Ended up pulling the trigger on a loaded 2019 Jeep Cherokee Latitude Plus. 4x4, V6, Cold Weather Group, Comfort/Convenience Group, 9 Amplified Speakers w/ Subwoofer, and Panoramic Sunroof. $5500 off MSRP (not including $2750 in lease incentives for the Cherokee Latitude Plus). 3 year / 10K lease with ~$250 monthly (includes tax) and ~$1750 up front (includes licensing fees, initial monthly, and was supposed to cover lease acquisition which was later removed since MIL qualified for first tier lease). The up front should come down another $500 after they refund $500 overcharged due to gross incompetence (or intentional error) on part of finance staff.
What an ordeal. We initially had a deal inked. Numbers came very close to Jeep lease calculator ignoring taxes and licensing. Then an hour later they came back, apologized for making us wait so long, and said they messed up the lease calculation and proceeded to jack up numbers. Would not listen to reason. I showed them the jeep.com lease calculator for exact vehicle w/ $5500 MSRP discount. They were clueless and just stonewalled telling me I could leave if I didn’t agree with their numbers. Deal was going sideways. Salesperson ran after general manager and literally pulled him out of the car (he was heading home). He came back to teach the finance guys some basic lease math. MIL was about to lose it. Within 15 minutes numbers were corrected. Sigh of relief. I thought we were good to go, then they screwed up numbers again after general manager left. I was not going to put my MIL through another round of BS and rolled the dice the general manager will fix their gross incompetence tomorrow. Short story they were supposed to give her free oil changes for the life of the lease for messing up the math so bad initially, but instead of deducting $250 from vehicle cost and adding back a $250 line item for free oil changes they managed to just add $250 twice and increased the cost $500, lol.
MIL is thrilled. Many thanks to @jamiemose and @lackofemotion for steering us to the 2019 Cherokee Latitude Plus lease incentives. We couldn’t find anything that leases this well in the Seattle area. Note the 4x4 leases cheaper than the 2WD due to higher residual. Similarly for other options if you get higher MSRP discounts (V6 or Turbo bundled with other options may lease for a lower premium vs. 4 cylinder > V6 without options). Check out Marysville Jeep for some great fishing licenses (we used their online MSRP discount to negotiate the exact same deal on the same exact vehicle at Kirkland).
