Checking if I can do better on an equinox

The dealer had me come in because my current lease is up in a couple months. Here’s what he offered me, but I thought I’d ask the group since y’all said my current equinox lease ($319/month, $1500 down, 48mo, 12k miles/yr) was a bad deal.


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.

  1. Read Leasing 101 (Blog | LEASEHACKR) to understand how to calculate a lease payment and the variables. Monthly payment is an output, not an input!!
  2. Pick a specific vehicle that you want to target
  3. Gather the current MF, RV and incentives from Edmunds forums for your zip code
  4. 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?
  5. Plug your numbers into the LH calculator, and use a pre-incentive discount similar to what you have seen
  6. 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.

It’s nothing special. 4.6% off on an Equinox isn’t anything to jump on.

Are you eligible for GM pull ahead or is the dealer rolling remaining payments in?

It’s a pull ahead

Where does it show that? “Trade Payoff” is listed on the quote. Did you receive an actual pull ahead offer from GM? You would need to confirm that your VIN is listed as eligible on the pull ahead manifest.

Not according to your lease offer with the payoff rolled in.

Sorry, I got confused. I thought he said it was, but it’s been a long day already

He may have said it was. It’s not unusual for them to use generic language in discussions like this about making payments go away or it the dealer pulling you ahead and still rolling it in.

This is where working out a target price first gives you a good comparison point when looking at an offer. When the numbers suddenly have an extra $1k hiding in them, it’s a big red flag.

Usually if you have an actual pull ahead offer it would have a code attached to it that you received via email or snail mail. Ask for a breakdown of the rebates being applied and push for a bigger discount, especially if you can get a supplier code.

Just texted and asked. No pull ahead, and whatever I put down, even if it’s $0, is my drive off, no other day of fees.
The rebates are 2 lease incentives for currently leasing an equinox

It looks like it should be 4 rebates listed. $1,000 and $500 for loyalty, $200 and $250 in regional lease cash.

Unless they are giving you an incredibly aggressive offer there’s no real reason at the moment to get into something else and roll that ~ $1,000 dollars into a deal. Hold off for a real pull ahead offer or ride it out. March is historically a strong month for GM incentives, albeit usually with Conquest, not loyalty.

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So you want to drive the same car for more money?

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Most cars do not lease well. This is truer now than it has ever been.

So unless you are willing to push this boulder uphill, you need to look at other makes/models that lease better and offer more value per dollar.

Check out the “Share a Deal” and “Marketplace” sections of LH forums to see what’s leasing well and narrow down your search.

Curious, why you think cars are becoming harder to lease?

Where do you think it goes in the future?

Inventory levels are very low for all OEMs. Thus incentives are lower

For Chevrolet, 5%, is actually nice

Not really. 10% is typically considered the most you can do. Many data points here about that tidbit. 5% is nothing exceptional

It was always the case that most cars don’t lease well. It’s gotten worse as lower inventory and volumes mean they’re aiming for more per-unit profit; no one wants to spend marketing/incentive dollars on gaining market share; and captives want to take less RV risk on the back end.

Not to go too far off topic, so the industry discussion can be viewed and continued here

He called today, offering the same $319/month that I’m paying now and $0 out the door