New to leasing and have been taking in the information on leasing 101 and watching a bunch of videos/reading articles, and playing around with the calculator.
I am looking to lease a 2021 SUV and visited a few dealerships yesterday.
Below is an offer I got on a 2021 Subaru Forester Touring edition, gray color. Zero down/sign and drive. Nothing to trade in. 12,000 mileage.
I didn’t negotiate at all but I just wanted some initial feedback on how bad this particular deal is for me, so I can get a benchmark. As mentioned this is in CT and the dealers are all telling me how little inventory they have.
It is practically impossible for us to tell you what a “good” monthly payment is for your specific lease as lease programs are highly dependent on region, personal qualifications, tax rates, etc.
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.
Now you say you’ve done a bunch of research, which is a great start. With that in mind, prior to talking to this dealer, what was your target price?
I don’t know if you’ve checked Auto Lease Ninja’s, but it looks like they are quoting a price around $510. You’d have to change it to your ZIP to get the correct taxes.
