Best Practices if Not Particular about Certain Car

Ask the Hackrs
,
1

Hello,

I wanted to run some thoughts by experienced members of the community. My lease is due back soon, and am looking for another lease offer. I’m not particularly interested in the specific make and model and am not willing to travel outside the immediate area (Central Indiana). As long as the vehicle is not on the bottom of the list on Consumer Reports and it’s a good deal I’m willing to go for it. My budget is $400/month with as close to $0 DAS as possible.

I want to have my process checked by someone and see if there are any best practices i’m leaving out:

  1. I look at 2020 models that are generally running much lower than MSRP with at least a 7-15% discount. I use this resource http://www.realcartips.com/news/1213-biggest-discounts-new-cars.shtml. Does anyone have any others that they recommend?

  2. Get on CarGurus and look for cars with the highest difference between MSRP and Sale Price.

  3. Request MF, Residual and incentives on Edmunds

  4. Check Costco if there are any special incentives

  5. I’ll find the model on CarGurus with the highest MSRP off amount

  6. Reach out to the dealer with the quote and try to negotiate a cap cost reduction, confirm MF, residual

  7. I’ll attempt to find 1-2 other dealerships that may be willing to negotiate based on the initial numbers i have with Dealer #1

  8. Punch in best offer in leasehakr calculator

  9. Make a deal

2

I don’t think that list is useful at all. Quickly looking through that list, almost none of the top 50 vehicles listed lease well.

1 Like
3

What factors help a vehicle lease well in addition to MF and residual?

4

Sales price and incentives.

5

Is there a list of vehicle models that consistently lease well?

6

Just search through the “Shared Deals” section or Marketplace ads.

1 Like
7

I have been logging on weekly on the Shared Deals section for several months. All the deals are either west, east coast or Illinois, Ohio. I don’t see much for Central Indiana. My whole thing is i don’t want to have to travel or have the car shipped. We want to see the car first. How often is that you can see similar deals across different markets?

8

If you can test drive and see a car w/ the exact same interior/exterior color, trim, and option packages locally and then find the car elsewhere in the exact same spec for a price that, plus shipping, will meet your price target, is there a reason why you don’t want to do that?

Another question: even if you’re not particular about a specific car, is there a specific form factor you want? Compact sedan? Compact SUV? Mid-sized SUV? Are you willing to get a loaner from a luxury brand?

9

Sure, but generally vehicles that have high RV, high incentives, low mf, and high discounts on the west coast also do in Indiana. Yah, you’ll need to verify that rv/mf/incentives are the same and you may struggle with getting as much of a discount in a lower competition market, but they’re still good vehicles to target.

1 Like
10

Compact or mid-size sedan, wagon, or large sedan. Thanks for the offer, are you a broker and where are you located?

11

All the brokers have “broker” next to their username. There are also dealers posting on here, which will also have a tag next to their name.

4 Likes
12

Good luck with that big discount.

1 Like
13

This doesn’t eliminate getting a good deal, but it makes it significantly harder.

If this is true:

Why does the exact specimen of car matter?

:bat:

1 Like
14

You’re right and I realize that. Maybe I just need to overcome my unwillingness to deal with an out of state dealer, but I’ve never bought/leased a car without being at the dealership with the finance manager. Maybe time to change.

What i mean to say is that I’m not particularly tied down by a certain badge or car model. As long as it fits simple criteria of budget, and size, and aggressiveness of deal I’m willing.

15

Go for it. We traveled 4 hours for ours, was in impeccable shape. Ex loaner was detailed and no issues, even the paint was in great condition. Was missing a hub up, but Volvo express mailed one to our dealer and they sent a tech out and slapped it on no charge, and they apologized for the inconvenience.

If you use a broker I’m nearly 100% confident you’ll be happy. They are all awesome guys and gals, read their reviews. If you find a deal you like then go for it, shipping, or pick up.

1 Like
16

Sometimes you have to take a little risk to reap a big reward.

1 Like
17

$250/Month Tundra lease with US Bank. End of thread.

1 Like
18

Not sure if you were referring to me, but DEFINITELY not a broker. I still have actually yet to lease a car myself! (bought a VW in late 2018 after my previous car – also financed/purchased – suddenly needed a huge repair and didn’t leave me w/ much time for learning/shopping around).

I have a family member who does nothing but lease, but he doesn’t do a very good job of it… I’m reading here b/c I learn a lot b/c I plan to get rid of the VW several mos b/f the warranty expires and don’t want to be in the position again of having to scramble for a car.

The reason I asked about narrowing things down is b/c it can help posters here make recs.

It sounds like you want anything that’s not an SUV and not a coupe? That still leave a ton of cars. The Corolla, Civic, Accord, Camry, Sonata, Optima (about to be replaced), and, if you’re willing to do a lifted hatch/wagon, a Crosstrek or Outback would probably all fit your criteria and price range. You could start doing searches for those cars on the forum to see what people have been offered…

And why would it be a bad thing to avoid interacting w/ the person whose job it is to upsell you on things? :slight_smile:

1 Like
19

Suppose you drive it and HATE it, but it’s $99/mo. Then what?

You need to put in some effort to narrow the field yourself. Too often people over-shop the deal, HATE HATE HATE the car, then are asking in 6 months how to get out of it.

3 Likes
20

First person I’ve heard of that wants to do the F&I Tango.

1 Like