Help Negotiating my First Lease Please!

I’m trying to negotiate a lease on a 2018 Nissan Rogue. I’ve done a lot of research and have been reading the forums here but this is my first time trying to hack a lease and I’m discouraged after my first round of emails today! I’ve seen deals posted here occasionally for an AWD SV with premium for something like $229/month and I’m trying for a similar deal.

I sent emails to 3 dealers today. Here’s an excerpt of the important part:

"I see an MSRP of $30,615 with a discount of $6906 off which includes a rebate of $2750, for a sales price of $23709.

I would like to lease this car for 36/12. Based on my research, I see a money factor of .00071 and 56% residual. I calculated a payment using a price of $25759 minus $2050 lease cash incentive for a sales price of $23709. I used 8% tax, $250 doc fee, $100 BMV fee and a $595 acquisition fee.

Assuming those numbers (and my math!) are correct, this yields a payment of $228/month or $247 with tax. I estimate drive-offs to be about $781 which would include $247 (first month), $350 BMV and doc fees, plus $184 tax on cap cost and reduction."

I’ve had 2 replies that both tell me they can’t lease based off the sales price (I know this, it’s why I added back in the $2750 buying incentive). The quotes they give me are like $320/month.

I responded to both asking what sales price they’re using before incentives. It’s late now so I assume I’ll hear back tomorrow, but I’m frustrated! Is the deal I’m asking for reasonable? Any suggestions if I should do something different? After the replies come in tomorrow, I was going to simply ask for 13% off MSRP and see if I get anywhere with that. It’s a bit more than I thought I’d be paying, but I’d be happy if I could at least get that!

What part of the country do you live in?

I know some people here disagree, but I don’t like that approach as a first email, scares the sales guys off. Try doing it without all the math and then if he comes back you can go more into it. At least that’s my opinion. If I was a sales guy and saw that email, It looks like a difficult customer not worth my time.

You can also search this forum for “how to negotiate” and learn a little more on how to do it.

Also don’t get discouraged because two dealers gave you a high quote, you will have to contact a lot more to get a good pricing idea in your area.

In the alternative you can get a reputable broker from this forum to do it for you.

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Your approach was clearly wrong. You scared off sales people.

I agree with @305Hackr. I’d start off by just asking for a sales price before any incentives. Then when you get a good sales price, you can ask for a lease worksheet which you can scrutinize.

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I live in Northeast Ohio. After all the reading I’ve done, I felt like the suggestion to send a well-researched email is said over and over, so that’s the approach I settled on. I reached out to a couple other dealers with a more simple message about pricing so I’ll see if that yields better results!

I’ll agree with you that a well researched email is the best way to start; however, many of the salespeople you’ll be dealing with don’t necessarily know how to calculate a lease since they’ve got computer programs that do it for them. Once you get a lease proposal, you can certainly pinpoint certain things (MF, incentives, etc.) but I found that my best luck was simply focusing on the selling price first and then getting into details after I had established a rapport with the salesperson. I also focused on emailing the internet sales managers.

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I’ve found that hacking a lease is often painful. If you aren’t feeling the pain, you’re probably doing it wrong, so expect a lot of resistance. I also agree that your email approach probably scares of some salespeople. Surprisingly, I feel like a lot of sales people don’t understand the numbers, or pretend they don’t understand.

You should expect resistance, and you shouldn’t expect them to agree. You should also expect that you’re going to have to speak with a fleet manager, sales manager, or internet manager to actually get past the first line of defense. Salespeople don’t have the authority to give out good deals in most cases.

I would find every dealership within 200 miles that carries the car you’re looking for. I would email all of them, or call and ask for the sales manager, and tell them the deal you’re looking for, and that you’re willing to sign a lease today if they give it to you, or ask for a proposal. No one is just going to say “OK”. They will likely send you proposals. The best proposals, call them and tell them you need better. If they won’t give it to you, then say you will talk to their competition. You have to be willing to walk.

Hopefully you can settle on a deal you like.

Now if you REALLY want to hack a deal, the last few dollars of hacking will be a huge amount of effort, and again, you have to be willing to walk away.

Lease hacking is not easy, and usually leaves you battered, bruised, and frustrated. You have to decide how hard you want to push. But either way, you should expect to invest a lot of time, and hear “no” a lot before you get what you’re looking for. Car salesman are pros, and will throw curve balls at you, and you have to be ready to walk away.

Finally, before you sign anything, post your deal here. You’ll get feedback

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You will have to get lucky and reach a sales person that actually understands the numbers. A Nissan dealership that does not lease as much as higher end, more expensive vehicles is going to be tough to find one that does. Maybe try the internet sales manager. Most sales people want you in their office so they can bs and run to the sales manager to actually run the numbers.

I like to use the cars.com website to find the lowest price vehicle I’m interested in. Then go to the dealer website and see if it shows how they are arriving at the advertised price. It sounds like you already understand that purchase and lease incentives are far different so you are already way ahead of the game .

Good luck and don’t settle. End of month is better and especially end of quarters like September and December you may get the biggest discount.

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For what it’s worth. When you email the salesperson, you are trying to “hook” them, the same way they are trying to “hook” you. Sharing all that info on the first email, is not the hook, it is a roadblock. The salespeople rarely know the inside of a lease, so what you are sending them looks like painful math, more than a potential sale.

Give them something simple to start that is enticing. A simple inquiry on monthly payment, and amount due at signing. Once they respond, you have your hook, and they “think” they have theirs. That is when the negotiation starts. Don’t waste time showing you know how a lease works until they are fully engaged in the deal.

I should also mention, there is no one, easy, singular way to do this. You will just need to feel it out, and figure out what works with the person you are dealing with. Anyway, just my 2 cents, best of luck to you!

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I really appreciate all the advice here! I definitely think I came on too strong and need to change my approach. I like the idea of asking for a quote first and going from there.

I found a great lease price on Edmund’s and forwarded the “certificate” to the dealer. Of course they won’t honor it which really makes me angry. I don’t understand how it’s even legal for them to do that!

One question, is “lease worksheet” the proper term to use when I ask to see a copy of how they’re adding up the numbers?

Thanks again to everyone here!

I like the idea of negotiating a sales price without incentives first, before asking for a lease payment, but how do you avoid or get past the dealer’s excuse that “this is a sales price, we can’t do that on a lease.”

I wouldn’t worry about potentially coming on too strong. If you follow up with them, and don’t appear like a complete tire kicker, you’ll eventually make progress with most of them. If not, it is unlikely you would have reached a good deal with them anyway.

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You can say upfront that you will be leasing and request the sales price for lease before any incentives.

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I’ve also found it really easy and effective to make a fake gmail account, and combine it with a fake google voice number. So you can negotiate once with 10 dealerships and never have to worry about them calling your personal phone or emailing you relentlessly. Also, if you strike out, or feel like you burned a bridge with a dealership, you can just create a new phone number/email, and start the game over again. This is a pro leasehackr move.

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