Even with $0 down, the $537.96/mo (including tax) is still very, very high. With their offer, the $3k / 36 = $83/mo so effective payment is $617/mo – wow, you are very far away from a deal with this specific dealership. You can probably get the top of the line, fully loaded MDX for this money
This what a $44,660 deal should look like, approx $450/mo per @mlov1022
Some other lower optioned ones: $38,145 MSRP
Another one with $38,010 MSRP
and an old one from last year: $44,460 deal should look like (from mid 2016)
$450 including tax all in. Also, you want 10k miles/yr. Oh, and they pay your first months payment too. Sign n drive. If they don’t bite, another dealer will. Honestly, they have some balls giving you: $3000 down - $537.96, $5000 down - $477.41, $7000 down - $416.87, $10000 down - $326.05.
There is a guy here on the forum that negotiates like that. Basically, you don’t care how they get there. However, I think even that guy knows the math behind the number.
The better way is to know how to do the numbers so that YOU know how to get there. If you do the work for the dealer, it will be easier for them to say yes or no. Otherwise, you are going to be at their mercy and be stuck. Plus being knowledgeable in the terminology will probably get you a better offer right off the gate – the first one you got is truly outrageous. They even gave you a $10k down option - that is a super NO unless you are leasing a car over $100k !!!
We are talking about saving about $2,000 per year (and then the next leases throughout your life) so it is worthwhile to learn
As a point of comparison, Leasehackr had a front page deal last year where ~$43k Infiniti QX60s could be leased for about $320 a month (I got one of these in SoCal) – that’s no downlayment, just some up front fees and Multiple Security Deposits (MSDs) to lower the Money Factor. $450/mo for a comparable vehicle is still a good deal, but if you’re open to other models you may be able to do a bit better.
Remember that thinking about these things in terms of %s helps. Don’t think “that’s only $100 more/less per month.” That’s a much more expensive car you could lease for the same money. If you’re flexible (on make/model/options/etc) you’re much more likely to get a great deal.
It might help to pull up that front page deal from last year and say “look what kind of deals your competitors are making - find a way to offer me something more competitive.”
I am curious about your opinion on take over leases found on leasetrader.com or swapalease.com. I checked the reviews and lease trader.com seems to be fraud, any suggestions?
There could be fraud (like everything) but for the most part they are legit. The problem with those websites is that it is hard to find a good “deal” unless somebody is really desperate. With the stuff you learn here and some work, you would easily beat a 99% of what is posted on those websites.
If you are not good at negotiating, you can also use a broker which will still probably get you a better deal than swapalease or leasetrader. There are brokers that post here like @BSANDERS and @Anthony_Lopez
… you should look at the Audi forums, feel really bad for those guys. They like paying $1k/mo for their A4s