Don’t worry, you don’t have to put a lot of effort into finding great Nissan lease deals when you know where to look.
Finding great Nissan lease deals doesn’t have to be like finding a needle in a haystack if you have the right tools at your disposal. Read on to learn the right steps to take to find a fantastic Nissan lease deal that fits all your needs.
What does a great lease deal look like?
A great lease deal is one that fits your budget, your lifestyle, and your needs. It may feel like finding the right combination of those three things is like winning the lottery but it doesn’t have to. Whether you’re looking for a great deal on a Nissan Rogue, Altima, Sentra, Titan, Murano, Pathfinder, Leaf, Frontier, Armada, a brand new Kicks, or a Versa.
What do you need to know about leasing?
If you’ve read our previous posts on Lease vs Buy a Car, finding great Kia lease deals, and Hyundai lease deals you know that there are many things you need to know about leasing. These include:
- Knowing about Residual Value: This is the predicted value for a given car at the end of its lease. This is set by banks and the predictions are based on the changing market, changing tastes and changing interest rates. This value is also the amount of money you’d have to pay to buy the car at the end of the lease.
- Learning how to calculate the money factor, lease factor or interest rate: Essentially these are three different ways to say the same thing. This is the amount of money you will be charged to lease or finance the car.
- The money factor or lease factor are sometimes used interchangeably by dealers and both numbers can be expressed as a decimal. You may see something like 0.004 or 0.0023 when you are looking over contracts. You can do some simple math to convert that money factor to the interest rate by multiplying that decimal by 2400.
- The interest rate is the amount of money that is charged by the bank to allow you to lease or finance the car. They are usually noted as a percentage. For example 3% or 2.1%.
- Knowing what capital cost or “money down,” means: You’ll hear this lingo tossed around quite a bit in lease deals. The capital cost and/or “money down,” is the money that you may need to put down to lower the monthly price of your lease. It also can sometimes refer to the tax and title fees you need to pay to secure the lease. Many times you want to avoid paying a capital cost reduction because ultimately it may not save you money. In fact, you may end up paying more for that lease than you normally would over time.
Memorize these items and take them to heart so that you can find a great deal on your next new Nissan.
How to assess a lease deal
- Residual Value Matters:
- The higher the residual value at the end of your lease, the less you’ll pay.
- What’s the interest rate, money factor or lease factor:
- Using the information above you can figure out how good of a rate you are getting. The lower the interest rate the better!
- Know what the fees and taxes are: These can vary from state-to-state and most are non-negotiable. They are an important factor to keep in mind when searching for a great lease deal.
- Know what the life of the loan looks like: Leases have limits on how far you can drive the vehicle before having to pay additional fees. Be sure that you are getting as many miles as you need on your lease so that you don’t end up paying overages at the end of the lease.
Where can I find Nissan lease deals near me?
AutoGravity takes the pain out of finding great lease deals near you. By using our site (we keep it updated with the most recent inventory!) or our app (even more convenient!) you can simply put in the model and trim you are looking for and the system will send you a list of dealers that have great deals on your vehicle of choice on the lot. An alternative to finding great lease deals using our app is to simply use a search engine to find great lease deals near you. If you search for “Nissan lease deals” the manufacturer site will come up and you can put in your zip code. Once that’s done you will get a rough idea of the lease deals near you. The challenges to this method are that the inventory you see on the manufacturer’s site may not reflect the actual inventory on the lot. You may go to the dealer only to find that the car you want isn’t there and you’ll have to start all over again. Why? Because of the way that dealers work. Like any retail business, dealers are constantly trying to maximize their inventory and find ways to make the most money off of a vehicle. After all, running a dealership is expensive! There are a ton of overhead costs and they need to pay employees and health care, and likely pay to lease or own the building they are in! That means that dealers are always moving cars from one dealership to another to maximize the return they can get on those cars. One dealership may have more demand for a particular car and trim level, while another, because it does higher volume, may be able to offer better deals! You won’t really know until you set foot in the dealership so if you don’t want to waste time, do your homework before you go.
What is a good Nissan lease deal?
A good Nissan lease deal should fit your budget and your lifestyle and needs. It should have a high residual, low fees and taxes, and a low interest rate. A good rule of thumb is to never spend more than 10% of your gross monthly income on a lease. The actual costs of a lease deal can range depending on your credit score, where you are in the country, and how much capital cost reduction you put down. Capital cost reduction is money that you put down up front that reduces the cost of your monthly payments on a lease. While it sounds like a great idea to have a lower monthly payment, if you do the math, adding up the total cost of the lease (which you should do before signing on the dotted line!) you may find that you end up paying more over the life of the lease. In general, we don’t recommend putting down more than $2,000 in capital cost reduction when you are leasing a car.
How much is it to lease a Nissan?
Nissan leases vary from region-to-region, state-to-state, and dealer to dealer. On the manufacturer’s site, we recently found deals as low as $149 per month for 36-months with little money down (outside of taxes and fees). Generally, a good lease deal falls right around $200-$300 a month for a new Nissan.
Can Nissan lease deals be negotiated?
Yes, a lease deal from Nissan can be negotiated. You can negotiate any lease deal you find for any manufacturer, you just need to know where the pressure points are. First, learn the lingo in the above section on What does a great lease deal look like? Then, follow the steps below.
- Don’t tell a dealer you are looking to lease: It’s best to tell them that you are looking to buy because then you are using the total cost of the car as a starting point. Start negotiating from here.
- Negotiate the interest rate or money factor: You can always negotiate this based on the market and competitors. Keep your eyes peeled for other deals from other manufacturers and you can leverage this information when you sit down to negotiate.
- Get the price of the car as low as you can: This goes without saying – the less you have to pay, the better!
- Negotiate the mileage limits and overages: Do this upfront so that you aren’t surprised at the end of the loan. This will save you money in the long run!
- Negotiate the lease acquisition fee: You can negotiate this fee if you do your homework. It always pays to ask if there is any wiggle room in a fee.
- Negotiate the total cost of the car and don’t just shop on payment alone: The advertised monthly payment is often just a tool that dealers use to get you in the front door. They may not (and likely don’t) reflect what you will pay for the lease. Refer to step one and start with the total cost of the car and you can get a better deal.
- Do your best not to shop the payment: You need to know the total cost of the lease – which is your reference point for deciding whether or not a lease deal is right for you.
To do this get all the information you can about the interest rate or money factor, the price of the car, the residual and any fees and taxes you’ll need to pay. You’ll also need to know how long the lease goes for (also known as the duration of the lease) and the monthly cost. Multiply the monthly cost by the time you will have the lease and add the total amount of money you’ll need to put down (taxes & fees and any capital cost reduction you might be putting down) and you’ll have your total cost of the lease. To compare lease deals, use this number across vehicles. Follow these steps and you’ll be sure to negotiate a great Nissan lease deal.
What do I need to watch out for in Nissan lease deals?
Like any lease deal, you need to pay close attention to the fine print in Nissan lease deals. This isn’t specific to just Nissan and should be applied to any lease deal you’re examining. These things include:
- Dealer add-ons: Some dealers will try to slip in additional add-ons that you don’t want or need.
- High costs for normal wear and tear: Check these before signing on the dotted line.
- Payments and penalties: Always know what the parameters of the financial contract are so that you don’t run awry of them. You can also negotiate these if they seem too high.
- Mileage costs: Know what it could cost you (usually a per mile charge) if you go over the limits of your agreement. You can also negotiate these before you sign on the dotted line and we recommend that you do.
Keep these things in mind as you search for great Nissan lease deals and you’ll be sure to find the right fit for you.