Planet 9

I am thinking about leasing a Cayman S from FleetRates (fleetrates.com). Does anybody have experience with the company? How does the process work? Anything to be aware of? Thanks....

In my opinion they are a scam. They reel the customer in with their website of low rates, which are only possible with 48-60 month leases with significant amounts of money for cap cost reductions. When I called them for a 36 month quote with 10,000 miles a month, their price was the same as a dealership would start negotiating at. They are simply a middle-man between you and the dealership and are out to make a profit.

Tarik, Fleetrates.com regullarly sells cars on ebay under the member name fleetrates. Here is a link to one of their auctions:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Merce...QQcmdZViewItem

The auction states:
All advertised lease payments are based with 10% capitalized cost reductions plus standard drive off fee's. Typical terms are 48-63 months with A tier one credit and are based on between 10-12K miles per year

I almost went through an independent leasing company for my last Audi. In general, I think they can secure a better price on most cars because of their volume and contacts, BUT, inevitably they are going to mark up whatever bankrate they use to make their profit. I ended up going through the dealer who shopped around several banks and AFS and got a much better deal than the independent offered.

For a Cayman S Tiptronic lease with PPBT and Sport Chrono (MSRP about 70.000)
They are asking (fleet rates) 0 down, 36 month, 12000/year----> $1259.00.
which I am not happy about it.
For a comparable car the best i could get so far is $ 1000.00/month.
Any words of wisdom for a first time Porsche shopper?

If I may make a suggestion, before you even consider leasing a car, please make sure you understand EXACTLY how a lease is calculated and works. An excellent site is www.leaseguide.com that will show you all the ins and outs and let you compare an exact car buying or leasing. General rules are never put any money down on a lease other than 1st payment and any legitimate start up fees or taxes, never lease a car longer than its warranty, and remember the price of the car DOES matter. Some unreputable dealers will tell you they always use MSRP to calculate a lease, but that should only be for the residual, not the CAP cost. You should negotiate a price on the car before you ever mention leasing. I can suggest another car forum that has a resident leasing guy on their buying forum if you'd like to PM me. He answers questions there both general and specific about leasing deals.

mtbscott has got it spot on. Lease for short terms, pay nothing out of your pocket to begin with because it's just money lost, it will never go towards the final purchasing price for your Cayman. 10% cap cost reduction from fleetrates means you're paying 10 percent of the cars price out of your pocket and it's going in the trash can! The information is out there on the internet, what Porsche's money factor and residuals are, make sure your dealer is using those values or better to earn your business and after that, everything depends on the price the dealer is giving you for his vehicle, and that is all you need to negotiate.

from what i can tell across this forum, we've got a resident leasing expert right here in suneet!

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Dan M
06 Cayman S
04 RX 330

haha, I'm no expert, I actually refer to the expert on the other forum to find out the money factors and residuals. I only mysef have access to residuals and MF's for Mercedes-Benz and Jeep. I've gotten in a lot of arguements with my salesman friends about leasing and its benefits, they always lease and I never had before. I ended up buying a used CS instead of leasing because I knew I wanted to mod the car and keep it for a long, long time. But I have to admit, it is hard to stop thinking about mileage and depreciation being a salesman.

Are you referring to Tarry?

Yes, I've seen his post with all the base money factors and residuals available on the 2007 models posted recently on Rennlist, and also, the host of the prices paid forum on edmunds, "Car man," is very up to date on residuals and money factors on pretty much any type of car out there.

Thank you all for the input.

you should be able to get a better deal on your own. call dealers and ask for the internet or fleet salesperson. that is what fleet rates people do. you definitely can do better on your own.

I agree. It's always best to deal directly with the Internet or Fleet Manager at any dealership. They will always give the best deals. They don't have to work as hard sitting behind their computer as opposed to the salespeople on their feet all day pressuring people to buy. I have always bought my cars that way and always have positive results.

I have dealt with Fleetrates and find it an absolute scam. One rep called "DJ" is an out & out crook. These guys should be investigated but a staes attorney.

Apologies everyone, as this link was such a long time ago, but I stumbled across this lot recently when looking to add to my personal collection of rides. There was a lot of discussion about leasing whereas I am looking to buy outright, with the general opinion of this firm being quite negative am I to assume that the whole site and "incredibly low prices" are somewhat untrue? Anyone tried to buy direct / import from them and if so what are the signs to look out for, given that I wont be parting with any money until a legal rep in the U.S has completed the formalities on my behalf? Dobuyer

Hello, I've been scammed, swindled by a woman [name removed] of Fleetrates of Boca Raton, Florida. She asked me a down payment to purchase a car. For eight months I expect the car. It can not deliver the car but it does not make me my deposit. Done very careful, she works for and also Fleetrates.com dealersprogram.com

I would suggest contacting the attorney general in Florida and pursuing an action against them. Sorry to hear that you got scammed!

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K-Man S

I have dealt with her, she is wonderful. If you ordered a car from her it wouldnt be her that backed up your car it would be the dealership your car was coming from. I ordered an Audi from her, the car was on back order from the factory. That wouldn't be her fault. I have ordered serveral cars from her and NEVER had a problem. The company has great prices and the folks are great

Gosh, posted from the same IP address that someone from FleetRates used before to try to post false statements here. Sorry, doesn't fly and threats asking this site to remove information about FleetRates won't be tolerated either. We have your IP address and other information on file, you are logged and we are happy to turn those logs over to the district attorney in your city/county/state for their review of your actions. Please just go away.

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