Hi all, newb here. Considering my first lease after having new car price sticker shock! Been reading for about a month and I thought I understood the basics.
On Friday, I test drove a 2018 Tucscon SEL Plus and asked for a lease quote. The dealer’s website showed the SUV priced this way (I’m doing this by memory, as it must have sold over the weekend):
I assumed the $2,500 rebate is only for buying, so I didn’t put that in the calculator. There’s apparently a separate $4,500 lease incentive instead. With these numbers, I got ~215/month, tax included.
When the deal sheet was presented, the $4,500 rebate was on it, but the discount from MSRP to Sales Price was only $1,500, and the monthly was ~$320!
I asked the salesman about this and he said “do you want to buy the car or lease it?” I assumed it didn’t matter; the Sales Price is the Sales Price. Am I incorrect in that?
Price should be the same minus whatever rebates. That discount of $3700 probably included the $2,500. Just continue to contact other dealers online/phone and get more quotes.
They might not have included the destination charge in the sales price they show. A lot of DC area dealers do that for some reason so it isn’t unheard of. It must happen elsewhere in the country as well
Could be. The initial sheet also did not show MF and residual, so I had to ask for those. Residual was right on, but MF was marked up from 0.00213 to 0.00253. And I still wasn’t totally clear if they were rolling in any fees (I told them I would pay all one-time items upfront).
Anyway, I didn’t press it because I didn’t like the car’s performance. It would probably be fine for a daily work go-getter, but it didn’t seem to want to accelerate much from 65 mph while on the highway. I’m coming from a 2003 530i, and all I want is something taller with better seats for my lower back (a topic for another discussion).
I hadn’t thought of that! I just checked the window sticker on the car example pic I posted above. What the dealer website calls MSRP includes the destination charge, and the handful of dealer installed options (floor mat, cargo net, etc.). I wouldn’t have haggled over those.
It just seemed to be a good intersection of great lease deal (as the 2019’s are getting redesigned) and trying to go from sedan to a small SUV. I thought I might get lucky on my first try. Ha!
You can’t haggle over destination fee, but sometimes they just don’t include it to show a lower price. You still have to pay it and they will add it in. It’s a very slimy and shady way to do business but it is legal
Tell me about it! Georgia changed the car tax laws 5 years ago, and it’s just decimated the private party car market. Everybody trades in now to get a tax credit towards their next purchase, so it looks like I’ll have to set foot in a dealership for the first time in 30 years. Grrrrr…
And I should have been more clear. I know I have to pay the dest. fee. It was the extras I wasn’t going to haggle on (assuming I got the expected $200/mo lease price!). There was a lady at the next table arguing about $200 worth of fobs/floormats in an Elantra for her daughter. She actually walked out over that on a $17k car!
I’m coming from a 2003 530i, and all I want is something taller with better seats for my lower back (a topic for another discussion).