Help negotiating 2019 Honda Civic Hatchback EX lease deal (MN)

Hey everyone!

So I’m looking to lease a 2019 Honda Civic Hatchback EX (36 months / 15k miles per year). I turned to Edmunds and got these numbers for my area:
56% Residual
0.00089 Money Factor
$1200 Incentives
In addition to that, I believe there’s a $500 incentive for recent college grads (which I am).

I have emailed a few dealers near me with the car I want (and test drove). For the car/color I want the most, I was given these numbers:
$24,680 MSRP
$22,509 Selling Price

However, I was quoted $322/month over email with all incentives included for a zero-drive off (just first month).

After doing some calculations on the Leasehackr Calculator, I am seeing a monthly payment of $242 (without the zero drive off box checked). What does that box entirely do? I don’t necessarily need zero drive off, but I’d like to pay at most just first month’s payment at drive off. How do I go about negotiating this with my dealer? Here’s a link to my calculations: calculator.

This is using $1700 in taxed incentives (the $1200 I was told on Edmunds + $500 recent college grad). I left the dealer fees, acquisition feeds, and government fees at the default. Sales tax in my area (Minnesota) appears to be 6.5%.

How do I go about negotiating this with the dealer without ruining my chances. It doesn’t feel right to just reply to her email (with the quote of $322/month) saying “Based on the MF, residual, and incentives available, the monthly payment should be $242” or something like that.

I’m lost as to where to go from here and how to email them asking for an offer closer to what the Leasehackr calculator is giving me.

Thanks to anybody who can help!

@chrishs2000 has linked you to a very good thread…there are lots of different approaches and some of them depend on how well you understand the arithmetic around leasing.

A couple of recommendations:

  1. Get quotes on all vehicles spec’d to your liking, regardless of the color. I’m not saying to lease a vehicle in a color you don’t like, I’m saying don’t limit the # of quotes you receive. You could use a quote from your least preferred color to get the same deal on your first choice in color.

  2. Get quotes within 100-200 miles. I’m willing to make that drive to get a deal.

  3. Once you get an auto-email from the General Manager or Sales Manager, start negotiating with them…most sales reps are not empowered to desk a deal themselves, so it’s best to negotiate with whoever has the juice to make a deal. At some point, you can ask for the actual lease worksheet.

  4. I like using truecar.com with lots of zip codes to get the ball rolling. Then I pick a specific stock # that I like once I get an email from a dealership. One of the things I like about using what are lead generators to a dealership is that they know right off the bat that you’re getting multiple offers and that they have to be reasonable - that’s the hope at least. When using these sites, I like using Google Voice for those that require a phone number so I never give my actual cell #. I also recommend using a secondary email account if you don’t want to give out your real email.

  5. Be patient…don’t expect to get this sorted out right away. Doing this right can take time…you may stumble onto a great deal right away, but you can’t count on it.

2 Likes

Thank you for so much info! So i got another quote from a different dealer in the color that I don’t want (295/month not including my trade in… so this should go down to about 260/month). I am just curious how to contact the other dealer (who has the color that I do want) and get them to match that quote. Do I forward them the other dealer’s email? Do I just include a screenshot of it?

Have you confirmed that the selling price of $22,509 doesn’t already include the $1,700 in incentives? If that is the dealer discount before incentives, you’re at 8.8% off MSRP.

I found a car with an identical MSRP, link below, and the price analysis shows a great price would be $20,666 or a 16.3% discount…my off the cuff feeling is that a discount that high isn’t reasonable on a Civic, but I would push for it just the same.

Confirm the MF, incentives, and residuals are correct by going to forums.edmunds.com

https://www.cargurus.com/Cars/new/searchresults.action?sourceContext=homePageNewCarTab_false_0&selectedEntity=d2441&zip=55423#listing=248338384

How you get one dealer to match another dealer varies. Personally, I don’t forward quotes from one dealer to another…it doesn’t feel right to me. I tell them that I have an offer of xxx with xxx due at signing with a breakdown. I then add enough info so that they know I’m not a dummy by providing the MF, residual amount as a percent and as a dollar amount, the acquisition fee, etc.

You should ask the dealership with the higher quote what their fees are - don’t use the leasehackr defaults. Find out what their doc fee is and what other fees they’re including…you’ll want to know this regardless of who you buy from.

Also, you said that you have a trade-in…looks like it’s worth roughly $1,250. The general recommendation on this forum is to have them cut you a check and not to put that money down on the lease. If the car is totaled, any money you’ve put down is gone.