Those of you that have had success sending out target deals to dealers, how much detail do you find to be the most effective?
I’m trying to get a Blazer EV one-pay 24mo/12k at under $5,500 total cost. I’m eligible for ~$5K in manufacturer incentives (depending on how they do or don’t stack), and with GM’s current lease offers and dealer-advertised prices, it should be very doable for a dealer who wants to do it.
Have you found it to be most effective to just list the minimum amount of info (Aka, “I want this VIN, for this total cost, and I’m eligible for these promos”) - or to be really detailed and include specifics about MF, Residuals, Depreciation, Rent Charges, etc…?
If it matters for context, because I’m in a rural area, the vast majority of these dealers are going to be from an adjacent state, and are going to require completing the sale remotely and my either flying out to the nearest metro to pick up the vehicle, or arranging for shipping.
Lol there’s a massive spectrum… and it usually boils down to how stupid/coy the dealership wants to be when they see the offer.
@delta737h has a lease offer sheet that you probably need a PhD in structured auto financing to understand. I pity the poor sales associate who barely passed Math 101 that gets his lease offers.
@djrabbi seems to just stare intently at dealers, and they give him $3,000 one-pay-leases on AMG EQE.
The more you reach out to dealers, the more you’ll realize hunting for a lease hack is more about finding a great sales person who understands your deal than it is about getting the deal itself.
Here in NorCal, the BMW dealer I got an i4 and the MB dealer I got a EQS lease were super easy to work with… didn’t need to do much other than “hey can you do this?” and I was able to get a deal done over text.
But then I tried to email a Ford dealer about a Mustang Mach E, and suddenly I’m wasting 30 minutes debating if a “capital cost” reduction is considered part of “due at signing”. Infuriating.
Love the prof but hahaha! I do believe people need to understand how to at least use a calc to put payment together…it forces them to understand negotiables and where fees can be hidden. People who don’t understand how a payment comes together will always get taken advantage of.
Then remove WA as WA dealers haven’t been known to play ball even in state.
I would look at broker who can ship to ID (Shipping Fee can be north of $1500 though)
Shockingly, I’ve gotten two Washington dealers to play ball, and after that even my local “we don’t discount” Idaho dealer decided that maybe, just this once in these specific circumstances, they’d make an exception and match the deal to “keep my business local.”
Finger’s crossed I’ll be posting in “signed” in the next day or two. Possibly even without a plane flight.
Not the insane $16/mo Blazer EV some people have gotten, but under my “$300/mo in gas costs for the guzzler it’ll be replacing” target.
The most interesting response I got was,
“Are you in the industry? Because no-one sends out offers with money factors in them. No one even knows what a Money Factor is!”
Was recently negotiating at a Ford dealer in WA. When I was able to side-step all the usual dealer BS and knew that rebates don’t come from the dealer but Ford and the MF was marked up, the sales manager got very upset and said “Who do you know who works at Ford?! I’m serious! You have a family member who works at Ford, don’t you? Where do they work?!”
It was like he was genuinely upset that I knew what he was talking about.
Fully agree with an earlier sentiment that half the battle is finding a dealership/sales person who will actually work with you or at least read your offer.
Lol, before I closed on my Blazer deal, I was emailing all the dealers with leftover 2023 lighting inventory to see what RCL and VIN-Specific bonus cash offers applied.
That one was even harder though, since with the Chevy deals we can at least broadly know what incentives should stack, whereas with those VIN-Specific Ford deals, we’re just kind of hoping and relying on dealers to tell us what’s available, and what’s not.
FWIW, I couldn’t find anyone with a leftover '23 Lightning who was willing to admit to being able to lease it for under $350/mo in Washington, Oregon, Idaho or Montana.
Yeah - had a chat with my agent a few weeks ago and ran a bunch of different scenarios.
We’re adding a teenage driver to our policy that’s gonna be rough no matter how we do it, but the Blazer’s not bad (Might be because we shopped around quite a bit to find a reasonable rate on our existing EV).
Including insurance + registration costs (while other places get EV credits, Idaho’s one of those delightful states that charges drivers an EV penalty when we register) - I’m not gonna come out quite net-negative. But “a few hundred dollars a year” to drive a new EV instead of the 30-year-old gas guzzler it’s replacing isn’t a terrible deal.
I’ll shop around again when we’re up for renewal in the fall, but from all the comparisons I’m seeing online and from friends, we’ve got a pretty good overall rate.
