Story Time (scroll down to skip to numbers):
This is my first car, was helped a lot by my partner who has been on LH longer than me.
Came into the used car market around mid-June, hoping to bag a good Honda or Toyota under $15k. Saw the horror show that buyers are going through right now [10-year-old, low miles Japanese cars going well above $15k]. Put used car search on the back burner after a week and started looking at leases.
Another crazy market here. Compact sedans going $100-$150 above normal per month with 0 DAS. Aftermarket adjustments to inflate MSRP at so many dealerships. Have been offered Jetta lease “deals” costing more than a Tesla Model 3 lease.
I had quickly narrowed down to the following options based on June-ish incentives:
- VW Jetta (ultra-low MF, corp discount, like the look, 24/20k complimentary maintenance)
- Chevy Bolt (repeated posts on LH about best deal available right now, qualified for Costco, needed car mostly for work commute)
- Hyundai Elantra (Good Hyundai rebates, like the look, probably the only brand that had markdowns across the board from multiple dealers, 36/36k complimentary maintenance)
- Hyundai Sonata (Good Hyundai rebates, like the look, probably the only brand that had markdowns across the board from multiple dealers, 36/36k complimentary maintenance, better residual than Elantra, larger manufacturer rebate than Elantra).
Cast a pretty wide net because of the crazy market. I just wanted a compact mid-trim-level sedan for $225 all-in with $0 DAS. Come June end/July beginning, I raised my target and re-sent it to all dealers since I saw some of the July incentives get worse and I definitely needed a car.
I was too late to the Chevy Bolt + Costco party (all pre-2022 inventory gone), so couldn’t get that to work either.
Finally, got a good payment on a 2021 Hyundai Sonata SE. Awesome dealership and salespeople. Negotiated over emails, texts, and calls. No sell at the dealership, even in F&I.
Year, Make, Model, and Trim: 2021 Hyundai Sonata SE
MSRP: $25,184
Selling Price: $23,892
Monthly Payment: $238 + tax
Drive-Off Amount: $500 (includes a down and first-month payment)
Months: 36
Annual Mileage: 10,000
MF: 0.00124 (base MF for HMF in June)
Residual: 62%
Incentives: $2500
Region: ca-norcal
Leasehackr Score: 8.5
Leasehackr Calculator Link