I hear what you’re saying—and I agree that coming to the table with a well-researched target deal is essential. That’s exactly what I do. But I’d push back on the idea that requesting a lease breakdown or “effective OTD” automatically gives away negotiating leverage.
I don’t ask for these numbers blindly. I use them as part of a larger strategy to audit hidden fees, identify incentive gaps, and pressure-test assumptions against my own projections. It’s not about seeing who’s “least bad”—it’s about separating dealers and brokers who are transparent and efficient from those who bury costs in the fine print.
There’s a difference between passive quote shopping and strategic information gathering. By knowing how to interpret drive-off details and pair them with researched benchmarks, I’ve been able to challenge padded DMV costs, flag missing incentives, and push for better MF reductions. That’s not abdicating control—it’s exactly how you create leverage.
If someone can confidently lead with a full offer, great. But in a market where pricing structures vary by region, lender, and even inventory allocation, real-time dealer data is still valuable. How you use that data is what separates informed clients from passive ones—and I like to think I fall into the former group.
If you make an offer based on the proper incentives and proper fees, where is the space for incentive gaps or hidden fees?
The only way for that to exist is if you allow ambiguity. If you allow ambiguity, you’re setting yourself up for failure.
This conversation gets repeated here over and over. Everyone that tries to justify a method that allows for ambiguity, which is what you’re doing, is simply trying to justify to themselves not fully working out what the deal should be.
Think about it this way:
If the dealer has something that costs $12 before taxes and fees, you work out that if you get it for $5 off and there is $3 in real taxes and fees, then tell the dealer “I will pay $10 for this” and they say “ok, I will charge $10”, what room is there for confusion? You have made an unabiguos offer and it has been agreed to.
If instead, you go to a dealer and say “I want $5 off” and one dealer says “that will be $13” and another says “that will be $12”, you now have two “OTD” prices that suck, because you left things ambiguous and then chose the least bad option.
This is all just an excuse to not work out what the cost should actually be and go in from a disadvantaged position, no matter how hard you try to convince yourself otherwise.
Why do you think everyone that has absolutely no financial interest in telling you otherwise is pushinhlg back? What is the caliber of customer that somewhere like this place is targeted towards compared to something like CarEdge?
Help! This thread has been hijacked! Ha! I should probably change the topic. But happy for all the chatter.
I haven’t put a deposit down for the Scout. Totally valid point about risks of getting into first gen. I had put down a deposit for the Bronco a few years back and ended up in a Jeep, better deals and Ford couldn’t get their shit together and release the vehicle when they said they would. There was a pandemic happening so I can’t fully blame them.
No harm in putting down a deposit and waiting to see if you’ll still want to get into it. Gives you something to look forward to (or to look forward to, forget about, and then look forward to again when something jogs your memory.)
There are good and bad actors in everything. This is true.
Appreciate the recommendations! I’m going to go test drive the Rivian, the Y, and the Mazda CX-70 phev (which I kinda like the exterior look of) today. Maybe the Audi Q5 (don’t love that exterior.)
Happy to split off the very lengthy off-topic part to another thread, if you wish.
To everyone else, let’s try to keep the thread on-topic. If you wish to discussing the utility of incorrect terminology for leasing, please create a new thread. Thanks.
And there’s nothing to get or ask for. You’d already know all the relevant numbers when you know how to make offers. And OTD has nothing to do with all the relevant numbers. All it does is imply to the dealership that one is a miseducated customer who doesn’t really know what they’re doing and are therefore primed to be taken advantage of.
No offense but if you want to learn lease hacking then learn.
You’re wasting everyone’s time including your own trying to die on some hill called YouTube
