Hi everyone,
I’m finalizing a lease for a 2025 Volvo XC90 B6 Plus 6-Seater and want to drive away by January 2nd before the incentives expire.
Should I:
Email my offer, or
Go in person to negotiate directly?
What’s the best strategy for a quick close?
Thanks!
Do everything via email
Thanks! Any suggestions for an effective email to get this done by 1/2?
Why not call?
That’s what I decided to do. The first dealer came back with 2% off MSRP. WTH
What was your offer?
Also, you have to understand and go in with expectations that it’s likely going to take reaching out to 5-10 dealers. You may just want to use a broker.
Yep. It’s a process. Just wasn’t expecting 2% off.
I haven’t sent my deal yet. Just asked for a quote.
Thanks!
Dont do that.
If you ask them how much they want you to pay, they will tell you how much they want you to pay.
That’s part of the problem. Don’t start your engagement asking for quotes, otherwise you’ll start too far apart. Put together a realistic, target deal by using the calculator on this site. Look up programs with Ratefindr or find elsewhere, plug in the incentives you qualify for, etc, and that should be the basis of your offer. You can check the marketplace or signed section to see what pre-incentive discount you should aim for.
Then, pick a stock number on a dealer website and make an unambiguous, actionable offer. This should be in the form of monthly & total DAS, listing your zip and the incentives you qualify for, OR ever single line item.
One of the key takeaways on LH is to never ask for a quote or the “best numbers”.
We encourage everyone to look at deals on here in the “Signed” section and Broker / Dealer listings to get an idea of what is possible in terms of dealer discount. Perhaps you can aggressively shoot for another 2% off. From there it is applying incentives that you are eligible for and working up a target deal at the base money factor. Then making clear you can be there in relative short order to close the deal.
With that being said, your literally attempting this on the last day of the year.
Email your realistic offer, tell them you’ll be there same day to sign if they meet it, credit app and deposit ready.
Thanks. I saw some advice that said otherwise regarding how to reach out, but lesson learned. I worked out numbers, looked at signed deals, listings, etc.
Thanks!
How would you pick which dealership to approach in person?
A smartly run store has reached its quota by then. A devious GM will keep customers waiting until they’ve basically run down the clock and they have nowhere else to go the same day.
How will you know you’re approaching a store that is neither?
I see that all ‘deals’ offered by OEM’s normally end on Jan 2 (of each year). Is that because all sales by Jan 2 are counted as part of the previous year sales figure?
Just a side question.
It’s up to the OEM but for most, yes - deals “burning gas” (or electrons I suppose) by COB Jan 2nd can be RDR’ed for December. You can usually tell by the program details, e.g. both Costco Volvo and the Volvo incentive are good through January 2nd, that is when Volvo closes their sales numbers for December. It has nothing to do with the year, it has everything to do with the month, even for OEMs that don’t report monthly sales numbers.
On the flip side, for dealers in some major auto groups, they care more about the calendar month that the OEM’s “program month”
great info. thanks for sharing
Yeah, best I’ve been able to get is 7% lately after hitting up about 8 dealers in my area. Not getting me to what I need, unfortunately. I might try a little more, but the picture I’m getting is that the inventory has reduced and the deals aren’t as prevalent.
Thanks for responding. I’m just going to wait to get a decent deal. I’ve called 12 in total within three different states. Poor timing.
Trying to score a deal on the last day of the year is bad timing, IMO. You should have started calling dealers last week.