Hi all! Just left the dealer and I wasn’t quite happy with the deal he proposed for a couple reasons.
I’m trading in my '16 Miata which I owe 18K on. KBB is roughly 19.5, negotiated up to 20K. Nice 2000 down payment, right? Wrong.
Move on to negotiate the price of the GTI. Sticker is 31,785. KBB is 28K at a push. Dealer refuses to go lower than 29,750 because he “gave such a good deal on the trade in”. So the hour of negotiation it took to get him from 18K to 20K on the trade is meaningless because he was just planning on tacking that 2000 onto his best price for the car.
Unethical sales tactics aside, here’s the offer on the table:
29,750 Sales Price, 54% residual
.00060 Money Factor
10k/36
2000 Down with 1000 taxed incentives
No drive away
No sales tax (thanks, Uncle Sam)
Edit for monthly price: 398 according to the Hackr calculator, though I think I remember him somehow throwing out a number like 350. Didn’t pay it much mind because I didn’t want him to try and distract me with pretty monthly numbers while giving me a bad deal buried in the fine print. As long as the CC, MF, and Trade numbers line up, a good monthly payment will follow.
I’ve been warned that GTIs don’t lease well, and up to this point I’ve been willing to accept that since I was dead set on this particular car. Starting to consider fun hatchbacks that lease better and I’m open to suggestions in case this GTI situation doesn’t resolve.
Are you going for the DSG auto or the manual? If you’re going for the manual then you can get an Impreza for less than this but with similar performance, obviously it’s a sedan but if you’re focusing on good value performance the Impreza is worth a test drive.
For a good dual-clutch auto I can’t think of anything that would be cheaper per month. Yeah you could pay a little more per month and get a more expensive car but it’s not necessarily going to be a better car to drive. What else have you test driven?
Stop and run away. GTI leases suck. If you want a GTI, just buy it if your heart is set on one.
You also learned why you do trade and negotiate the lease separately - dealer was overpaying on the Miata because he was charging you too much on the GTI. One of the oldest tricks there is.
I literally got a quote today for a $44,000 well equipped A4 for $0 down and $390/month before tax.
The funny thing is I made it clear as day that these were two separate prices we were negotiating because I’m well aware of this trick. I’m considering walking away on ethical grounds.
My question to you all now becomes this: What cars lease well that are engaging/fun to drive and are also practical? I pay 474/mo on my Miata loan which is comfortable now, but I’m downsizing my expenses to accommodate a new arrival to the family so I’m trying to keep it in the ballpark of 310/mo.
GTIs are leasing better then usual this month due to factory support. Keep in mind the money has to come from somewhere. If a dealer gives you more for your trade then it is worth it makes sense to discount the car less. My advice: Sell your car to Carmax and then negotiate the lease on the internet with multiple local dealers. Best deal wins.
I’ve actually got an appointment with Carmax today so we’ll see what number they throw out.
In all fairness, if we’re looking at KBB values, what he offered me for the trade is a little above the mark for a “very good” condition trade and 29750 is also right about in line with KBB for the GTI. I just wish he was upfront and said something to the effect of “18K is the best I can do without getting that money back somewhere else”.
Also a rookie question: I’ll be using $1000 military/college grad credit. Are those offers subsidized/reimbursed through the manufacturer or does that come out of the dealer’s pocket? Obviously the negotiated price should be “$2X,XXX plus incentives”, but I can definitely picture a less-than-ethical salesperson arguing they can’t honor that because that wasn’t brought up in negotiation.
First, don’t talk about the trade until after you agreed on payment. If you feel you have equity, save that until the end to spring it on the dealer.
Second, never tell the dealer a “payment” you’re looking to be at until you are at the very end of a negotiation. (Ie. You at 350 after everything and tell the dealer 335 and I’ll sign the papers right now). It could be lower and you just outbid yourself.
Dealers like to try and throw tons of numbers and factors and pile them all into one to try and convince the customers. Stealing a trade, hiding marked up MF etc…
I feel your pain. I had my heart set on a GTI, but am getting quoted $490-ish on a GTI SE manual. I’m even getting snarky emails in response when I try to negotiate further.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to purchase a rare car, such as the Golf R for ~3 years and then sell it back? I don’t think they’ve depreciated so much in value…
As mentioned, I made it clear to the dealer that the trade and lease are different negotiations. The impasse is that the dealer is trying to make that not the case. Not sure where you are getting that I told the dealer what payment I’m looking for. Like I said, as long as the CC, MF, and trade value line up, it’ll naturally result in a good payment.
Tell the dealer you will take his 20k trade for the Miata but buy his GTI for 25k (23k finance and 2k miata equity).
So you finance it for 23k [considering 2k positive equity)with a credit union and end up with a win/win - low payment, good deal on miata and not much increase in you debt (19k vs 23k)
Dont get discouraged based on unethical dealers… Almost every dealer is unethical… but also every dealer wants to make a deal at the end of the day… I have dealt with very unethical dealers but at the end of the day have been able to get the deal I wanted, which at the end of the day is all that matters.
Yup. Fine print says based on an S and capitalized cost of $25229, or 88.8% of MSRP. Same % discount off MSRP of the SE is a CC of $29073. Assuming I keep the 2500 DAS in the picture, I’m looking at about $303/mo or 376 with no drive off.
Funny enough - the 2018 Miata leases very well right now because there is $4k in lease cash.
But you said practical: The Audi A4 Premium Tech Ultra (a special model produced for the summer) also leases very well. And I believe it uses the same engine as the GTI, slightly less HP. Although closer to $400 than $300.
