Shop around. You'll want to visit a handful of car dealerships in Honolulu before you settle on the car you want to lease. Talk with salespeople about your needs and what you're looking for and if they can accommodate you. Find out if the dealership is holding any promotions also. The city of Honolulu has a variety of car dealerships, including New City Nissan, Honolulu Ford and Infiniti of Honolulu.
Test drive cars. Don't just settle on the first car you set your eyes on. Spend a weekend or two taking your time to road-test half a dozen cars. Research the make and model as well as ask questions from your salesperson, to know exactly what you're getting with your car.
Talk with the car dealer about the terms of the lease. Discuss capitalized cost, residual value, interest rate and term of the lease. Capitalized cost is the selling price of the car; residual value is the estimated value of your car after your lease has ended; interest rates are important for calculating the overall amount you'll be paying and the term of the lease determines how long in months your lease will be in effect.
Negotiate terms. Don't agree to the first set of terms you're given by the car dealer. Be confident and negotiate your lease to get a better deal. Your car salesperson always has wiggle room to move around numbers in your favor, so play hard and you'll get a price that works for you.
Get a formal offer on a lease and review the agreement. Once the dealer has run credit checks and has approved you for leasing a car, you'll be given an agreement. Go over this carefully to see if there are any hidden costs involved and if the terms match up to what you discussed.
Sign the lease and pick up your car. Make copies of the lease and store them in a safety box so they don't get lost.
