i’m in Tennessee but am looking to lease a Tacoma Off-Road, 4x4, manual from Alabama. My current lease, a SR5, i got from the same dealership and it seems SETF has much better lease deals than what i can obtain locally. i’ll update this post later today once i receive better details (dealer hasn’t been forthcoming so far on residual and mf), but here’s what they are telling me - 36/12, $1,000 out of pocket, for $473 per month. MSRP is $38,500 discounted from $39,500. Now, i know from reading this forum that’s a high price. What’s reasonable on this deal? i’d be happy for under $450… And before you tell me, i know jrouleau is the Toyota man. However, i.ve got to unload the current lease which has 5 months left on the term. This dealer is taking that off my hands with no equity positive or negative rolled over - just a flat trade in. Apparently 4x2 SR5’s don’t have the best residual so there’s nothing to gain. KBB gives it $24K and the payoff is $26K at the moment. Any insight would be much appreciated!
And forget about the KBB value, get offers from Carvana and Vroom to get a true sense of how much positive or negative equity you have.
If you really are $2k upside down vs. the trade in value, then the dealer is not just making this go away out of the goodness of their heart. Your deal on the new truck is $2k worse than it otherwise would be…
i thought so. i reached out to 3 other local dealers last night with the exact details and monthly payment i’d like. We got covered by the winter storm and dealers have been closed since Monday - perhaps one will make a good deal since they lost a week of sales this month!
No they’re not lying per se, just car salesmanship.
A dealer is not going to come right out and tell you that the deal they’re giving you on the new truck is worse to cover an inflated trade in value. You have to be vigilant, knowing what your target deal is without the trade will let you see through any smoke and mirrors.
Looks like KBB is accurate on this one. Vroom gives $24,768 and Carvana is at $24,288. Payoff is $26,457. So, maybe the dealer is working in that negative equity somewhere but claiming it’s “taken care of and not rolled over”. Perhaps not discounting the truck further. Can a dealer inflate MF or lower residual value on a deal? Sorry if that’s a newbie question!
There’s no maybe about it, they are definitely inflating your trade value at the expense of the deal on the new truck.
This is where you’ve really gotten ahead of yourself, without knowing what your target deal is (without the trade) you’re left asking “is this a good deal?” and wondering if they’re playing games with the trade value, etc.
Is there any reason you’re in a hurry to trade Taco’s with only 5 months left on your current lease? You have almost $2k in negative equity any way you slice it.
Use the next few months to read up on how leasing works, research past deals and broker listings, build your target deal, THEN reach out to dealers fully armed and without a trade to muddy things up.
Thanks for the advice. Reason for trading in the lease instead of turning it in is due to being over miles. i just turned over 48K (it was 48/12 lease) with 5 months left. So, i figure it would be best to trade in vs turn in. However, it’s looking like i should wait a few months, make the payments, then do a comparison of trade in vs turn in costs.
Well if you’re over miles there’s no harm in running the analysis now. How many miles you expect to be over at least turn-in times the mileage overage charge. Compare this to the ~$1.5-2k in negative equity you have at the moment.
Yea, it’s looking like being over on miles even by 3,000 (based on the high end of 25 cents a mile) would be less. So, best to stay the course on this lease and find the deal this summer.
Talking to a dealer is for finding someone to do your deal, not for finding out what something should lease for. You need to know where you’re trying to get to before you ever consider approaching a dealer; that goes for the new car and your trade.
If you ask a dealer how much they want you to pay, you’re going to get numbers that make them happy.
i have quickly realized this from talking with the first dealer. The other three i emailed for comparison was more direct - this truck, this deal, this price.
i gave them my home zip and the dealer zip to compare regions. i thought the MF and residuals were based off the region it’s bought in, right? Locally (TN) it would be through TFS and in AL, SETF.
