I might be doing a 3 year lease on a wrx tonite or tomorrow. i know i cannot sit for 3 years without touching the car and modding it. is there a contract that forbids you from modding the car? if so, is there a way to get around it and mod the car?

thanks

I'm leasing mine, but that isn't stopping me from modding it! I'm keeping all the stock parts, just in case I end up trading it back in at the end of the lease (highly unlikely, unless it will help me get into an STi!). So far, I have a front strut tower bar, rear sway bar, short shifter, GanzFlow CAI, K&N filter, and Stromung axle-back exhaust. Oh, and the custom dented passenger side fender :o I have plans for more mods, but I need to get a job first. Until then, I'll just have fun in the dirt with it like it is :D I don't think there is anything besides warrenty concerns when it comes to modding a leased car, but I could be wrong. But they haven't said anything when I've taken it in for the routine maintenance.

really? so when you take it for lets say a 5,000 mile check up, they havent said anyting?

cuz my dad and cousina re saying that if u take it in for a check up theyd inspect to see if youve changed anytyign and thus broke the contract.

Yeah ummm... I'm 14 months into a thre year lease. this is my car:

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/020/86/vW/c5/8m36712.jpg

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/034/XF/ZH/2i/ML91097.jpg

http://wsphotofews.excite.com/032/Mp/Wb/5W/7H62010.jpg

Looks Like i'll be buying it out!

Eric

Man, what did you do, pour bb's down your intake?:lol:

no. Pouring bb's down your intake looks like this: :)

http://keith.miata.net/temp/images/BB_piston.jpg


Sorry for the size! not my image

Eric

damn, thats crazy. so what does the dealer have to say aobu tit?

The dealer isn;t goingto know. The dealer never has to see your car untill you turn it in at the end of the lease.

Besides, I'm buying my car out. here's the deal. I couldn;t afford the car I wanted so I leased it. I did a three year lease at $355/month. So, now then I buy the car out next month, my payment will be about $350/month for 60 more months and it will be mine. It's a way to stretch the term without paying a huge interest rate. Lease rates are generaly in the 2.x-3.x% and since you pay more principle with a lease than a purchase in the first year, it ends up breaking even as if you would have done a 60 month purchase to begin but you are stretching the term to over 72 months :) don't try to argue this people, I used to sell cars and my dad is a General Sales mamager :)

Eric

He's exactly right.. The lease rate is almost always lower than a loan or financing rate, and if you buy it out at the end, all at once, it will be cheaper overall.

I'm leasing too because of the exact same reasoning. And my car is far, far from stock.

great, im buying it TOMORROW! afterschool. i get off at 3, thats in 17.5 hours. the tihng my parents are saying is that theres a contract that forbids me to touch the car, adn if i did they can forcefully make us pay the car right away.

so when you take the car to the dealer for checkups, they woulnt check if u changed parts on the car? if i went to a dealer and asked them if i was allowed to do stuff, would they say ya?

I took mine to the dealer heavily modded after only 4 months and they couldn't wait to see it and ask questions...and mine is leased for 4 years. I've got it lowered, 18's, blow off valve, turbo back 3" exhaust, turbo timer and unichip, plus a infinity/nakamichi sound system in it. They loved it

If you are leasing and turning it in, DON"T DO YOUR SERVICE WORK AT THE DEALERSHIP :)

Eric

the service work im concerned about there is the like 30k check and the 15k check etc

You can do whatever the heck u want to your car as long as you return it in factory condition. meaning you remove anything you added (like air fresheners and wal-mart cupholder). It doesnt matter if you void you warranty if you're turning the car back in, if you're keeping it, worry more.

just curious but what are they saying your buyout would be approximately? i'm about to order my car, but once it comes in, i'd like to keep the payments as low as possible with minimal money down, and a 2-3year lease w/ buyout doesn't seem like a bad idea, just have to worry about mileage. thx

Imprezinator,

You said that you've paid $355 *36 for a three year lease and will now turn around and pay $350 *60 to own the the car.

