I am new to this forum and currently in the market for my first lease. So, I figured I would reach out for a little help before I make the plunge. We are in need of a 3rd row SUV and have settled on the 2021 Toyota Highlander as a seemiingly solid choice (unless you all have one you prefer over this). Toyota currently has an advertised lease program for the XLE AWD model for $359/mo. So, I stopped into a Toyota delaership to get a quote for a 2021 Highlander XLE AWD with a tow package. I have attached the quote below (sorry for the poor quality) with a generic MF of .00152 in place and $3,000 cash down (which I understand I shouldn’t pay in the end). I am hoping to receive a little guidance to get a better deal. Because, $442.91 with $3,000 cash down does not seem like a good deal to me. Thank you in advance for being kind to a noob ;).
Your first error here was going to the dealership. You don’t want to step in the door unless you’re there to take delivery of a vehicle you already agreed on a price.
Next issue is looking at the national ads. These are often mediocre deals at beat and very deceptive as they generally are tax, title, fees, etc not included, so your price ends up way higher than advertised.
Right now, you’re probably the better part of $4000 away from where you want to get to.
We always recommend the following method before you ever contact a dealership. If you do all of the work up front, you’ll have a stress free dealer experience and set yourself for success.
Read Leasing 101 (Blog | LEASEHACKR) to understand how to calculate a lease payment and the variables. Monthly payment is an output, not an input!!
Pick a specific vehicle that you want to target
Gather the current MF, RV and incentives from Edmunds forums for your zip code
Research the LH marketplace and other deals that have been made recently on your vehicle - what was their pre-incentive discount? How did their lease terms differ?
Plug your numbers into the LH calculator, and use a pre-incentive discount similar to what you have seen
Create a target deal, this is what you’re trying to negotiate to. You can try different terms, selling price discount, etc. and see how your monthly payment is affected. It is also possible that different trims of your vehicle may have different MF and RV (i.e. this is very common with GM), so make sure that you look into that. Come up with a set of inputs that give you the output that you want - your desired monthly payment.
With a target price determined, you now have a deal to pursue and compare dealer offers against. More importantly, you have a solid foundation to work from.
For comparison, I just picked up a 2021 Highlander XLE AWD for $334 a month with only $1000 down. I’ve seen a couple deals for $369 a month with zero down as well. Also, find out if your local Toyota dealers offer other leasing companies besides Toyota Financial. Several dealers in my area are offering Ally Smartlease and US Bank. They have better residuals and money factors in some cases and you get a better payment.
Looks like this quote is from Titus Will in Tacoma? Assuming you’re geographically down there, I’d first figure out what payment you’re aiming for/create the target deal as @mllcb42 recommended, then shoot out some emails to Toyota of Tacoma, Puyallup, Auburn, and even Olympia to see who bites.
There are a fair number of Toyota dealers/brokers on this forum so you should be able to get a pretty good idea of what % off MSRP is reasonable, but keep in mind that deals in the PNW are usually harder to come by than California or the Tri-state area.
Thanks Jamie! Yes, it was at Titus Will. It seems I made a mistake going into the dealership, oops. Lesson learned and moving forward. Thank you for all the advice and help everyone.
I can do 385ish tax tags fees inc. you would have to pay to ship it. But just to give you a baseline of what the pricing can be. 36/10 lease. 44k msrp. Shipping to wa is likely 1300
