Range Rover Lease Chances?

[Anonymous]

Hey everyone,

After many years of lurking on this site, I've decided to sign up to ask a question that I really want to consult the experts on. Long story short, 

I'm looking to finally go into my first lease for a 2020/1 Range Rover Evoque S at $51K, looking to apply around this September/October (8-9 months from now). I have a mixed credit history and really want to see what my chances are given I go in with $5K down.

The Pros:

• Annual salary is $105K with my DTI at 18%
• Currently enrolled in DMP. Began with $48K debt in September 2019, down to $8K as of January 2021, and will be at a $0 balance and 0% UTI across all credit cards and loans with the DMP closed in April 2021. Hopefully allowing 5-6 months to exist between end of DMP and applying will make a positive difference.
• 12-year credit history with an AAOA around 7 years.

The Cons:

• Credit score is currently at a 604 Experian. Hoping to get that to 680-690 when ready to apply.
• Have three lates on my Experian report, latest as of Jan 2021 (a goodwill letter is submitted so we'll see.) Regardless of outcome, hoping the 9 months between the late and applying will make a positive difference.

Would love to get your perspective on the chances of approval by the end of this year.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Leasing is generally considered tougher to qualify for than financing so I am not sure with low 600's. 

However check your FICO 8 Auto they could be higher or lower.

Next the lease experts say to never put any money down on a lease.

What that means is instead of putting $3,600 down on a lease your payment will be $100 more per month.

Why - because if the car is totalled or stolen you are out that down payment and have to start from scratch again.

What can you do instead?   MSD - multiple security deposits can lower your payment and you get the money back at the end of the lease.

Or you can put that $3,600 in the bank and pay yourself $100 a month to use towards the lease.   

With either of the above methods if you totalled the car month 3 you would get the MSD back or still have the extra money in the bank.

Time heals all credit wounds so in 6-8 months if you can get your FICO 8 autos up around 660 or so there should be no probablem but it likely  won't be tier 1.

[TGG_1976]

In general, I would recommend financing. Unless you are absolutely certain that you want to return the car after potentially 3 years, I think leasing is just putting money down a drain. With 51k MSRP, your lease payments over 3 years would be about $700/ month and own nothing at the end (unless you consider a buy-out). While financing, you at least own the car at some point (once paid off). Again, this is a personal preference but if I would get a high-end car for half my annual income, I'd make sure I own this thing at some point since the car probably may last at least 6-8 years minimum. 

[Anonymous]

19 new cars in my life only my newest is leased.

I agree total personal preference.

I decided to lease for the following reasons.

• a 10K mile a year lease was considerably cheaper than a 7 year 3.75% interest loan.
• I don't have to worry about much wear and tear and maintenance as I would if I kept the car 5-7 years

Pre COVID I drove about 18K miles a year but now work from home and we were told this will not change post COVID.

If I did need 15K miles a year or more then it's a different paridigm as I might need some maintenance besides the 10K and 20K service and the lease would be pretty close to what a 7 year loan would be.  In that case I probably would have gone for the loan.

This is my first lease so time will tell but so far I am happy although it's only been 31 days.

[Anonymous]

Thank you both for the brilliant responses. I've gone back and forth between financing and leasing this vehicle - my only thought is that, like njcobra, the number of miles I'm driving per year are minimal - around 7K. Also knowing that Range Rovers are notoriously unreliable, this is certainly a WANT and 100% not a NEED, so I am well aware.

Glad to hear with a 690 it's certainly possible, but not Tier 1. I've been doing some digging around here and elsewhere to see what specifically the credit tiers are for Land Rover, but to no avail. Does anyone have an idea of what they may be?

[Anonymous]

This thread lists the tiers and which flavor Land Rover uses.

https://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Auto-Loans/Land-Rover-Lease-Which-Version-of-FICO-Auto/td-p/5662170

[Anonymous]

Absolute brilliance. Really appreciate the support here!