Lease question about residuals

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ussus

New member
Joined
Sep 30, 2014
Messages
2
Boy, these dealers are into smoke and mirrors!

So I'm planning to buy one of the last remaining Toyeslas, but it's tough to get a straight answer about a lease.
I'm getting a wide range of quotes for the cost of a vehicle and maybe one of you happy owners can set me straight.

The question I'm asking is for no-money-down, unlimited mileage, what is the residual (supposedly set by Toyota Financial). The answers I'm getting from all dealers, including Diane, is that for<12K miles, residual is about $19,400 and for <45K miles residual is about $18,400, but for unlimited miles, some dealers are saying it's $18,400, but one dealer told me it's $15,000. This $15K-residual-dealer quoted me a higher monthly payment by about $40/mo, but his bottom-line was about $800 less than the others. He also told me that the $18.4K residual dealers are not selling an "unlimited mileage" lease and they are going to hit you with an over-mileage if you turn the car into Toyota with >45K miles in 3 years.

I realize that none of you have tried to turn cars in yet, but has anyone read the fine print about "unlimited mileage" on their contracts?

Thanks for your insights.
 
ussus said:
I realize that none of you have tried to turn cars in yet, but has anyone read the fine print about "unlimited mileage" on their contracts?

This is how Dianne/Carson Toyota wrote up my unlimited lease contract last week:
rav2lease.jpg
 
The $15K residual sounds sketchy as the math has to work out somehow. Maybe they are setting the selling price as $3400 lower and just shifting the residual down to offset. If you are paying $40/month extra, that's ~$1400 over 3 years (35 payments). So either your getting a $2000 discount somewhere, or something is wrong.

A $15K residual in 3 years is a good deal if you buy the car out and then resell it as everyone else will be around $18K.
They will probably be worth more than that in 3 years.

I don't see how the residuals can change at the end of a lease if they are documented. Otherwise this forum will riot.

I would trust the numbers from Dianne. And if it's not written down it doesn't mean anything!
 
Thanks for both of your responses. It may not be fair to assume the system is rational, but it makes sense that the higher miles (more worn vehicle and more limited battery) could translate into a lower residual value of the car after three years. This is why I thought the dealer who said with "unlimited miles" the residual was only 15k made sense. His payment was $548/mo (before tax) times 35 payments plus $15k for a price of $34180 compared to Dianne's quote of $478/mo (before tax) times 35 plus $18426 or $35156 total price. A difference of $976. As you said, this difference is only important if we buy this high-mileage, worn car and worn battery at the end of 3 years. If we turn it back, the dealer giving the lowest monthly payment and accepting the highest residual is the best deal, provided they stick by the agreement. The dealer with the low residual said "buyer-beware" that Toyota will not accept the mileage clause with the high residual, but your contract from Dianne looks compelling to me as a non-lawyer. It's not that I don't trust Dianne, but I presume most of us will be turning cars in at our local Toyota dealerships, if we are not going to keep them beyond three years.

I called Toyota Finance to see what they could tell me, but I did not yet get a straight answer. I'm still following that thread. Stay tuned...

Thanks again.
 
OK, $548 - $478 is a $70 a month difference, or an extra $2450!

I would take the lower payment. Just make sure your paperwork says 'NA' in the relevant sections as shown. Also the paperwork has to be done manually (on paper), as the computer system won't accept the unlimited mileage. My dealer hadn't done one before, but they handled it without any fuss.

Smart dealers will happily take back your EV at the end and resell it out of state for a nice profit!
 
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