit down to sign the final papers. I remember being offered LoJack, etcetera, and turning such things down.

Find out what you can, maybe get a third quote from another dealer. If they're all in the same ballpark, then do what's right for you. Try not to feel pressured into acting quickly. Good luck to you.

 

If the taxes are $500, and state registration fees are ~$300, then the rest is 'documentation fees' which is their fee for processing the papers, and which is essentially pure dealer profit: They need their own back office to process those papers, they are passing this charge onto me, their customer. At least I have read this somewhere. I was trying to understand this better before talking to these dealers. And the fees have nothing to do with buying vs leasing: While the lease taxes will be lower in most states, registration and documentation fees should be about the same for anyone who buys or leases any car. Anyone here who has recently leased or purchased? Can you tell me what fees you paid in addition to taxes?

thanks,

Mark

 

Donald,

I think you got traction control for way more $$.

Why did you trade in so soon? Your payment might have gone down, but you started your five years over.

Also, current Honda rates are lower than 4.2%.


msk914,

Don't waste your money on a lease. Have you considered what the monthly payment on the discounted HCHII would be with $2k down and 3.9% (or 2.9%) interest rate?



All,

Whether your in it for the money savings, environment savings, or both you need to keep your car for longer than 3 years to make sense of your reasoning.

nf

 

P.S. I do agree the HCHII is a better deal than an Insight right now. In a few months the new model rush will die down, Insights will get discounted. gas prices will increase, and the HCH discount will decrease.

 

I got mesmerized by the $199 lease, which is very cheap. When I run it through the lease calculators, the rate is very low, it is a good deal for the money. On the other hand, I have owned many excellent cars for many years, and of course the cost per year goes way down. We'll see, I can just put the cash down if I want.

But I still wonder what the typical walking away fees should be, whether buying or leasing. The taxes I know, but the 'registration, documentation, etc' fees, what have people paid for this?

thanks.

Mark

 

Not sure if this would help, but I found an article about various fees:

http://www.leaseguide.com/lease09.htm

 

This may help you..!! Checkout and let me know the status...!!

Wallion..

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