End of era lease (and woes)

[MacMini34]

Hi all,

Popping over from the MINI forum. Although quiet here thought I'd share my experience.

I've been tracking lease deals on the Prologue for some time. Last week I saw this deal on Honda's website: Touring AWD MSRP $56195, lease for $179 month, 36 months, 10k miles year, $3799* due at signing. Have to have a 2010 or newer vehicle from many makes as a "conquest". With the tax credit this equates to about $22k off msrp.

So Saturday front up to dealer and they have a blue/gray version - perfect, just what I want. Say yes, let's do the paperwork and they come back with "accessories": $500 for wheel locks, $5000! for some worthless tacking software app thingy. Point out Honda wheel locks sell for about $150 elsewhere and not interested in the app. After 10 minutes of negotiating walk out.
Yesterday, find a blue over black at another dealer and call and ask if they will honor the lease deal - yes they say. Dash out of work as they close at 5 and suddenly sales manager not so sure and tacks about $3-4000 on to price. Not interested at that I say. Salesman a little embarrassed.

Soooo... today is last day for tax credit. Let's see if I get call at 4pm from 2nd dealer if they haven't moved the Prologue.
I like the Prologue but would never pay 56195 for one or even ~49k with the tax credit. In MA where I am, it just misses out on a state credit that tops out at $55k pricing, dumb of Honda to price it there.

Thoughts. At about $22k off msrp for the lease, Honda is putting ~$14.5k on the table. Does that mean it's really overpriced?
What happens to sales of all EVs come October 1st? They're going to tank for quite a while in my view or manufacturers are going to have to keep up massive incentives.

*3799 "due at signing" - I argued that should include the acquisition fee of $595 since it is not mentioned anywhere else in the advert - I think that's very shifty from Honda and perhaps illegal?
cheers
MacMini34

 

[insightman]

Hi all,

Popping over from the MINI forum. Although quiet here thought I'd share my experience.

I've been tracking lease deals on the Prologue for some time. Last week I saw this deal on Honda's website: Touring AWD MSRP $56195, lease for $179 month, 36 months, 10k miles year, $3799* due at signing. Have to have a 2010 or newer vehicle from many makes as a "conquest". With the tax credit this equates to about $22k off msrp.

So Saturday front up to dealer and they have a blue/gray version - perfect, just what I want. Say yes, let's do the paperwork and they come back with "accessories": $500 for wheel locks, $5000! for some worthless tacking software app thingy. Point out Honda wheel locks sell for about $150 elsewhere and not interested in the app. After 10 minutes of negotiating walk out.
Yesterday, find a blue over black at another dealer and call and ask if they will honor the lease deal - yes they say. Dash out of work as they close at 5 and suddenly sales manager not so sure and tacks about $3-4000 on to price. Not interested at that I say. Salesman a little embarrassed.

Soooo... today is last day for tax credit. Let's see if I get call at 4pm from 2nd dealer if they haven't moved the Prologue.
I like the Prologue but would never pay 56195 for one or even ~49k with the tax credit. In MA where I am, it just misses out on a state credit that tops out at $55k pricing, dumb of Honda to price it there.

Thoughts. At about $22k off msrp for the lease, Honda is putting ~$14.5k on the table. Does that mean it's really overpriced?
What happens to sales of all EVs come October 1st? They're going to tank for quite a while in my view or manufacturers are going to have to keep up massive incentives.

*3799 "due at signing" - I argued that should include the acquisition fee of $595 since it is not mentioned anywhere else in the advert - I think that's very shifty from Honda and perhaps illegal?
cheers
MacMini34

Good luck!

 

[insightman]

If Honda takes advantage of this loophole, you may not be out of luck if no Honda dealers called today. Autoweek reports GM and Ford found a way to stretch the $7,500 tax credit beyond the end-of-September deadline:

The programs work this way: financing arms, Ford and GM will make down payments on electric vehicles sitting in dealer inventory. This prepayment qualifies the financing arms themselves to claim the $7,500 credit. From there, dealers can lease those vehicles to consumers with the subsidy effectively passed through—keeping lease payments low even after the credit technically expires.

 

[MacMini34]

If Honda takes advantage of this loophole, you may not be out of luck if no Honda dealers called today. Autoweek reports GM and Ford found a way to stretch the $7,500 tax credit beyond the end-of-September deadline:

The programs work this way: financing arms, Ford and GM will make down payments on electric vehicles sitting in dealer inventory. This prepayment qualifies the financing arms themselves to claim the $7,500 credit. From there, dealers can lease those vehicles to consumers with the subsidy effectively passed through—keeping lease payments low even after the credit technically expires.

Yes I saw that. No call yesterday from salesman. If one tallies up all the numbers the price on a blue Touring AWD came out to $34409 before taxes and fees compared to sticker of $56650... that's one heck of a discount. Perusing some Prologue forums one person mentioned they bought one either cash or financed for $38000 "out the door", which would be a similar starting price. Honda has done quite well with these, outselling its Chevy cousins, but are they making any money with the discounts or as some say the tax rebate just inflated the price?

cheers
MacMini34