Lease help! Previous loaners: 2019 A-Class $420/mo, 2019 GLA $399/mo, or 2019 CLA $299/mo

[ifarbman]

Hi! I’m brand new here and wanted to get the Hackrs thoughts on a few lease options I’m currently debating between. Apologies in advance for the lengthy first post but there are a lot of details!

To provide some background, I’m currently leasing a 2016 CLA that is up 9/3/19 so in like 2 weeks. As such I’d like to make a decision this weekend if not early next week. Below is a snapshot of the deal I got back in 2016 on my current lease for reference.

I’ve found through the course of my lease I only drive about 5k mikes a year so I’m looking at new leases I think 7500/yr is plenty for me. I’m also based in MN.

Okay so here are my goals: I’d like to keep my payments around the same as my current lease ($330/mo) I’m willing to go as high as $360-370 and willing to put up to $2500 down for taxes, title, fees, etc. I’m debating doing prepaid maintenance again since I drive so little I feel like I might be better off just paying those out of pocket as they arise but I’m all ears for any suggestions/tips!

So my preferences are A class first, then GLA, then CLA, provided the numbers make sense. I would be happy with any of these vehicles but the fun thing about leasing is getting a new car right? so that’s my reason for putting the CLA last even though payment wise it’s probably the best option.

A few other tidbits: I also qualify for AICPA fleet incentives and for Sears (one of the dealerships below) I can get an extra $500 incentive which I plan to pick up from one of their pop up shops.

So here are the screenshots of the cars along with links to each of the vehicles as well.

In order of preference:

A-Class

This car was advertised on the showroom floor as $372/mo with $3995 down + TTL (taxes, title, etc.) so I think about $6k down all in.

https://www.feldmannimports.com/used-Bloomington-2019-Mercedes+Benz-+-A+220+4MATIC-WDD3G4FB7KW008952

GLA

In the screenshots below (this applies for bit the GLA and CLA) the $0 down option references that with the incentives included if I were to not put any money out of pocket the monthly payment would then increase accordingly. Put another way, I’d have the fleet incentives cover the money I would ordinarily put down.

https://www.searsimports.com/inventory/used-2019-mercedes-benz-gla-gla-250-awd-4matic-suv-wdctg4gb8kj536483

CLA

https://www.searsimports.com/inventory/used-2019-mercedes-benz-cla-cla-250-4maticâ®-coupe-wddsj4gbxkn718834

I feel like I can do better than these as these as just initial numbers but I’d like to go in with a best offer this weekend and sign off from there. I’m open to any suggestions!

Thank you SO much in advance and I appreciate your help!!

[damiano]

Only put enough $ down for drive off’s and MSD (which is optional). I dislike MB with a passion, so I can’t say anything about these deals since I don’t follow this brand at all. Im sure someone else will chime in.

[trism]

Welcome. I would recommend narrowing this down to which specific car you really want, figure out exactly what you’re willing to pay based on current incentives and likely dealer discounts, and then cast a wider net beyond just one dealer. Post the best offer for that specific vehicle here for feedback.

People value different aspects of a deal dramatically differently from one another (some weigh the personal desirability of a particular model more highly than anything else; others are attracted mainly/exclusively by the lowest bottom-line cost).

Therefore it’s too much to ask for a bunch of strangers to pick a car for you and then guess how much money this dealer will accept.

[02cic]

The other thing is that if you are in that much of a hurry you’re not likely to hack any deal. Can’t you extend your lease a month and have a real go at hacking?

[ifarbman]

I can understand that. The reason I wanted to weigh all 3 was because I’d be happy in either of them, I just want to see how far I can push these deals. For instance, the GLA and A class are almost the same amount down and almost the same monthly payment. So for the money, I’d prefer the A class over the GLA. But if I can get a better deal on the GLA (somewhere closer to $350/mo) then I’d go with that over the A class if I can’t bring that down to a similar payment if that makes sense? So just wanted to get some thoughts surrounding what people have had success with and whether any of these are decent deals or not. Hope that makes sense! Thanks!

[o881oo]

Try to push the dealer discount to 20%, or at least 18%

Use 10 MSD instead of any down payment

I personally would prefer GLA > CLA > A

Would you try C class?

[ifarbman]

I would try C class if you think I could get the payments down to the mid 300s! But most of what I’ve seen (for previous loaners) are usually in the 400s.

[ifarbman]

And thank you for the help! How do MSDs work exactly? Sorry total newbie here and how much is 1 MSD worth?

