Why would a dealer do this?

Ask the Hackrs
,
1

I’m shopping for lease deals – now looking at a Chevy Traverse – and have one that’s a good price.

I negotiated hard for the monthly payment and total out of pocket that I wanted. When I was happy with the number, I asked the dealer to see the deal sheet/lease contract and surprisingly, the total out of pocket cost (“i.e. total due at signing”) was much higher than I agreed upon.

Before I even asked, the salesman explained that I will only be expected to pay the lower negotiated price, and the dealer will cover the difference.

But why would they do this? Wouldn’t it make more sense to just mark down the price of the car? Is something shady going on here that should make me look for a different dealer?

2

Sometimes they “get to the number” and feel as though most buyers don’t care. How you approach is up to you, usually ask to speak to the manager and just let them know you’re a buyer that cares to see how they came up with the number and you would lease it as long as it is the numbers you both agreed on.

3

Something easily could be shady. However, sometimes dealers do this depending on how they want to report the sale. Out of curiosity, how much is the difference

4

Truth is I don’t care at all if the number is as agreed upon. I’m just extremely curious why they prefer it this way and if there’s something I’m missing here.

5

Almost $1000

6

“Total Due At Signing” includes rebates which are applied as a down payment.
Look at the breakdown two boxes down on the contract, it itemizes the total due at signing into “Rebates/Non Cash Credits”
“Customer Cash”

7

This was the non-rebates portion. The contract says that I’m paying more than I actually am and the salesman said that the dealer is taking care of it (rebates were another 2.5k but were not included in this number).

8

In that case, not sure what they’re doing/why they’re doing that

9

This is typical for GM. If you are using GMS or supplier, they have to sell at GMS or supplier price to apply the CCR rebate. If not, depending on the month, they are usually not allowed to sell below one of the prices - so they make it up by using dealer cash applied as down payment. You should see this in your contract. Post a copy.