Hire a broker at this point?

Ask the Hackrs
1

I went through Costco’s Auto buying program. Costco connects me to a salesman who says Costco customers get an additional $1500 off. That’s about 5% off. And the dealer has (2) MSRPs, the first is MSRP, then they add in a destination fee of $1420(what is this?) and $175 for wheel locks+cargo mat and called it a “Total MSRP”. Does any of this sound right? I haven’t reached the leasing portion of the negotiations yet. Should I still keep at it or hire a broker at this point?

2

honestly, hire a broker and save the headache. if your wanting to punish yourself, then absolutely go for it :).

  1. I believe a destination fee is present in a lot of brands; specifically it should be on the window sticker, not an additional fee outside of the window sticker.
  2. the wheel/lock 175 is crap
  3. what vehicle is it? use the Marketplace to search what the brokers are listing for that vehicle and use that as your guide to come up with your own deal parameters.
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3

Unless you are using a Costco monthly incentive for a specific brand (eg in February it’s Cadillac), I have never seen one example of their car buying service (lead generation to dealers) producing a better deal than a intermediate Lease Hackr or Dealer/Broker in LH Marketplace could beat.

Destination is listed on every Monroney label on every new car sold in the US

It’s the cost of getting a new car from the factory to the dealership and as long as the amount matches the window sticker, it’s not a junk fee.

The general advice here is to put together a well-researched target deal then make offers to dealers — don’t ask “how much?”, tell them what you’re willing to pay. Your questions sound like you’re in the early stages of understanding all the cost and fees, and what’s negotiable, which is an important part of researching a target deal. Getting from where you are to signing a solid lease on your own will take more time and research. At any time, visit the Marketplace here to see what Dealers and Brokers are offering

if any of those look good then you’re done. If nobody has the specific vehicle you’re looking for, or anything available in your market, you are unwilling to ship something from out of market, or you think you can negotiate a better deal - keep grinding until you get it or quit trying.

If it’s on the window sticker, it can’t be removed but it will be residualized in lease. If it’s an add-on / not on Monroney then it’s 100% junk

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Is this a Toyota?

5

It doesn’t really matter unless you pick a hackable car.

The end result will be unnecessary overpayment either way.

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6

What kind of car are you interested in?

7

Send the build sheet.
Base MSRP does not equal Total MSRP. Destination fee is standard. Hint: the more options you have on the car, the higher the price. It’s insane, I know.

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Thanks. Its a CX30 preferred in northern cal. Its all on the mulrony sticker. The only add ons are the cargo mat and wheel locks, thats it.

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Thanks. So the “total msrp” is the real msrp that I should base my calculations, such as aiming to get 7-10% off here in San Francisco Bay Area where everything is overpriced.

10

Thanks for your lengthy answer. I researched the CX30 on here and there just isnt much, its not a popular car or maybe not a hackable car. At this point, I’ll have to try to get 7-10% off MSRP, crash, and burn with this local Mazda dealer in the San Francisco area, then hire a broker. I found that there are no brokers in my area except for Carintelligent and I really don’t trust them because they over advertise in this area. All the nearest brokers are 400 miles away in Socal.

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Are the wheel locks and cargo mat on the window sticker? If so, they are part of the MSRP and NOT an add on. Add on items are on an addendum sticker. This is important in leasing as items on the MSRP are residualized and items on the addendum are not. Example: if the car has a 60% residual a $200 item on the monroney label costs $80 in a lease (plus money factor/taxes etc) vs a finance/cash where it costs $200 (plus int/tax etc). If the $200 item is on the addendum in a lease it will cost $200 (plus money factor/tax etc) so it is over double what you would pay in the lease.

Edit- my math is just for illustration and not an exact figure but it shows the huge difference of where the items are added to the car

12

FWIW, we’ve seen plenty of LH’s lease a vehicle from the opposite end of CA and either have it shipped or fly & drive back should the savings justify it.

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13

OP needs to calculate what his time is worth. More and more people find deals out of their immediate area rather than chasing a deal that may not be available locally.

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Thanks. I’m beginning to think this is not a hackable car because the Mazda CX30 preferred is popular and most dealers have 1-4 of these cars on their lot. Costco gives me about 4% off ($1500) off MSRP so I will be negotiating for another 4-5% on top of that. After we get a figure, then the lease negotiating begins and I know I’ll get torn apart at that point since I know nothing. I used the Ratefinder/calculator and my target should be about $390/mo, 0 down, 12/36 for a lease here in the San Francisco Bay Area, the toughest market in the nation.

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If that is what you have your heart set on, I have seen some decent deals on them in the LH marketplace.

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You can generally skip the SF Bay Area dealers as a waste of time.

Reach out to Grant Salge, Director of Sales at Elk Grove Mazda near Sacramento. He will get you a great deal on a Mazda.

https://www.mazdaofelkgrove.com/about-us/staff/

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Thanks, youre correct, there’s too much demand in the bay area. I’ll reach out to that guy u mentioned, thanks

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18

Yes, marketplace deals are great, its just that the dealers are 500 miles away and if i partake, there’s no guarantee that the dealer is willing to ship to me even if i paid a $500 shipping fee.

19

Obviously, the math has to make sense with shipping, but I’ve shipped cars from out of state in California and I’ve leased cars from out of state and flown to pick them up and driven them back - Far and away better deals than anything I could get locally at the time.

If you’re curious about the process, that is one of many shipping threads here that discusses whether or not it makes economic sense, and includes recommendations about who to use.

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The MSRP that counts is the one on the window sticker. If the dealer adds nonsense on top of that like tint, or anti-theft or anything elset, run away. That’s a dealer you don’t want to work with.