That's $33780 total with a full $21,000 left to pay.

The blue book on that car is only ~$15,000 on the trade in and ~$17,500.00 for retail resale.

That car, when new, coudn't have been more that about $21,000.00

Am I missing something or did you miss type your term limits? I fail to see how you can consider paying double the current value of that car as a good deal. Especially when the blue book of the car will be much much lower five years from now when you've paid off the $350 *60.

Your math, as posted, has you so upside down on that car it's unbelievable.

I took mine to the dealer heavily modded after only 4 months and they couldn't wait to see it and ask questions...and mine is leased for 4 years. I've got it lowered, 18's, blow off valve, turbo back 3" exhaust, turbo timer and unichip, plus a infinity/nakamichi sound system in it. They loved it

Hehe. Yeah of course they loved it. They just locked in a guarenteed sale at the end of the lease term.

Let's put it this way. When you install something like a turbo timer (*sigh*), you've got to mess around with the electrical system. When you remove the turbo timer at the end of your lease and turn the car over to dealer in stock condition, there is NO guarentee that you didn't mess something up unintentionally during the install, or uninstall.

What happens if - 2 months after you turn it in and someone buys it - there's an electrical fire? An electrical shortage?

You think a dealership, let alone SoA would take the risk of someone sueing them because they allowed a previous moded LEASED car to be sold to a second party?

Guys, I think you're kidding yourselves. The liability is way too high.

If you can't BUY a car, you really shouldn't be pouring money into moding it.

I for one would be PISSED if I bought a previously leased car that someone had messed around with. If you had two WRXs to choose from, both previously leased, and one used to have a turbo timer in it, and one was perfectly stock (and always was) - which would you choose?

Just doesn't seem right to me.

When you throw in a bigger exhaust or intake, those are relatively harmless, and can be removed with minimal effect to the original stock configuration (most intakes anyways).

But when you put in something like a turbo timer, MBC, or god forbid a nitrous injector - you're messing with things that can really screw up the car - and the fact that you just plan to "turn it over" to the dealership - removing any responsibility for the after effects of those mods - well I can't say that level of honesty or responsibility impresses me.

Be smart guys - I know having a fast car is fun, but sometimes it just ain't worth it.

I'm with Quarters on this one.
The only way it looks like you're getting a deal is that your payment is low for the duration. A $20k loan for 60 months is a monthly payment of about $400 at about 7.5% interest. Total of payments is $24k. If you stretched out the term to 72 months at that same rate, your payment would drop down to $345 a month, total price being $24,840.

I think the problem is that being in the car sales family, you've bought into the lease idea. It's a money-maker only. It doesn't make sense otherwise. If you had just gotten a loan to begin with, for 72 months @ 7.5%, you would have cut three months off of your payments, and saved over a thousand dollars. AND your monthly payment would have been lower.

Sorry, I'm a computer tech who used to work at a bank. I've got a lot of finance friends, and I've bought a bunch of cars. I know how the game works.
:D

For ships and giggles... what was the downpayment on the lease and the purchase price?

PS. At least I read that you're paying off the lease after 15 months, instead of taking it to term.

The dealer doesn't have any say in what you do during your lease....they know that if you try to turn it in, you better have it in mint condition. Anyway, I did the same thing on my wagon...it's a '97 Legacy Outback and we leased it for 4 years....at the end of the lease, we were at 110,000 miles or so and the lease was 48.000! OOPS! So anyway, we bought it out for another few years and the payment stayed within $5 of the original one. It's what I would call the "perfect Used Car" since it's been with you for the whole time!!

When I leased my Jetta from VW, I asked my salesman if i could modify it, he said "Sure, do what you want but if you turn it in to us, it has to be stock, otherwise we wont credit you for your mods and you loose money"...so I did modify it, but sold it out at the end of the lease to a friend..she still has it.

