Please give your honest opinion on this situation.
The offer I and salesman agreed to:
2022 Mazda CX-30 Premium
$449/Month
$1,200 down
$12,000/miles per year
$19,127.80 Residual
MRSR: $30,500
After two hours of test driving and wrangling over numbers with a “No Haggle dealer” we both agreed to the above. They (manager/salesman) ran my credit and the car was driven off the showroom floor, washed and waiting for me outside.
I go in to speak with the finance officer. She starts out trying to sell me tire protection for another $659. I see she wrote down another figure of $559 on her paper. I ask her what is that number she responds with that is your monthly payment. We both look confused. I then told her that is not what I agreed to. I agreed to pay $459/month. She says that can’t be right, and that I was mistaken. I show her the screenshot of the Customer Worksheet, where the agreement was written down and circled by the salesman. She then said she had to talk to the salesman and manager to see how they got their figures. She and the salesman come back and the number 4 was erased off the paper where he and I agreed to $449. Right in front of me he writes in the number 5 and says that is what we agreed to. I again show my screenshot and they both proceeded to tell me that the other higher numbers were what was agreed to. I pointed out to them the circled figures where it ended with an X and a line across where he wanted me to sign.
I gave them my credit card to refund my deposit he returned with my card and receipt, I walked out.
Spend some time reading the forum. The advice given over and over and over is to never set foot in the dealership to negotiate. If you need to test drive, you test drive and leave. All negotiations are through email and you only go in to sign (or sign remote if you can).
I initially was there to just test drive. But then I just wanted to see what the numbers looked like. It all went to hell after that.
What specifically should I look for on this forum to help me get the car and deal I want?
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 (EDITORIAL | LEASEHACKR) to understand how to calculate a lease payment and the variables. Monthly payment is an output, not an input!! While you’re at it, be sure to watch the LH video (How to Use Leasehackr - YouTube) to brush up on how to most efficiently use the resources here.
Pick a specific vehicle that you want to target
Gather the current MF, RV and incentives from the LH Calculator - Lease Program Query or 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 (CALCULATOR | LEASEHACKR), 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.
Also, the Leasing 101 button above leads to articles which quickly educate you on leasing particulars. I like the Calc By Hand article, followed by the native Lease Calculator vid, as plugging in parameters to the lease calculator is the fastest way to compare and research similar deals in the Marketplace/Broker section. Barring DIY, a broker is a convenient/expedient way to get a fair deal.
Mistake number 1, you went to the dealer to discuss numbers, never do that. Do everything over email or phone. You’ll never know you got a good deal if you don’t compare it with other offers. This dealer sounds completely shady with the fast one they tried to pull, consider yourself lucky that you didn’t sign
I just want to give you some kudos. Not only you are one the most knowledgeable on this site, you are also the most helpful. I’m not discounting anyone’s effort. But your dedication to help others is really unmatched in my opinion and I would like to thank you for that.
Lot of them have already been pointed out. But back up for a second. What made you conclude this car was even worth all this effort?
Most cars do not lease well. They do not have the programs (RV, MF and incentives) to be good candidates for lease-hacking, regardless of what dealer discount you can negotiate. This is truer now than it has ever been. Which means you cannot start your search with a particular car or cars in mind, and then find a way to make them lease well.
It will be like pushing a boulder uphill while pulling teeth, and you’ll still probably have a bad deal in the end. You need to start your search by filtering only the vehicles that are leasing well right now or offer good value per dollar for a purchase via financing.
