Be sure to specify your location when asking for input on a deal! Tagging by state (e.g. CA, NJ, NY) is mandatory.
Received this quote for a 2021 Mazda3 Turbo Hatchback:
MSRP: $31845
Term: 33 months / 12k miles
Monthly: $359+tax
DAS: $0
Is this a good deal? I’ve shopped around 4 dealers in the bay area and this was by far the best I could get…
How does the pre-incentive discount compare against comps you’ve researched?
Hmm… not sure if this answers your question but all the dealers had $1k of factory rebate offered. The above details are all the numbers that were provided to me. Any other figures I need to get from the dealer to assess this deal?
Sorry, total noob when it comes to leasing.
Generally, what you should do is work out your lease target prior to talking to dealers. You need to work out what a good deal should be before you can look at a dealer offer and see if it is a good deal.
Typically, that means gather rv/mf/incentive information from Edmunds for the specific vehicle in your zip code, determining a target pre-incentive discount from comparable deals(the shared deals and broker offerings are a good place for this data), and then running that through a calculator to determine your lease price. Armed with that information, you can start trying to find a dealer willing to do your target deal. Without that information, you’re just flailing in the dark.
At the minimum you need to know what the selling price is and whether that is before or after incentives
Other stuff you need to verify separately from Edmunds like Matt said as well as knowing your own sales tax rate and DMV fees.
Thanks for the input! I gathered more information (MF and RV from Edmunds, Sales Price from dealer) and ran it through the calculator:
Not sure if I’m interpreting it right but the calculator results in a pre-tax monthly payment of $397… which is higher than what the dealer has quoted me ($359/month + tax, $0 DAS). Based on this, it sounds like this is a good deal. Am I missing something here? Is there anything else I can leverage to negotiate a better deal? Thanks!
Gets much closer when you put the $1k in the incentive slot you mentioned.
Are you SURE they quoted you $0 DaS? Or did they say $0 down? Was this a written quote or verbal? If written, maybe post it here so we can see if you are missing anything. You’ve also left the fees at their defaults, it looks like. Need to know what those actually are.
Yes it was in the email the dealer sent:
I asked if we can do 10k miles instead and he dropped the monthly to $349.
There’s no such thing as $0Das this month with Mazda - there’s no 1st payment waiver. If it’s $395/$395 (after tax) out the door, it’s a pretty good deal on this car at least. It’s roughly $750 below invoice and they’re pretty scarce at the moment. There is no lease cash or $1k dealer cash on leases. If it’s a legit deal and its the car you really want you should take it.
Got it. Thanks for the clarification! I think you are correct, I still would have to pay 1st month upon signing. I tried to negotiate the price lower but I think this is the best I can get right now (the other dealers didn’t even come close… the next closest was for $389/month with $1k down!!! another one even quoted $419/month with $2k down… crazy)
Thanks everyone for all the information!
The email does say “ZERO out of pocket.”
Dealer just shared this with me (for 33 months, 12k miles - i dropped down to 10k miles and will have $10 off the monthly):
I confirmed with him that they will pay all the drive off, absolutely no money out of pocket.
Should I have any concerns over the selling price just having a 4% discount on MSRP? Sounds like monthly still comes out to $349/month with what really sounds like $0 out of pocket.
How does this discount compare to other comparable deals you have researched?
I haven’t seen deals posted on LH for this specific trim but other dealers had between 7%-8% discount offered… but monthly payment was around $30/month higher than this! I didn’t get the MF on those though (they wouldn’t want to give unless I go in person).
I did see this one: Deal Check: 2021 Mazda 3 2.5 Turbo hatchback
Seems like a 9% discount but comparable monthly and DAS?
Monthly and das don’t matter unless everything regarding lease terms are the same. That’s why we compare based on pre-incentive discount… Gets rid of any issues with different individual situations.
If you’re getting dealer offers with bigger discounts but higher payments, the question to ask is “what’s different?”
Makes sense. But if they are paying all driveoffs, can that essentially be coutned towards the pre-incentive discount? I can’t figure out how to account for that in the lease calculator.
Also, is it normal that dealers won’t give info such as MF, RV? I used what edmunds forum said for 33 months, 10k miles in my zip… i’m guessing these dealers are marking up MF?
I called this out with the dealer as well and he responded with: “(he is) paying all the drive off! Absolutely no money out of your pocket!” 
