johnlk25

I am thinking about leasing my next vehicle and was looking for advice. I've never leased a vehilce before and don't know what to negotiate and whats not negotiable. I know there is a forum for leasing vs financing, but there doesn't seem to be too much activity over there so I thought I would get more responses here.

I am the type of person who usually trades my car in about every 2 years, sometimes even more frequently so I think that leasing might be something for me to consider. I really dont know much about leasing except that the car is obviously not mine. I guess its just best to list my questions below and hope that some of you who are experienced in leasing could provide advice:

What can you negotiate?
Do you still have to follow scheduled maintenance?
Do they ever allow you to end a lease early without penalty?
When they say 10,000 miles a year, are they really strict about that?
Is the interest rate higher with a shorter lease? I prefer no longer than a 24 month lease.
What fees, etc. are negotiable?

Anything else that I should know. I dont want to go to the dealer uneducated about leasing.

cetialpha5

Check out leasehackr.com and read a few articles about it.

Yes you have to follow scheduled maintenance. But for Mercedes, there's just service A and B so it shouldn't be that bad.
You can end it 6 months early on MB if you get into another MB.
Most leases have a penalty for going over the mileage allotment. The paperwork will say how much extra per mile. Sometimes you can prepay it at a lower rate.
The interest rate is the money factor and that can be negotiated and I believe multiple security deposits will lower the money factor.
The price is negotiable just like a regular car purchase. Negotiate the best price, then the money factor and residual, plug those numbers into a calculator to get your monthly lease payment.
Like car sales, sometimes there are good promo on leases.