snagitseven

At least in MA, if you are buying the car at lease end, since you already paid sales tax each month on the lease payments, you only pay the tax on the lease buy out price, not on the full original price the lease was calculated on.

irenesbob

I believe that is true in NYS as well. I was referring to buying another (new) Audi or some other brand, not buying my present car.
It raises a point though. As a result of my two accidents I have been told my trade (and a dealer's resell price) can be expected to be a lot lower than had the car had no accidents. Let's say the dealer's statement to me that it will be worth $8K to $10K less is overly pessimistic and really it would be worth $5K less. I still would (I am assuming) have to pay the buyout price in the lease contract, no? I think it would be crazy to buy a car I know is worth $24K for $30K, so I doubt I will even consider buying the current car (for other reasons as well).

snagitseven

Probably true, the buyout price wouldn't change. I know a few years ago I was able to negotiate with a leasing company for a better buy out price (not Audi) but doubtful that would be true today. But in the case of an accident reducing value, even in the unlikely event you could get a better buy out price, you would be kicking the can down the road as the accident would still follow you.

Avoiding diminished value is one of the advantages of leasing vs. buying. Since I purchased my current A6, I will be facing the same diminished value issue with my current A6 so I'm considering doing a lease vs. purchase for my next Audi for that very reason.

irenesbob

Since there is no pressure on you to get a new car now and since the repair work looks great and basically did not affect mechanicals, I suspect you’ll be keeping the car for a few more years. At that point I think age and miles will affect the value much more than will any diminished value from the collision. In my case there were a lot of mechanical and under hood components that had to be replaced, so the impact on value is likely much greater for me than it will be for you.
FWIW - the car does look great and as long as the paint matches (which it appears it does) you will forget about the accident when you look at the car every day. I never think of my car as damaged goods when I go into the garage - it is still my baby! lol

snagitseven

Bob, I agree. Your accident with Bambi was much more involved than mine which was solely cosmetic. An issue is that *#%& CarFax simply reports an accident without details IIRC. On the other hand, I have a good, 12 year, 2 new car purchase, 4 car maintenance relationship with my Audi dealer who also happens to be a sister company to the collision center where my car was repaired. So, they can easily see the details come trade time which could minimize the hit.

I plan on keeping the car at least until the second year of the C8 which I'm guessing will be in two years, three at the most. My next one will probably be a lease, something I haven't done in many years (I hate car payments). I could also sell my car privately and get more money than a trade. Done that too. Private sale buyers don't always check CarFax although my nature would compel me to tell them about the repairs iin any case.

I am pleased with the bodywork and paint job. I'n very picky though so we'll see as I continue to walk around the car a few dozen more times.

snagitseven

Question for you lease guys. Say I decide to trade my A6 in 2 years and let's guess it's worth $25K then and lease a new one. How would that work? Would the dealer hand me a check for $25K less any lease fees? I wouldn't want to apply the amount to a cap cost reduction (not a good idea). If I sell my A6 privately it's easy but not sure what happens if I trade it in.

irenesbob

On my 2006 A4 I traded a 2002 Altima and had a no money down lease on the A4. They just bought the Altima for “X” dollars minus fees, etc. as you suggest. I had driven to the dealer in the Altima just to look at the A4. While I was with the new car salesman the used car manager came in and said he had a customer for whoever’s Altima that was - since it looked in great shape. The long and short of it: I agreed on how much I wanted for the Altima and while was still there they called the potential buyer who rushed over, looked and decided to buy it. They gave me a loaner to drive home and the Altima was gone the next AM when I stopped by to make a final decision on two different color A4's they had. If that wasn’t how it went down I don’t know what the process would have been, but I am sure it would have involved getting a check and not having to put the equity down on the lease.

Manual_Trans

Hey Snagitseven, in your example I think the following would happen:

If you're trading-in the car, you could apply the trade-in value to the cap cost as a cap cost reduction. That's effectively just a pre-payment of some of your lease obligation.

You still have to pay the use tax on the pre-payment (just like if you were paying it with each monthly payment), but what you save is the interest you would have paid had you paid that money monthly instead of as a cap cost reduction at lease inception. Interest (determined by money factor) is the charge you pay over time (and time=0 if you're paying up front).

Does that help?

The question probably comes down to how you want to use the trade-in value: Back into your pocket or immediately applied to the lease at inception.