help with purchasing 09 corolla and of lease

[saltydog]

we had never leased a vehicle before and pretty lost about what to do now that we want to purchase the car. is it best to go in and approach like a new sale and have financing in hand or play it safe and take the terms from the dealer and later refinance the loan.

does anyone know if there are any other fees involved that are not normally associated with purchasing a vehicle. i read on the web some dealers charge a fee for doing the paper work for the sale. is this true?

heading to the dealer either this weekend or next to purchase and would like to not get hosed.

thanks in advance

[SuperchargedMR2]

I'm not sure as I've always just bought the car up front. I would go into the dealer though knowing what my own financing is so that you can compare them both.

[saltydog]

thanks supercharged. have already set up my own financing but was more curious as to if it is customary to pay them a fee to fill out paperwork. in hind sight as cheap as this car was i should have just financed. live and learn.

[c_huynh32]

Try going in atleast 2 dealership and see how each of them work it out. You can also use the cheaper place to work against the other dealership to get a lowered price.

[Jayrom]

I originally got my '09 Corolla XRS as a lease-to-own in Sept. '08 and switched it to a purchase this past February '11. The only fee that I encountered (and that I wasn't too happy with) was a "Safety Check Fee". I pretty much paid them $150 to check the safety of the vehicle. I was upset because I was practically buying the car from myself. Why the hell would I have to pay a safety fee? So I get the car back and they say everything's fine. (Yeah, no shit. I've been the only owner driving it for the past 2 years.) But then I realize that they forgot to fix the Toyota Recall floormat/accelerator pedal thing. I was furious because I paid for something that they didn't even do right! When I confronted them, all they said was, "Oh, well... they should've seen that. But we can take care of it now." I was completely unhappy with the dealer and don't plan on seeing them anymore.

Anyways.. the only thing I can give you a heads up about is some stupid Safety Check. Good luck!

[saltydog]

i guess they will get me too. i never took mine back for the pedal/mat recall. thanks for the heads up. maybe i should take it in for the recall now to avoid it.lease ends first of june. thanks again.