[o881oo]

For example your monthly payment including tax is $323, 1 MSD would be $350. If the payment is 351 then the MSD would be $400. Each MSD helps the bring down the MF of 0.00007

You can check/ask the current RV and MF On Edmunds.com

If you have fleet, GLA & CLA have $2000 incentive, C class has $1500, A class only has $500

Plus you can get additional $1000 incentive from attending the pop up store

I thank GLA, CLA, A&C class are all eligible for the current offer - first month payment waive, thats another $300+ off

Here is one example for GLA, if you can negotiate 18% off MSRP+incentives for lease

Leasehackr Calculator — LEASEHACKR

[Grant_Jr]

You and I are in the same boat with mileage. I had my GLA for 2 years and it only has 8500 miles on it. Honestly as I was reading your post, I think it’s really up to your personal preference meaning if you want a car or small SUV. I absolutely love my GLA! The only issue I would see with the GLA is that Mercedes will be releasing the 2020 in September and most US markets will get them in October maybe. It’s supposed to have a redesign and most posts on the issue say it’s just an A class in an SUV body and resembles the European A class hatchback which I actually was hoping the US market would get but never did. Here it is on MBs website. https://www.mercedes-benz.com/en/vehicles/passenger-cars/a-class/a-class/

Also, you may not have to put anything down on a new lease. Since you have low mileage, the car depreciates less and you could potentially get money back. Leases are written out by what the depreciated value would be at the end of lease in which you pay for monthly. So less milage, less depreciation. I’ve seen people get a few thousand back afterwards which would go to the new leases down payment, so that would be covered. Research it to get the best value/refund from your finished lease and the best value on your new lease.

Are you looking to finance or lease your new car? I personally love Mercedes but like any other used luxury vehicle, they come with issues and expensive issues at that! I myself am sticking with a lease after mine is up.

Again, I think it all comes down to your personal preference for a car or small SUV/crossover. My GLA is fun to drive and will probably get another GLA at the end of my lease. Drfinetly shop around, my GLA is only $329 a month. Good luck!

[ifarbman]

Thanks for the suggestions and info! I really liked the GLA when I test drive it but I ended up deciding on the A class here’s the final deal I ended up with! The $2500 down was to cover drive offs (tax, title, etc.)

When I put it into the calculator it came up with 9.2 which I don’t think is bad? Especially for such a new model but I don’t know if I put it in to the calculator right

CALCULATOR | LEASEHACKR

[02cic]

For every 400 security deposit, up to ten of them, ie 4000, your interest rate (mf) would drop, making the monthly payment less. You get the sd’s back at the end of lease, even if the car is totaled. So the money you save over the course of the lease with your 4000 “investment” divided by the 4000 you put down, is a killer return here, unless you could have used that money for something better, or you just didn’t have the ability to float it for two or three years. Plus it’s kinda cool to see your monthly payments be so much lower, probably putting you at 330/mo or so in this case

[Chumpy34]

I don’t believe the 2020 GLA is getting a new design, just a tweak here and there, but the 2021 model will have the new “a-class” infotainment screen and interior. The 2020 CLA will have an all-new design though so I would either go after the a-class or wait a month or two for the new CLA but if you are set on a GLA I think you could easily get 20%+ off MSRP or more.

[ifarbman]

I was also able to negotiate prepaid maintenance for 3 years, exterior paint sealant and interior protectant for an extra $12/mo when they were quoting me $23/mo for just the maintenance alone. Figured for that it was worth it

[mah4546]

Exterior paint sealant and interior protector are ghost products. It’s something the dealer tricks you into paying for. You don’t get anything from it.

Paying for maintenance when you drove 15k miles over three years makes no sense! You just paid $432 for one oil change! Luckily you can cancel this within 30 days at no penalty.

Next time time, instead of a high down payment, do MSDs. It would have lowered your effective monthly by about $30/mo.

[ifarbman]

Yeah I didn’t really care about the sealant and stuff I was mainly thinking about the prepaid maintenance being cut in half but service A is like $250 and Service B is $450 so I figured the $432 would be worth it for peace of mind. I was thinking I’d probably only need Service A and B max since I drive so little but that makes sense! I’ll definitely do that next time. Thank you!!

[mah4546]

You won’t need either, all you’ll need is one oil change, and the dealer will probably send you a coupon for a free one.

You can still cancel this overpriced maintenance plan with no penalty and get your money back.