After about a month of research and contacting a total of 22 dealerships, I finally was able to score a very good deal on a 2024 Nissan Pathfinder SL with $45,500 MSRP (and $38,326 sale price). The finalized lease was 36 month 10K miles per year lease (tier 1 credit) with 5K due at signing (includes first months payment) - for $358 / month, tax-in (7% figured monthly).
I originally did a search for all dealers using cars.com and other similar new car searches and found that virtually all the Nissan Dealers in FL and surrounding states are complete scams that do the following:
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Add about 5K worth of nonsense to each sale “the XXX dealership advantage” which includes snake oil like nitrogen filled tires, dollar store ceramic spray, and junk clear wrap on the door jambs.
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Refuse to honor posted sale prices stating that they don’t apply to leases but fail to elaborate further.
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Package in all rebates including conflicting rebates and employee pricing into their posted price without proper disclaimers
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Bait and switch the price by agreeing to terms completely via the phone (even via text message) then refusing the deal in person and claiming that the customer just doesn’t understand how leases work.
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Refuse to budge on pricing whatsoever and claim that MSRP is a “good deal”.
Literally out of 22 total dealerships, 21 of them had one or more of the above issues.
Finally I found an absolute gem of a dealership in central florida that doesn’t advertise and has AAAAA+++++ employees working there. The first HONEST dealership I dealt with. They honored the online price, and even negotiated with me further below that! The MSRP was 45500 and the sale price ended up at 38,326 ($7,174 off MSRP + another $1,325 rebate)!
They had their basic dealer fee (899) and document fee (499) and tag fee (399) all listed in the disclaimer that was prominently displayed on their website and discussed via phone call. Their dealership doesn’t even have the “XXX Dealership Advantage” where snake oil is added to cars for another 4K+. The staff was so brutally honest that they shared literally everything with me and discussed at great length the typical scams other dealerships engage in.
Within a few minutes we had already worked out the deal that I wanted, which was a 1% lease on MSRP (including tax but excluding inceptions). Meaning, a monthly payment (tax-in) that equals 1% of the MSRP or less (in this case MSRP was 45,500, so monthly (tax-in) would be 455 a month to score 1% with inceptions due at signing along with first payment).
In this case, the deal was 358 / month (tax-in) with 1225 towards cap cost reduction. The cap cost reductions equals 36.75 / mo, and thus the total was 394.75 / month (tax in) without inceptions. That is about $60 / month below the 1% lease.
Out of the 5K I put down, a total of $3,416 covered the inceptions (this includes the “DESTINATION CHARGE” on the MSRP/window sticker - which does NOT residualize in a lease), dealer fee of 899, document fee of 499, and 399 in tag fees, and the other 229 in misc fees/surcharges).
So that means, I put down 3,416 in inceptions, 358 for first months payment, and 1225 towards cap cost reduction.
A note on the Destination Charge on the window sticker - this is added by the manufacturer and reflects the total MSRP. However, this amount does NOT residualize. Meaning, the 66% residual value of this car does not translate to that cost. As a result, it is considered an inception and paying it up front is preferred than lumping it into your payment. I believe this is the same for all manufacturers, but can only 100% say for sure that it’s Nissan and Dodge (as I’ve calculated both of these before with destination/shipping fees).
So the total of $358 a month (including 7% tax in) and 5K due at signing got me in at about $180 / month cheaper than the best offer I got from a local stealership (oops I mean dealership).
Here is the calculator to reflect the exact deal:
Regarding all the other scam dealers, here were some of my favorite interactions and offers:
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Offered me an SV (not SL) which was a 41,500 MSRP vehicle for $480 / month (tax-in) with $5,000 due at signing.
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Offered me an SL with 45,500 MSRP for $660 / month (tax in) with $5000 due at signing.
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Offered me an SL with 46,xxx MSRP for $777 / month (tax in) sign and drive ($0 down).
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Told me that it was “impossible” to sell the car for less than invoice because the dealership would take such a huge loss they would be out of business.
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Told me that selling a Pathfinder for below MSRP is impossible since 2020 and that waiving the “market adjustment” was a better deal than I’d find anywhere else.
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Told me that I don’t understand inceptions and “due at signing” does not mean inceptions and those are always separate.
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Told me that any lease in the $400s for a Pathfinder SL with $5,000 down is impossible.
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Told me that the spray on quick detailer “ceramic”, headlight cleaner, door jamb protectors, microban spray on the interior, “free” roadside assistance, and a bottle of shampoo and quick detailer was easily worth $7,000 and the $4,000 dealer advantage fee was a huge discount. This guy literally argued with me about how their single bottle of their proprietary auto shampoo retails for over $500 because it’s the “best in the business”. He also said their Ceramic is proprietary and better than PPE and Ceramic Pro combined (I actually spat coffee on my desk when he said that).
Final word - Thanks for leasehackr and some other various forums, I will NEVER settle on getting ripped off. Make sure that you do your research and be fully educate yourself regarding all parts of the lease (residuals, money factors/APR, incentives, true value of the vehicle (MSRP/Invoice/Sale Price), as well as scam tactics the dealers use). Use the Leasehackr calculator and determine the BEST fair price for the vehicle and start making calls. Be firm and don’t let them bully you. Eventually you will get the deal you want. Expand your search to dealerships even a few hours away and it’s ALWAYS worth the drive if you can make a deal.
Keep hacking and drive safe!!