Originally posted by SCOOBER
The dealer doesn't have any say in what you do during your lease....they know that if you try to turn it in, you better have it in mint condition. Anyway, I did the same thing on my wagon...it's a '97 Legacy Outback and we leased it for 4 years....at the end of the lease, we were at 110,000 miles or so and the lease was 48.000! OOPS! So anyway, we bought it out for another few years and the payment stayed within $5 of the original one. It's what I would call the "perfect Used Car" since it's been with you for the whole time!!

Ah yes, but a 72 month loan would have given you the same thing. The payment won't change at all though. No worrying about mileage, no worrying about modifying it.

Horatio,
I see your point, but my situation was somewhat accidental. I leased the car and then got transferred to a job that required a 100 mile roundtrip daily commute. I had to buy it out or hand over about $6k in excess mileage cash!! Hmmmm....decisions, decisions!!

Hey, this is the second thread I have seen you on in 5 minutes...are you post stalking me?:lol:

You guys are giving the dealerships alot of credit. The service dept has no idea whether you bought the car or leased it and they don't care. At the end of the lease there will be an inspection to determine if the car has suffered unusual wear and tear and if they judge that it has then they will give you a bill. This final inspection will probably not even be done by the service dept. The last lease car I turned in an independent inspector came out to the house to look the car over. He never even lifted the hood. Shows how far a well kept interior and exterior can take you. Gave me a receipt and told me where to drop the car. Done.

I've seen this so called end-of-lease "inspection", and it was a joke. It just basically consisted of a walk around and an odometer check... but then again I was there to pick up my '02 2.5RS at the same time so I doubt the salesman wanted anything to interfere with his sale. I think as long as you're picking something new up when you return your leased car they won't give you much of a hassle IMO.

I am told that most lease returns are taken to a shady parking lot someone in your city and auctioned off.

My partner just gave back his wife's Lexus SUV with bald tires, 5 dents (the Lexus was driven mostly by "feel" not by sight ahahaha) and various other problems. The dealer said to just drop it off and forget it, then told the story about the auction.

I believe it. The inspection IS a joke.

Nevertheless, I am only doing bolt on mods to my leased Subie. Hopefully when I give it back I can get some reasonable value for my mod parts (TurboXS Stage I, 17" wheels). I probably won't bother to remove the

... remove the upgraded speakers. (oops, my secretary interrupted my post, then I hit Submit... sorry)...

Basically the best thing to do is, if you are going to MOD it and
KEEP it at the end of the lease, you should of just financed it
in the first place. Makes no sense to lease it, mod it, and
keep it. You'll never get the money you put into it. You
leasing it is like renting it. In the end, you own nothing but
do have the option to buy. I never liked leasing and probably
never will soon. I think the best time to lease a car is when
you have a family car and you can find a low lease payment
then you can trade it in at the end of the lease and get a
new car after every lease. Then I would consider it.

I just bought myself a WRX and got locked in at 6.49% which
is fantastic. Payments are a mere $330. I can mod it and
have all the fun with it I want.

If anyone feels like it, could ya send some pictures of your
WRX's to me? I'd love to check them out. Email them to:

tmdp99@aol.com

Maybe drop me a msg and tell me what goodies you've
added to it.

Thanks,
Tom

Originally posted by bbrewer
You guys are giving the dealerships alot of credit. The service dept has no idea whether you bought the car or leased it and they don't care.

Dealerships only want to put you in a car and make you pay
payments...That's all they care about, is making money from you.
They figure at the end of the lease if you "break" contract or
"break" something, you'll probably pay for it.

-Tom

MY WRX IS IN MY GARAGE!!!!!!! yay!

the dealer told us how im allowed to do whatever i want to the car as long as i return it stock if i decide not to purchase it. the only thing is my parents made me promise not to do anytihng to it! ahhhhhhh ill wait till the summer or when im in college haha. i dunno

Mario - congrats on getting the car. :) At the same time though, I'm a bit jealous and bitter. :p

Wish my parents were financially backing my cars still.


