“What do you mean a FORD is…”
Perusing the rows of shiny new vehicles can give anyone fantasies about what it would be like to be behind those wheels every day. It can be hard to convince yourself otherwise after you fall in love with one.
One woman got her reality check courtesy of an unlikely source: the salesman. She says a dealership ultimately pushed her away from buying a new car.
Brooklyn Rivera (@mrsbrooklynrivera) filmed the video inside her paid-off 2018 Ford Expedition after stopping by a Ford dealership to ask about an upgrade.
“Take a wild guess about how much a brand-new 2026 Ford Expedition Platinum Max with the ultimate package would cost for a lease?” Rivera says, giving viewers a moment to think.
She says the total is roughly what she pays for her mortgage. “What are they thinking?” she wonders.
Rivera said the experience left her questioning the process. When she walked in, she was asked what she “wanted” her monthly payment to be—something she didn’t like.
“I just want you to run some numbers, ethically, and tell me how much you can do it for?” Rivera says she responded. For a two-year lease, she says, the quote came back at $1,700.
“I laughed in the man’s face,” Rivera, who previously worked at a dealership, says. She notes the price caught her off guard and ultimately reinforced her decision to stick with the car she already owns.
She also wonders whether the quote she received had anything to do with her being a woman, noting myriad other stories about women feeling taken advantage of at dealerships.
At the end of the video, she asks viewers for their thoughts. “I fear I may be overreacting,” Rivera says.
As of this writing, the video has drawn more than 340,800 views.
What you should be paying each month for a car depends a lot on the vehicle, but Rivera’s quote still lands on the high end, according to an analysis by Bankrate.
For a new, fully loaded SUV like a 2026 Ford Expedition Max Platinum, lease payments can easily clear $1,000 a month. In many cases, they fall in the low- to mid-$1,000 range, often with a sizable amount due upfront. Once you start adding top-tier packages, upgraded trims, and dealer fees, the price can climb quickly.
That said, $1,700 a month is still well above what most people are paying.
Recent data show the average monthly payment for a new car in the US is in the high-$700s, with used cars closer to the mid-$500s. Some buyers do pay more than $1,000, especially for larger vehicles or luxury models, but that’s still not the norm.
A lot of factors go into that number. Interest rates, loan or lease terms, credit score, and how much you put down all play a role in determining the monthly payment.
There’s a simple rule a lot of people go by: Try to keep everything you spend on your car—your payment, insurance, gas—at around 10-15% of what you actually take home each month.
So while a $1,700 lease isn’t unheard of for a high-end SUV, it’s far outside what most drivers are used to seeing—and likely more than many would be comfortable taking on.
Viewers who came across Rivera’s video said the price she was quoted stopped them in their tracks, with many questioning how much a Ford lease could cost.
“We pay $1,800/m for a FERRARI!! $1700 to lease a damn Ford?! Absolutely not,” one user said.
“Nah, people need to stop normalizing car payments like this because what do you mean a FORD is $1,700 a month to LEASE,” another wrote.
“That is more than a Benz payment!!” a third person added.
“That’s actually INSANE,” a fourth commenter said.
Some said moments like this are exactly why they’re holding onto the cars they already own, especially if they’re paid off.
“I will fix my 2017 Toyota Corolla for the rest of my days,” one person said.
“This is why I’m still driving my paid off 2017 car,” another added.
“Keep that paid off vehicle for as long as possible,” a third user wrote.
“I have a 2018 Suburban with 160,000 miles, and it’s staying with me at this point,” a fourth TikTok user said.
Others said they’d run into similar sticker shock and walked away.
“1,200 lease quote on a Volvo XC90 with 5k down,” one person shared. “They LOST their minds.”
“No, girl, I have excellent credit, and they wanted me to pay $900/month for a KIA. NOT A MERCEDES. A KIA. My Jeep Grand Cherokee was $400/month. I was FLOORED,” another said.
Motor1 has reached out to Rivera via direct message on TikTok. We’ll update this story if we hear back.
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