Tarry,
I am looking at an 05 -E55 AMG, CPO at an out of state dealer in Texas. I live in Illinois.
The car is equipped the way I like, I checked it out as far as I can with CarFax and the mileage is only 7200. They aquired it from MB leasing in California. The asking price is $64,500. I checked with the bank I do business with, and had previous auto loans with, and was quoted a used car loan rate of 7.49% with the following stipulations;
"The max. amount we will loan on new vehicles up to 60 months is 80% of the cash price before taxes. The max. on used vehicles is the Red Book retail value".

Questions are;
1. At what point does it NOT make sense to lease a used vehicle?
2. Do out of state lease deals become costly because of different taxes?
3. With credit score of mid 700's, can I find attractive offers?
4. Can I lease with zero down and still make it attractive for a 2-3 year ownership?
5. Is this something you would handle, as long as I finalize the sales price?
6. Does the Dealer have an advantage by providing MB Financial Leases?
7. Do they mean Blue Book?

I usually keep my vehicles for 5-6 years in excellent condition and sell outright. I am debating if this does not work, should I look to lease a brand new one and get the benefits which comes with it.

Thanks in advance,
Pete

 

1) It pretty much always makes sense to lease if you are not keeping the car for a long period of time (> 5 years).

2) You pay sales tax in the state you register it (live in), regardless of where the vehicle is sold from.

3) You should qualify for most "A" tier lease rates.

4) With most leases zero down is best.

5) Yes, here is the link for getting quotes using our service: http://www.leasecompare.com/quick_le...cedes+Benz+E55

6) I'm not sure if MBC would offer an attractive lease on this model year.

7) Probably Blue Book, or Black Book. I'm pretty sure there is a Red Book but I have not seen it in a while.

Let me know if you have further questions.

 

Thanks so much for the clarifications.