Agreed. Not looking for absolute answers here but just more of a rhetorical question related to the subject of transparency.
I did ask the broker what the $1K was for. He told me that the “1K deposit that will go towards your total COD”.
I asked him what is COD? He said it’s “Cash due. Or due at signing”. From this I assumed the lease contract would show the $1K already paid.
When I couldn’t tell for sure, I called the broker before signing and he told me that I should focus on the bottom-line numbers as the finance person might have had to move things around to make the deal work. I agreed and signed.
So, not really looking for any exact answers here but posting this as an area where more transparency would be welcomed.
I hear you. Most brokers I have come across on LH are pretty transparent as far as their broker fee goes.
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Ok so the broker made $1500 on this, for those of us who can math? I’d be more interested to learn why paperwork shows a loyalty deal when op wrote in a different post that this was his first bmw.
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I wish I knew! This is what makes lease hacking so much more difficult for the average joe when dealer and apparently broker math comes into play that none of us plebs could ever hope to recreate.
I do think this falls in line with your original post. Brokers should be upfront on not only the broker fees but also the methods of payment to avoid my situation where the broker fee seems to have ballooned from $499 to $1499 without me realizing it.
My deal is done and I’m fine with it. Even happy with it as the car is awesome and the price is in my budget. But this seems to be against the spirit of the lease hacking community.
Most brokers here are very transparent.
If he told you that the 1k was going towards the cash due at signing and it did then what’s the problem?
@IAC_Scott That’s what I’ve been asking. How do I know it did?
This all sounds like it should be a post in the broker’s review page.
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I am very hesitant to put someone on blast who has good reviews on here and offsite without first understanding what exactly the lease structure is, common broker tactics in making deals and also the fact that I DID agree on the bottom line numbers.
This is why I hijacked this topic to ask my questions.
At the end of the day, did you pay an extra 1k at any point that wasn’t disclosed as part of the total costs you’d be paying? If not, then I think it just is what it is.
No, I did not pay an extra $1K. I just don’t think that $1K went to the dealership as I assumed.
But I do think this goes against the spirit of transparency and making things less confusing which this entire site is built upon.
Try to replicate your deal in the calculator
This was helpfully sent by the broker to me.
CALCULATOR | LEASEHACKR
Deal is signed, so good luck with car. For the future, OP or other readers may want to check the entries on this LH calculator with OP’s signed agreement. Instructive.
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I wasn’t the one who merged the other thread with this one.
Who delivered the car to you? Did you sign for it with the broker or at the dealer? Licensed brokers can close a transaction and also pass your funds from their organization to that of the dealer’s, “consultants” (ie not legal brokers) can’t generally do those treasury services functions.
Then (and there are exceptions so I could be wrong, but it’s v unlikely) any cash you paid to the broker stayed with said broker. Congrats to broker!
