Based on some reading and advice on here I reached out to a few local dealers and was given this deal. I used a template another user posted to try and get to the point, I’m not extremely savvy on the numbers quite yet but this seems like a pretty bad deal. It was a $0 DAS (aside from first months payment).
Vehicle: 2019 Chevy Malibu LT
MSRP: 26,895
MILITARY DISCOUNT: $26009.46
Lease Rebate: $350
Money Factor: .00115
Rate: 2.76%
Residual: 52 %
Payment: 396 x 39 month lease at 10,000 miles per year.
For starters you need way more than that “Military discount” of about 3%. Honestly it’s kind of insulting for the dealer to even present that to a military member or veteran as any kind of great deal. Second, have you looked at the 2018? I believe incentives are better, and discounts may be higher. Check with whatever Chevy is offering for Military/First responders, I believe it is most likely applied like an additional rebate depending on the car.
Advice: Don’t. $15,444 for 39 months of a base, rental car spec Malibu is complete insanity. You could literally long term rent this same car at Enterprise for cheaper.
$350 lease rebate? LOL. Are you inexplicably stuck on a Malibu LT? For $100/mo less, you could be looking at an Accord Touring 1.5T or EX-L 2.0T, Camry, Sonata, C-Class or 320i loaner, Infiniti Q50, etc etc etc.
Man I’m glad you guys are here! It definitely felt bad and clearly the gut instinct was good. We definitely are NOT stuck on a Malibu, we are looking at any decent sized sedan or medium SUV (gotta fit two car seats and a large stroller).
Wife just happened to drive one and liked it so I threw some emails out. So it seems as if I need to continue to hunt.
There’s comparably equipped 2018 LT Malibus in my area on CarGurus being advertised in the 14k range. Granted that’s after stacking every available rebate for purchase, but the point being is that there is definitely room to discount these a lot more if that’s what you really want. But for that kind of money you can definitely get a much better car. I just came out of a 2016 Malibu lease that was essentially 233 a month with zero DAS, and for that kind of money it was great, especially with leather and a sunroof and a 30k MSRP. But I wouldn’t pay any more than that. More than that and you just get something else.
I happen to really like Malibus in higher trim spec (which this is not), but with a $350 rebate and a 52% RV there’s no way to negotiate your way to a great deal - not to mention that the dealer sent you a straight up insulting “military discount” offer. From now on you need to go straight to sales managers or internet managers. Lots of helpful threads on the forum on how to effectively negotiate.
The world is literally your oyster at $400/mo. Check out this forum, shared deals and marketplace sections, and find some stuff your wife will definitely like faaaaar better than a base Malibu. Good luck!!
We definitely are not set on a Malibu. Definitely just trying to find a solid deal on something that fits the car seats and stroller in the back. I just happened to look at an Equinox so we saw the Malibu and tried it as well.
From my understanding VA gets a tax hit that causes issues with getting killer deals on leases?
And thanks a ton for the quick responses and advice.
Do you need something below 300 a month? Or is 385 an acceptable payment? There are Q50’s and loaner 2018 3-Series to be had under 400 a month. Were you explicitly looking for a mid-size sedan?
No other leases. And we specifically are looking at around $225-275. Biggest reason we are looking to lease is I have an upcoming deployment that will allow me to break a lease so we are viewing this as a way to both offload our current vehicle loan (approx $2000 equity) and do an ‘extended’ test drive on something.
Prefer a mid size SUV for sure, but an upgraded Sedan works as well.
They also are factoring in $2350 cash that they will give for a trade we have. I’d break this lease around 5 months in with the military clause however I’m still “eating” the $2300 from the trade. Still thinking it’s not that great of a deal.
I asked and pryed more about the price and rebates and the manager swore up and down he couldn’t do anything.
I was going to recommend the equinox to you, especially if you have another lease in household (if you have existing costco membership that would give you an extra gift card bonus on top of it).
You can go down in trim on the equinox to an LS if need be, will get you in the price range you wanna be in.
FYI, there is no reason for them to factor the trade-in into the deal. Do that deal completely separately, and get a check from either the selling dealer or someone else. Especially since you’re planning to break the lease when you deploy.
