So I have a procedures question that has been eating at me for awhile. Here it is:
2017 Chevy Silverado Double Cab Z71. 36/12. Sticker price $46,465. Only first payment due at signing, Lease payment $320 per month including tax. Lease matures in August.
So my question is why do I need to tell a dealer a selling price that I want to pay after hunting and plugging in all figures into a lease calculator? Wouldn’t it be easier to tell them how much I want my lease payment to be and terms?
According to most lease deals on here nothing comes close to the deal I am getting. If I know I can get a $46000 truck for $320 per month then any vehicle that costs $46000 should be close to what I am paying right now.
How many of you would love to drive a $46000 MB, BMW, Audi, Lexus, or other for $320 per month for 36 months. 12k per year?
Not nearly as much as I liked paying $340 per month for my $62k Volvo for 24 months/15k.
Which is totally irrelevant. Just because you got a $47k MSRP truck for $320 once doesn’t mean that $47k MSRP vehicles all go for that.
As for telling the dealer the sales price, you don’t have to. Some people prefer to only deal in monthly. You need to know the sales price so you can determine what the monthly should be.
A lot of dealers, however, suffer from fear of low payments. You tell them a low price and get instantly shot down, but if you break it down and let the numbers flush out, you get the go ahead. I have had that happen several times.
I mean, that is a valid route to go… if you’ve done your homework and aren’t pulling a monthly payment number out of your ass.
I sent an email to a couple dealers looking for a Subaru Ascent and said that I am willing to pay $350/mo with $1500 DAS. Every single one came back to me with ~$500/mo. Were they good deals? I have no idea. I did pretty much no research on deals for the Ascent (like, none) and just figured I’d throw it out there to see what happened.
In short, if you are realistic with the number you are putting out there, and you hit a dealer looking to move inventory, it might work.
When I went to my local Chevy Dealer, I knew what the numbers were for a 2019 Equinox LT and told them 24/10K with One Pay lease for $5K max…can you do it? They had a few on the lot-I just picked whichever one was closest to pull out haha Rep went to his finance guy, came back and deal was done in 30 mins or so, They even let me pay it on a credit card (points earned)…so if numbers are what they typically go for and they are willing to deal-then Yes, it is possible… also, it pays to be nice to them as well
Dealers can work these numbers to hide your figures or just use the “How did you get there? Be realistic” line. Writing out the deal allows for a dealer to actually understand the numbers.
Quite a few of us do. But you are forgetting Volvo in your question.
41K Volvo, $299 a month, $0 down, $0 DAS (all fees rolled into monthly), 36/12K.
So why not use the 1% rule? Especially if its below 1% then you automatically know you are not getting hosed whatsoever!
Some of these lease examples on here are close to buy price when you factor how much goes into upfront costs! Give me a $0 out of pocket and a 24 or 36 month lease any day over these other examples I have seen on here.
Because for example if you are first responder and have Costco, 1% deal is fine for Audi A6, but you’re absolutely getting hosed with 1% on Volvo S60. That rule is useless when applied that broadly to every make/model without context.
I just closed a deal with BMW two weeks ago, 36months 12k miles. 2020 bmw 330i. MSRP was 49180. Talked the guy down to 41000 (demo with 4K). I only had 1750 in incentives, Signed and drove away with $0 down and $489 (taxes included) a month with base MF. I live in MA. I suppose this would be considered a below 1% monthly. Messaged the dealership on a Saturday and was driving away by tuesday. Just gotta know what ur looking for and know what numbers to throw at the dealership to see if they bite. Sometimes you get lucky.
Seems like a good deal on a BMW if you use the 1% rule and compare it to a $46000 Silverado that should be $460 per month plus inception fees of 5% due at signing. But then again I would rather have the BMW at a comparable MSRP to the truck for $320 per month and $0 due at signing.
I guess it all comes down to incentives and money factor for the most part. I think it just seems better to tell dealer how much you pay now for what you are leasing now and say I don’t want to pay anymore than I pay per month currently on comparable MSRP of course.
[quote=“Jon, post:13, topic:266584, full:true”]You really have no idea how leasing numbers work. Your method is based pretty much on luck.
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I do know how they work. I am just looking to simplify the big picture. Cheap lease payments is what people want. $0 money up front is also desired. If we cannot use the 1% rule than what comparison can we use to help with the KISS rule?
Going to say this somewhat joking around but you’ll get the idea, and don’t get defensive I’ve done plenty of LH deals for people at Buy rate. It’s different for everyone I know but as a dealer I will tell you what I would prefer. Just tell me what you need the payments to be. Don’t tell me where I can and can’t make profit. It’s up to me how I allocate the stores money.
Whenever someone demands buy rate it’s like going into the grocery store and telling them which bills they are allowed to pay from the can of soup your buying. If I am good with front end profit for the month but I need money in F&I, I am not going to structure the deal at buy rate. But I might offset that in the selling price. You are far more likely IMHO to have a dealer reach for a deal on just payments rather then telling them how the structure of the deal needs to be.
Tell me the offer in a take it or leave it scenario and let me find a way to get there If I want. I would also probably suggest you don’t mention LH, just indicate you have that offer somewhere else and be ready to pull the trigger fast. (after you do your research here and know the deal should be at least close to possible).
The problem is that some dealers have no idea how to be realistic. You know this way better than I do, but getting first pencils off monthly payment goals and posting a screenshot of a template email from a dealer to LH leaves more questions than answers. If you want to give a monthly payment, no problem. But make sure to include all of the numbers that contribute into that monthly payment. The other problem is that new people to the forum see the crazy one-off deals on this site that took people weeks/months to get and think that all it takes is to just copy and paste that into an email and send it off to 10 dealers.
That being said, I don’t see a problem if the discount offsets the MF. LH tries to help people get good deals, not negotiate every last penny.
Because the 1% rule doesn’t tell you if something is a good lease or not. It’s a horrible metric for evaluating something. There are lots of cars where 1% is a horrible deal and lots where 1% is not achievable.
You’re moving the target here from the original question.
It appears that what you’re not actually trying to ask “why can’t I just tell the dealer the monthly payment I want” and are actually asking “why can’t I know what a good lease payment is without actually figuring it out”.
We’re not talking about demanding buyrate MF. Many of the informed buyers on here are well aware that a great discount can justify a marked up MF. That’s why we look at the entire lease numbers and don’t focus on just 1 part of it.
Obviously you would want this to save you time knowing if you have a realistic buyer or not.
If OP came in and said he got a $46k ‘17 Chevy for $320/mo (w/ 1st due as signing) and now wants a $46k 2020 330i for the same exact deal, what are you going to think? You’d know you have an uninformed buyer and will explain to him it’s not possible and juice him for everything you can.
Rep went to his finance guy, came back and deal was done in 30 mins or so, They even let me pay it on a credit card (points earned)…so if numbers are what they typically go for and they are willing to deal-then Yes, it is possible… also, it pays to be nice to them as well