It can’t be that bad’: Woman was ready to upgrade to a 2025 Lexus. But the lease price stopped her in her tracks

A woman on TikTok was completely “shooketh to my core” when a Lexus dealership quoted her a monthly lease payment on the 2025 Lexus GX 550 that was so high it would cover most people’s rent. TikTok user KK (@kjkeekz12) and her husband decided to visit a local Lexus dealership after seeing the new GX 550s online, and she went in thinking the numbers couldn’t possibly be that bad. The reality check, however, was brutal.

KK was looking to lease, and she openly admitted to having an old-school view of car payments, saying she was “thinking back to all the commercials I would see when I was growing up. Zero percent down and you can get a $289 car payment”. While she acknowledged that “things have changed,” she still felt like “it can’t be that bad”. The kicker here is that her current car payment is already $400 per month, which she feels is her max limit right now, and she was clearly ready to upgrade to a newer, fancier SUV.

But you won’t believe the quote she got. For a lease on the new GX 550, the dealership told her that with $5,000 down, her monthly payment would be $1,500. Her reaction summed it up perfectly: “That is someone’s rent for their home. You’ve got me so f***ed up,” she said. My own car payment is about $900 a month, and when I first got a car, it was $200, so I feel it too.

Car payments have gone too far

On the other hand, a lot of viewers weren’t quite as shocked. One person asked, “Girl, it’s a Lexus, what did you expect?” while another one pointed out, “You’re looking at a Lexus but expecting Toyota lease rates”. To be fair, they have a point. The GX 550 is a top-tier SUV, but the current market rates are just wild for any new vehicle. It’s not the worst thing to happen at the dealership, but it is disheartening.

And this brings up an interesting piece of advice I’ve seen floating around. In the comments section of the original article, and even on Reddit, experienced leasers are cracking down hard on one part of the deal: putting money down. When you lease, one user pointed out, you should “Don’t put money down on a lease. If the car is stolen/totaled, you’re out the money,” meaning your down payment is completely gone and you won’t see any of it back. They can also borrow your car for testing too, but that’s optional.

If you take that advice and look at the numbers, the price gets even worse. If you were to take that $5,000 down payment and spread it across a typical 36-month lease, you’re looking at an extra $138.89 per month. So that $1,500 monthly payment becomes almost $1,640 per month with zero down.

It’s not just the dealer’s greed; interest rates are much faster overall than they used to be. One test driver reported that a local dealer quoted a whopping 8.8% lease interest on an $84k MSRP car. You are still paying interest on a lease, and that huge rate is baked right into that shocking monthly payment. Even advertised deals, like one for $799/mo with $5,999 due at signing, are considered an overpriced lease because the money factor and interest rates are just so steep.