This forum has once again been invaluable in helping me get the best deal on a new car lease. On behalf of my sister’s family, I just took delivery of a 2019 Pacifica Limited in Houston for $544 per month with $0 down and first month’s payment due at lease signing. Here are the pertinent details:
$50,020 MSRP
$4,700 Dealer Discount
$3,000 Chrysler Rebate
= $7,700 Total Discounts
Leased through Ally Bank
3 years, 36k miles
51% residual
1.25% APR (.00052 money factor)
Tax credits to reduce sales tax down to 1.25% down from standard 6.25%
Waived acquisition fee
No security deposit
Ally Bank worked out to be about $1,800 cheaper than Chrysler Financial in Texas primarily because they had tax credits, which lowered my tax burden down to $600 from $2,600. (Non-Texans note that Texas charges tax on the full value of the car, not just the monthly payment, BUT our car tag fee is negligible).
The acquisition fee was waived. The residual was 1% higher versus Chrysler Capital but the interest rate was also higher than Chrysler (1.25% vs 0.29%).
Note that I think the dealer actually marked up the interest rate to 1.25% from 0.25% according to the rate sheet that they originally sent me. However, given that a) it’s near impossible to know the buy rate on a third party bank and b) no other dealer was coming within $1,500 of the holistic deal, I felt like the margin was acceptable.
I e-mailed 10 dealers through Cars.com who had the car I wanted on the lot. Only three of them (plus the one my sister test drove from) responded within 24-hours with an actual quote in writing. All three that responded without BS through were Autonation dealers.
Autonation Spring was the first to provide a quote and ultimately who I went with, because they were the ones who realized that Ally was such a better deal given the tax credits (even though I asked every dealer).
I was somewhat impressed by their transparency (they even emailed me the lease term sheets from Ally and Chrysler showing the buy rate). The finance guy didn’t try to sell any extra crap outside of a prepaid service plan.
From start to finish, this Pacifica deal was done in less than 48 hours. Good luck everyone!
No, I did not get the Independent Lease Cash. I don’t think that Ally qualifies as “independent” since they were Chrysler’s affiliate prior to the relaunch of Chrysler Capital after the recession and therefore continue to be closely partnered.
Given that Ally’s buy rate was likely 0.25%, Chrysler was already buying down this rate significantly since market, non-subsidized rates are probably closer to 6%.
You’d probably only get the IDL if you leased through a truly third-party, non-affiliated bank like a local credit union.
I’m not sure what the discounts were a year ago. A year ago, my sister only had one kid!
However, in the leasing game, you probably know that discount is far from the full picture; ultimately monthly payment (combined with $0 cap cost reduction) is all that matters.
For example, it doesn’t matter if there were a $15,000 discount but 6% interest and 6.25% taxes.
And in this deal, it was ultimately the tax credits that made the biggest difference.
I do think that someone very persistent could possibly get this deal $1,000 cheaper given the likely margin in interest. But that someone would need to find a dealer that a) discounted by $5,000 b) doesn’t mark up the interest c) has tax credits they’re willing to use d) doesn’t force you to buy any add-ons like $400 wheel locks.
Plus, this better deal would need to be done with more than a week before one’s other leased car were being turned in and when mother and father weren’t fighting over black versus white, $50/mo over budget, and the jerk at daycare parking 6" away from the SUV’s non-sliding doors.
Minivans for families with young kids are certainly tough jobs…
I didn’t really see any 2018s on the lot in Houston. However, my assumption is that 2018s are not going to be very good leases given likely low residuals and high interest rates.
Note too that with both the Pacifica and the Odyssey, the best lease is currently with the top-end trims. There was no difference in payment between a $50,000 Pacifica Limited and a $43,000 Touring-L. The lower trim models are saddled with lower residuals and higher interest rates.
