Hi All,
New to the “leasing community” and had some questions regarding the current 2020 Q50 Sport market. I went today to my normal Infiniti service dealer in Ohio and talked with their sales manager regarding their pricing on one. The sales manager was pretty rude and degrading when it came to prices. The model currently has an MSRP of around $52k and with incentives, came up to around $42,500. They were laughing when I mentioned some of the other deals on here for similar cars having payments of sub-$400 and firmly did not budge on changing the MSRP more. Their lease expectation from their computer system stated just over $600 per month. I understand the MSDs but did not ask about them and only asked about the reduced MSRP price. I mentioned that they were not selling cars off the lot like they said to me in their “pitch” due to the economic conditions and Infiniti having incredibly low sales results even pre-COVID-19. The last straw was when he mentioned that if they lowered the MSRP that they would go out of business for all those deals. The dealer has switched to a Carvana type dealer apparently, so the prices online are “firm” or so the sales manager said.
We did not talk in depth on MF but the residual value was 48% and $25,488 if I remember correctly from the online calculator. Was there anything that I could/should do at this point to have better success now or in the future? I do currently own a 2015 Q50 which will be traded in but not sure if that makes a difference for loyalty incentives or not.
Thank you in advance!!
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Never talk numbers with a dealer until you already know what the car should cost based on current lease programs and researched targets for pre-incentive selling price. And certainly don’t have that conversation in person.
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According to Edmunds, it should be priced at around $45k from the MSRP value. Is that what I would start off at in negotiations? I assume that there is much that they can actually do in terms of MSRP pricing…?
Thanks!
You should ignore everything on edmunds except what they give you on the lease forum for rv/mf/incentives when you ask. Research other Q50 deals on here to determine a target pre-incentive discount amount based on comparable deals.
Sounds good. I do have the MF/RV/incentives for the car. Would state of dealer matter or are the pre-incentive prices all the same?
Not enough to start putting together a target deal. Some states are easier to get deeper discounts than others, but for having a solid baseline of where to start, I wouldn’t worry.
When mentioning the starting numbers off MSRP, the sales manager stated that they would not be able to come close to any of the prices on here. Is that a game or more about finding the right dealer?
He may not be able to or it may be a game. Either way, the answer is to find a new dealer.
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and always start on the phone, not in person for any negotiations?
I do everything over email.
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Understood. Is the “1%” rule for leasing monthly payments universal? The sales manager said he had no idea what I was talking about.
I also make sure to have a detail offer ready to go when I initiate that conversation. If you’re asking for an aggressive deal, you’re asking the dealer to make very little money. Don’t ask them to make a little money AND do a lot of work. Be the smoothest, easiest, quickest transaction they’ve ever dealt with.
The last two or three vehicles I leased went from initial contact to agreed to deal in 2 emails. I probably took up 10 minutes of the dealer’s time prior to coming in to take delivery.
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No, it’s non existent. Forget you’ve ever heard of it.
(Note that I have a personal crusade against the 1% rule nonsense.)
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Just an FYI, I’ve had similar experiences with dealers around the NY/NJ area over the past month an a half or so. I’ve received somewhat reasonable offers from brokers, but nothing comparable to the deals you were seeing in late 2019/early 2020.
Overall, I have a target based on discounts I’ve seen on the most recent Sport deals I’ve combed through. And it’s pretty reasonable. But unfortunately, nobody is able to hit it post covid.
Not trying to be negative, but to rather set expectations. Personally, I think moving on from the brand at this point is probably a smart move.
Any template you could provide? Lol. I assume a fair starting point is roughly 15-20% off MSRP for the Q50 sports that are readily available at dealers.
At this point? Infiniti is a brand to have moved on from a long time ago. Ha!
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I can understand that. It does seem that they were offering much more pre-covid. What was your target figure that you were able to find? They were saying $42k after all incentives.
What similar brands would you recommend for the price point? I had miserable experiences with BMW, but family has had good luck with Lexus buying pre-owned. The IS may be changing next year, and offers much less “car” for the price IMO.
Volvo S60/V60 would be my choice.
