Southern California HOV Lease Help!

[newchevy12]

Hi Everyone. I have been reading this forum for a while now. This is my first post so please bear with me. I need some help with a California HOV Volt lease.

I have read all the previous threads about lease options. But I am still confused about the whole process and why there are so many random lease prices out there. I came to the conclusion that HOV volts are just more expensive to lease in Southern California.

Can you please take a look at these lease worksheets that a dealer sent me and explain if it is a good deal or not.
One is from Ally bank and the other from US bank. The quote seems kind of high to me. I am having a hard time understanding the terminology and how the payment is calculated. Sorry this is the first lease I am doing all by myself so I am a little lost.

Also can you please post the lease deals you got and which dealership in California it was from.
Thanks for all the help.

[Henry_FL]

The main difference is the Ally lease is 15K miles a year and the US bank is 12K miles year.

I think you will find if you get quoted the 12K year with Ally, they will be close, but Ally is giving more cap reduction amount ( good for you ) and less upfront cash.

[GM-4-LIFE]

I am with you as well. I can't understand why 5 dealers you ask lease quotes for are all different. All lease programs through Ally and U.S. Bank are the same. The monthly lease payments should be the same with every dealer you inquire to, but sadly it isn't.

Looks like Ally may be less once they change the mileage allowance.

[Einar]

How many miles do you typically drive in a year? That is a key number to build into a lease - your average annual miles. The more you drive, the less the car will be worth at the end of the lease, and the more you will have to pay in the lease payments to cover that depreciation. Here in CA, 15K may be better than 12K (me, I drive about 26K a year so leasing just isn't practical). And, yes, the Low Emissions package Volts are more expensive right now because those little green stickers you can get for them are quite desirable - supply and demand - folks want the HOV stickers, the low emissions package gets you there so it's worth more to get a car with it than one without it. The dealers know this and they charge accordingly - offering more generous discounts on the older Volts (pre-low emissions package) than on the new. Also, the dealers are dealing with inventory charges on those older pre-low emissions package Volts that have been on the lot since February or earlier and, again, they are more willing to discount those to move them. Your location doesn't say where in CA you are located, but if you live in an area where HOV lane access isn't a big deal, go for one of the older Volts - you'll be able to drive a harder bargain. On the other hand, if you live in LA or somewhere similar, where HOV lane access can buy you out of significant driving hassles, pony up the price for the low emissions package and live with it. After all, it's only money, and what's that compared to the time you save?

[DonC]

The deals are a little different. You get a higher residual and a lower interest rate (1% vs. 1.5%) on the US Bank lease but lower miles. You get more cash lease aka rebates in the Ally lease. It's kinda a wash. If you think you'll drive 15000 miles/year then the Ally lease is a better deal (you'd be paying $.12/mile). The break even point is somewhere around 13,500 miles a year. If you think you'd drive that number or less miles a year then the US Bank lease is a better deal.

However, I'm more interested in the "Amt. Applied Upfront". This seems to be the first month's lease payment, which is fine, and then some additional amount for "Upfront Fees". What are these? Why are they different? It looks like those are just a tricky way of adding back the discount off MSRP. MSRP is $40,095. You've negotiated the price down to $38,802 but then they add the Upfront Fees back in. If you took those out then the US Bank lease deal would be more like $319/month. Maybe I'm missing something but that's what it looks like to me.

Other than that both leases look pretty good. Your residual for the Ally lease is very favorable which may account for the extra half point interest you're paying.

[newchevy12]

Thanks for all the responses. I'm not sure why he put 15,000 miles for the Ally lease. I don't drive more than 12,000 miles a year. I live in West Hollywood. I mainly drive to North Hollywood every day. So I don't use the freeway that often. The carpool lane is honestly not that important to me. Maybe it makes more sense to just get the non HOV volt. It would just be nice to have that privilege of going in the carpool lane alone if I ever need to.
I'm not sure what the "Amt applied upfront" is. The "Customer Cash" is the drive off from what he explained to me. But I will call him back today to clarify everything.
Thank you for all the help.

[DonC]

The "Amt applied upfront" is a combination of the first month's payment plus "Upfront Fees". It's the "Upfront Fees" you'd be interested in. BTW if you don't put many miles on your car, you can get a lower lease payment if you go to 10,000 miles a year. Just depends on your driving habits as to whether it would work for you. Keep in mind that you can take long trips on the Volt. It's fairly comfortable.

[balee123]

Can someone explain why the US Bank lease uses a 43% residual and then "adjusts" it versus the Ally bank which uses the straingt 60%?

Also, what are "upfront" fees and "upfront charges"?

I've seen some lease quotes where Cap Fees and Cap Taxes are added in which are over $300 each. Why do some lease quotes have these and others not? I am talking about in California.

thanks in advance.

[DonC]

Both the US Bank and the Ally lease take what they think the fair market residual will be and then they ADD the $7500 tax credit to this in order to give you a higher residual. This has two big effects. One is it lowers your monthly payments. The other is that it makes buying the Volt at the end of the lease unrealistic and/or expensive. IOW you need to decide if you want to keep the car up front because buying on the back end will cost you over $8000.

As for all these fees and taxes, you would need to ask the dealer offering the lease what "upfront fees" or "Cap fees" or even "Cap taxes" are. They are probably "Another Way to Jack the Price" fees. There should be an acquisition fee of $795. That's OK. There may be a security deposit. Or not. There should be registration fees and doc fees, which are OK but this is another way a dealer can wring a few more bucks out of you so you need to pay attention.

[balee123]

Thanks for your quick reply. I still don't understand why one bank shows a 43% residual at first and the other uses the 'standard' 60%. Any idea why they would plug the 43% into the lease worksheet?