2.5 years ago I decided it was time for me to lease as the car that I had owned outright was beginning to cost me more in repair cost, than it would have been in lease expenses.
It was a great feeling to have all the dealerships compete for my business as I ran credit with all of them and said I'll go w/ the best offer and to email me with said offer, and set an appt time.
I've been eyeing hybrid vehicles here as of late and thought I would stop by my local dealership from which my initial lease vehicle was purchased. The owner of the dealership and his finance manager (both whom I worked with back in 2015 to get my first lease car) were at the front door and greated me and asked what I needed and how could they help. I explained that my lease was becoming due for turn-in and wanted to see what the better option was (Wait for it to be asked for return 3-months early with no disposition fee. Wait to turn it in at it's scheduled date. Trade it in if the negative equity (My remaining payments vs they're purchase offer) was equal to my remaining payments or less.) The latter was the case and I was able to literally sign and drive away with a brand new hybrid w/o so much as a credit check (my reports are frozen and I will have to unfreeeze them tomorrow, before they can submit their inquiry) or income verification. Didn't even ask for a copy of a current stub.
I think I was in/out (test drove a couple of units) 2.5 hours'ish.
To think back when I started here on Myfico, there was NO WAY IN HELL I was leaving a lot with a car (because the payment would have been WAY too high) w/o them first checking my credit and asking for income/employment verification!
5/2012: 560 credit scores across the board
12/2014: 750+
3/2017: 780+
11/2019: 833
2/2023: Experian via Chase United Explorer CC pull - 891
