Hi Hackrs - Love this forum and appreciate the lively discussion. This is my first time dealing with a car purchase so any help is appreciated. I did search as much as I could before posting so I am hopefully not wasting anyone’s time.
I’m a WA resident buying a Rav4 Prime from CT and having it sent over.
The Toyota Prime SE qualifies for a $6500 rebate incentive
In WA there’s a sales tax incentive to pay no sales tax for the first 15-20k if you’re buying/leasing a New car for 45k and under or a Used car for 30k an under
Question 1: I intend to do a lease to get the $6500 with Toyota financial and then buy it out immediately. Apparently the buyout still becomes a “Used” car so I’d have to make the purchase price of that car 30k or under. Right now, I’ve negotiated to 0 down but should I put a down payment? Everything that I’ve read on here says DO NOT put a down payment but is this a rare exception? Does putting a down payment actually reduce the buy out price towards depreciation (which is fine) or does that actually prepay some of the rent interest (which would be bad, right)?
Q2: This one’s a little weird. I signed a purchase order with the selling price I agreed at. However, when the dealer finance guy sent me the lease, they’ve put in a selling price that’s ~2.5k different. Is the dealer allowed to upcharge the sales price like that after a signed P.O? The sales price on the purchase order should be the the same as the sales price on the “Agreed Upon Value of Car” on my lease right? This is before applying any fees/rebates/etc.
MSRP: 46k
Sales Price on my Purchase Order: 43.5k
Sales Price listed on my Lease: 45.9k
Any help is valued - excited but a little worried because I put 1k deposit to hold the car. Thank you for reading and providing input for this newbie hackr
What did the dealer say when you asked them why the price on their contract was different from what you previously agreed?
There could be numerous reasons why the price is different now:
Dealer is hoping you just don’t notice
Finance manager had a mix up or just didn’t know and will fix it when you question it
They added $2.5k of add-on’s, so they’re still technically selling you the car for $43k but with $2.5k of crap now added on (this is something that should’ve been negotiated originally)
Again you just need to get all the details and ask.
Thanks for the reply. I brought it up a couple times. On the phone - before the contract was mailed in, he said the “lease sales price” is different than the “buy sales price”. I thought he was referring to all the interest that would be added to the lease term so I didn’t expect him to manipulate the starting price.
When I received the contract and emailed them about it, they’re saying there might be fees baked into the sales price of the lease that I’m not considering.
Overall, I think it’s 1. Dealer hoping I don’t notice. But my question is - do they have any sway in being able to charge me that even after I have a signed P.O. detailing the MSRP → Sales Price? Added pictures to the original post as an example.
Cool! So I should put a down payment so that my “Used” car buying price ends up to be less than 30k and get the incentive for doing so.
Given that the dealer seems a bit tricky. Is there anything they would be able to do if I put a big down payment? I want to ensure that it lowers the cap cost and actually goes towards paying the depreciation at buy out so any advice on making sure this is clear would be helpful. Thanks!
I’m just worried they might manipulate that down payment and the terms under it somehow as they seem to be doing with the sales price.
Is the payment and DAS the same on the contract as what you negotiated before? If yes then there’s probably nothing to worry about.
You say you negotiated to $0 DAS…different dealers account for $0 DAS in different ways. It’s possible the dealer is just padding the sales price by $2.5k to make up for the fact that they are covering all your up front’s and first month payment.
Basically the total deal is the same, they are just moving numbers around to make things work.
This is everything on the lease purchase order (above it is the VIN Odometer and Model but leaving that out for now). The numbers still don’t add up though right?
Oh this is interesting - and Toyota Financial allows for this early payment to directly reduce cap cost? My two biggest concerns with the downpayment are 1. It somehow doesn’t reduce the cost of the buy out. 2. Manipulation from the dealership when I bring it up.
Ok so that’d probably be ideal. Order of operations:
Get this purchase price correct.
Work with TFS directly to put down a big payment.
Buy out the vehicle after that big payment.
Thanks! If anyone has tips for holding the dealership accountable for the P.O. price that’d be great. I do hear the feedback on just finding a new dealership lol but I’m so close to the finish line.
Did the payment estimate on the PO have tax included or not?
And just to be clear regardless of exactly what the contract says are you paying any DAS to the dealer, or still just zero?
If the PO didn’t have tax included, and you’re still at $0 DAS, then you’re essentially at the same deal (or $2 apart). Looking at the contract your payment is $676 before tax.
I don’t think tax was included in the P.O. Maybe the payments are the same and that’s what they’re saying.
I don’t intend to pay any DAS but not sure if the contract they’re giving me is actually reflecting that. I see $6500 which I assume is the rebate and then $745 from the first payment (base + tax).
But I think the thing I should be most interested in is having the sales price valued at $43,500 because I actually intend to buy out the vehicle, correct?
‍:black_large_square: one stone
