2018 Lexus RC 300/350 F Sport -- looking for a dealer or help getting a deal with my local TX dealers

Ask the Hackrs
1

Hey folks, new here but have done some research on the car I want, the kinda deals folks have been getting elsewhere around the country. I love this place but anyways I’m new to leasing. I have excellent credit and am looking for help in getting a Lexus lease done.

Currently there’s a regional offer going on (scenario 1 below) but TX state taxes upfront suck. anyways I’ll post what the dealer offered me, I’m sure there’s a way to hack this and get a much much better deal. I’d appreciate some guidance on how to go about getting that. alternatively, if any Houston area dealers are on here & want to make a deal (very motivated, know the car I want, ready to lease) or anyone else around the state of TX or from a more lease friendly state wants to make a deal – please let me know. willing to come pick up the car.

The advertised lease ad is:
$48,078 MSRP
<2,500> Discount
<3,000> Lease rebate
$42,578 Adjusted selling price
36 month lease
10k miles per year
$419 / mo
$4,999 + $4,230.67 (taxes and fees) = $9,229.67 total due at signing
Residual: $24,519.78

The most MSD’s you can do is 5. This allows you to “buy down the rate” to virtually nothing.
If you did NOT put taxes and fees down and instead just put MSD’s down (getting the amount back at the end of the lease), it would look like this;

$48,078 MSRP
<2,500> Discount
<3,000> Lease rebate
$42,578 Adjusted selling price
36month lease
10k miles per year
$651.47 / mo
$4,026.47 total due at signing
(675 * 5 = $3,375 in MSD’s + 651.47 in first payment)

Whenever you do MSD’s you have to round up to the nearest $25. Even though the monthly payment is $651.47, you have to round up to 675 to get the individual MSD amount. Then you can do 5 to buy down the rate as much as close to zero.
Residual: $24,519.78

Additionally, you will receive 2 years or 25k miles (whichever comes first) of complimentary maintenance and services from Westside Lexus as well as complimentary loaner vehicles.

1 Like
2

From what I’ve seen the biggest factor in TX leases is tax credit. Saving 5% of the sale price via tax credit has a huge effect.

Does Lexus have any credits this month and are you open to other brands if they don’t?

3

can you expand a bit more on tax credit and how one would go about getting that applied? I’m not sure if Lexus has those or how to find out. I can ask my salesperson directly. not sure why he didnt mention them upfront but it’s good to know about.

I’m pretty set on this car. what other brands or comparable cars could I look at?

also as far as the numbers quoted by the dealer go, do they look right? I figured putting MSDs down would help the price/payment, rather than balloon it up more than $200/mo.

anyways, to get more details and a breakdown on the deal: I asked em what MF they’re using, the residual % they’re using, if sales tax is applied on the adjusted price or whats going on with that, what the bottom line cap cost is etc. still waiting to hear back.

4

You can search the forum. A few TX residents have posted about it. Paying 1.x% of the selling price vs paying 6.x% saves you 5% or $2,000+

5

hey folks just had a thought I wanted to run by the seasoned experts here. this vid randomly popped up in my feed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnrov9akHZY

he basically says the RC (in general) isnt doing too well – I’ve noticed this evidently from the lack of inventory not only in my city or the state but the entire southern region. he also says dealers have been discounting this car heavy to get it out the door.

so with that in mind, would it be possible to get an $8k (or more) discount off MSRP? for ref it’s $48,673 on one particular car I looked at. just looking for some thoughts and want to hear opinions. I’m sure someone out here has gotten a crazy deal – would love to talk to them on how they approached the situation.

6

Coupes generally don’t lease that well. You aren’t likely to find a deal on one, even if it’s a poor seller. And $10k down?!?!?! That’s nuts. I could lease two of my $44k 2015 Infiniti Q50s for one of your $48k Lexus RCs. Granted I’m not in Texas so don’t have the tax issue, though, which tacks a huge amount onto your lease.

7

thats not the issue at hand right now. I can roll the $9k into monthly payments. I can make the numbers work if its possible to get something like an $8k (or more) discount off MSRP… that’s what I wanna hear about from lexus experts here. is that something realistic, would any dealer be willing to do that. say I found a dealer who mostly focuses on volume rather than profit margin, would it be worth a shot?

8

you’re basically asking for 20% off a new car, that’s unlikely to happen, especially on this type of car.

1 Like
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yeah, you know what they say about something being unlikely until its finally done by someone :wink: I dont think I’ll be the first if I can pull this off. but it would be awesome regardless.

anyways, why do you think this car is all that special? on the contrary lexus has been having probs selling these, all indicators point to this car being discontinued from the lineup in the near future. so with that in mind, if I’m one of the few who actually likes/wants this car over their competitors like BMW 4 series, time might be ripe for an opportunity.

10

Then it’s likely they don’t anticipate high residuals and incentives might be geared to purchases instead

11

you’re right, on a car like this RV will be low offsetting any sort of added rebates that might be available.

@amerch25 This type of car is like the BMW 2 series, it is a “specialty” coupe that just doesn’t lease well. If you want one, you gotta pay for one. It’s not a bread and butter car for Lexus they need to give incentives on to move.

12

unfortunately that seems to be true across the board. I’m deciding between IS F-Sport or this RC F-Sport… for both the RV is 51% at 36mo/10k. not sure why lexus doesnt anticipate these cars value holding up. perhaps they’re playing a diff accounting game. but yeah drastic reduction from the days when it used to be 67% etc just a couple years ago I know from friends who leased, maybe even last year? I still kick myself for not jumping on it back then.

@305Hackr the rebate is the standard $3k on this RC. it might not be a best seller like the ES… but that doesnt mean they dont want these gone out the door asap. anyways, their reg lease promo of $419/mo is competitive, wouldnt you say? it just sucks living in a lease-unfriendly state like TX. which is why I have to resort to creativity to get the numbers to work by way of 16% off MSRP.

on here folks aim to get 10-15% off MSRP right? $8k is 16% from this particular cars MSRP.

13

Maybe because they lost money on those lease returns?

1 Like
14

No, $419 is not competitive given the $5k down.

i mean RV of 51% with 10k is bad.

I wouldn’t even consider it, coupled with the tax issue in your state, way too much money for this car.