And on this lease-return thing. Don't do anything to the car if you expect to get anything out of the car. If you put a stage I turbo kit on it, expect the value of the car to go down, not up. Unless you're selling the car yourself, you probably aren't going to see any of the money you put into it. Why do I say this? Because most dealers will either wholesale the car out to an auction, or they'll return it to stock.
When I traded in my '98 Impreza L, I had a $2500 stereo system in it. I asked if I could pull it out. They were going to deduct from my trade in value if it didn't have SOMETHING in it. They didn't care what. So I pulled my stuff out and dropped the stock stuff in the passenger's seat. $2500 stereo or factory cassette... doesn't matter on trade-in. If I were selling it privately, it would make a huge difference, to the right person.

Originally posted by Imprezinator
no. Pouring bb's down your intake looks like this: :)



Ok, I just gotta know. Do you know the story of this photo? Did someone pour BB's into the intake of this car as some form of revenge?

ian

Originally posted by horatio102


And on this lease-return thing. Don't do anything to the car if you expect to get anything out of the car.

So very true. Bottom line...your car is worth only as much as
someone wants to pay for it. If they really want it that bad
with the options you added, they'll buy it. If not, you're out
of luck.

-Tom

Originally posted by SILVER2002WRX
I just bought myself a WRX and got locked in at 6.49% which
is fantastic. Payments are a mere $330. I can mod it and
have all the fun with it I want.


How much did you put down to get into it and what was the price of the car?

Quarters, you did misread my post. I have a 36 month lease but I am going to buy it out after 14 months. then finance the amout left at $350/month. :) So in total it is about $350/74 months or so

Eric

I put $9k down on it, a big chunk to part with, I know.
I wasn't about to lease it though, no leasing here. heh

I had the car specially ordered because I wanted all of the
options with it and I walked out with it for $27,777 total,
including taxes, dmv charges, and extra costs.

I got the loan through my bank, FirstUnion. My credit with
them is fantastic since I've never been late on any loans
and I've paid all of them off before the loan was due. Plus
they shed off ¼% because of the direct deposit. They
take the payment out of my checking every month.

-Tom

I was going to do what imprezinator did...im about 22 months into a 39 month lease but, I really have beat'n the living crap out of this car and its been hit a couple of times...by other people, thanks alot!, so im gonna turn it back in at the end of the lease and try and pick up an RS-t or an STi :devil:

Mods include...

Ganzflow w/amsoil filter
Stromung Dual Tip Cat Back
Kartboy Short Shifter
Cusco Shifter Bushings
Version 5 Suspension
Whiteline Adjustable Rear Sway Bar (set at 22mm :D)
Whitleine Solid Rear Endlinks
JVC Kamleon Head Unit
4 Infinity Reference 652i speakers
Compass Gauge Pack Relocated to under radio
Repleced hole in dash with storage compratment.
Tuned by STi Shoulder Pads
Custom i-club/subaru window banners
Color Matched Side Skirts.
cwhalgren grill/scoop mod (yellow) :D

I think thats it.....

Jay McDade *king of lease mods* hehe
Auto Tech--Lincoln/Mercury/Jaguar
www.hometown.aol.com/impreza25fs2000

I'll give you guys the beast lease return we delt with up here a few months back-

A member of the Toronto Subaru club was returning home to hong kong after living here for about 5 years, in the time he was here with his 98 RS, he did the following-

Pulley
P+P throttle body
P+P Intake Manifold
Custom Billet Cams
Full Suspension
S-AFC
STI shortshift kit
Steel braided lines
Custom Headers into another Custom Exhaust (old one was chucked) with 1 cat removed, all welded together into one piece as well.
Full Bodykit
Rims, tires, etc.
Stereo

Not to mention this car saw atleast 30 track days of hard, hard driving, as well as many an autoX, and some hard launch street racing.

-and it was on a lease.

We wound up turning it back to stock, with the help of donor parts (some of which were traded for the aftermarket parts).

It took more than 3 weeks to harvest the car, but in the end it was returned, rather beat up but mechanically sound. I found out later it was indeed carted off to auction.

But I agree totally with whoever said the tech inspection is a joke, because it is!