mazda avp lease?

[tarmac and beer]

is anybody familiar with mazda's 'avp' lease? i was at a dealer checking out a 3s hatch and he says mazda has put together a new type of lease (described below).

the leasing company (mazda) is now registering leased cars under the customer's name. previously (and in all all leases), the car is registered under the leasing company's name (because they own the car in a lease) which opens them up to litigation in the event of an accident. anybody heard of this?

also, the different parts of the lease make me think mazda doesn't have much hope in the 3's maintaining any value. the dealer said the car only retains 46% original value (36mo, 15k/yr lease). he is also being very ambiguous in disclosing the money factor or apr.

i have no qualms in getting a good deal on a lease transaction, i'm more concerned about this avp lease.

 

[Micah]

Leasing is all about residual value. Find out what the payments will be on that 3. Then take a look at a car with a high residual value like the Infiniti g35 coupe (around 60%).

Leasing works best for higher end cars which retain their value. Also, you shouldn't lease a car outside of warranty.

 

[crossbow]

Also remember that you can't mod a lease. Just in case you were thinking of bumpin up the horses.

 

[Micah]

Technically - he can do what ever he wants. Just make sure you don't leave any easy to find marks - and don't **** up. Car needs to be returned to the dealer as stock.

I don't think a budget car like a protege or 3 should be leased. Hell, I don't think any daily driven car should be leased. Too many people end up going over on the mileage and are forced to buy the car at the end of the lease. My brother has a 1998 Nissan Frontier with about 100,000 miles on it - he had to buy it after the lease because he was about 30,000 miles over on the mileage. (yeah, I have no clue how he did this without being severely retarded)

Buy a beater, lease a nice car. Drive the beater to work, and when it's bad out - enjoy the nice car on your days off. Me, I don't have days off - so I'm not going to be leasing anything anytime soon. MPNick has that Merkur that I am probably going to buy though. The price isn't much - and I love those cars. It will end up being a project car for me to play with one day, but for now - it's just going to be a 2nd car with somewhere between 250-270rwhp.

 

[orangezoom]

Actually I leased my wifes Mazda MPV talk about a lousy residual. I can not see Mazda leasing there own cars unless it is a credit part of the company like Chrysler credit. Mazdas residuals suck. The funny thing is the dealers make the residuals I believe.

 

[crossbow]

Micah,

Modding a lease violates the legal agreement between the leaser and leasee. There are legal implications that go far beyond whether or not something voids the warranty.

Of course you can do whatever you want. You could go shoot the mailman if you wanted to. Its just whether you are ready to deal with the result of such actions.

Plus its far easier to tell someone they can do whatever they want on a forum...then when something breaks, they get charged the full MSRP for a car, or they get sued, all the people who told them to go ahead and do it disappear off the face of the planet.

 

[Micah]

Read what I already wrote:

"Technically - he can do what ever he wants. Just make sure you don't leave any easy to find marks - and don't **** up. Car needs to be returned to the dealer as stock."

I have friends who install car stereo's and alarms with remote start for a living. They also do some basic installed performance work such as CAI and Exhaust. Read the terms of the lease agreement - they clearly state that the car must be returned to the dealer as stock - and that any variance will "incur charges up to, including but not limited to, the price of the car" as sold on the lease agreement.

I work for a major healthcare provider - and a medium sized investment company. Trust me - lots of people leasing cars - and I know a few that do change out parts. Can it be done, yes - is it a good idea - clearly not. But he's a free moral agent - so much as anyone else.

 

[tarmac and beer]

i shouldn't have trouble staying under the 15k mile mark for the 3. also, i have no interest in modding the car; i just bought a 96 miata for that purpose

my reason for leasing is that i need a decent reliable car for $300/month or less. i could buy used, but for that monthly payment it will be a turd or a car with no warranty. i could buy new, but i don't want to put any $ down and i'd be concerned with going upside-down on the loan.

 

[CommieSpeed]

AVP is not a lease...although it is similiar to it. It will be in your name, the milage restrictions are more lenient (up to 20 something), and at the end you can simply turn the car in with no fees (except over milage, 10cents a mile) or refinance what hasn't been paid on the car for a fixed APR around 6-7 percent. The only thing I am not real clear on is the amount down, which from what I understand is typically less than a lease. I work at a dealership, but as AVP is new to Mazda, I haven't done one myself yet. From looking at the payments and the fees...AVP is waaaay better than lease in most cases.