Greetings to all. Long-time lurker here trying to reduce my monthly auto expenses by trying to get into one of the remaining 2017 Equinox LT FWDs in Northern NJ. So, the dealer agreed to cut me a check for the remaining 3 payments on my Outback 2.5 Limited ($395), but would not agree to take it back for me (I would have to return it to Subaru).
Ok, not the best, but not the worst. So, after a little back and forth, the best I could do on a 17 Equinox LT FWD before I walked was $269 a month, sign and drive. However, when I asked about the fees being rolled in, here’s what I got:
Doc: 499
Acquisition: 595 (might be off a bit)
DMV/Tags: 400 TAX: $1855 (give or take a few dollars)
When I questioned the salesperson in person, and again via e-mail a few hours later, I received the same response:
"Your taxed on the sale of the car before all incentives come off the vehicle, not on the amount of payments.’
This is complete B.S., right, or does a dealer in NJ have the option of doing this? Regardless, I’ve never paid the full tax in NJ (and I’ve leased 4 cars over the past 10 years), and I can’t imagine this is good for business (unless you’re completely uninformed).
Any help with this, or another Chevy lead in Tri-State area would be greatly appreciated!
In The Golden state you’ll pay sales tax on all of the rebates/incentives and on all of the payments too. It’s not a dealership thing, it’s the state collecting all it can from you. And they have the law on their side.
The only thing that isn’t taxed is a price reduction off of MSRP given by the dealership.
in NJ you pay tax on the part of the car you are paying for and on all the factory rebates as well. small price to pay for the rebates GM gives you. i’m in NJ and i just got into a 2017 Equinox LS FWD 24/10 for zero out of pocket and 23 payments of $141.
My recollection is that NJ law is a bit vague on this. While everyone pays tax on the “use” portion of the lease, the law seemingly suggests taxing the “use” portion or the total sales price are okay.
With that said, yes, NJ taxes you for all incentives given to the customer (these are customer specific, i.e., college grad, loyalty etc.) but does not tax the customer for any incentives given to the dealer (these incentives would apply to all customers, i.e., option credits, lease credits etc.). I hope that adds clarity.
Paramus Chevrolet. I’m not sure if I would report them; I think the manager would probably laugh at me as this is how they must do all of their deals…something to think about.
Yes, I did a quick Google search (I forget the law or statute), but it did seem to leave some leeway as to how the tax could be assessed. It’s strange. I’ve leased 3 Jettas, an Accord, and an Outback, over 4 dealerships, and this was never the case.
Please note that, notwithstanding the ambiguity in the governing language for leases, the right way to collect taxes is to charge for “use” in NJ. This is stated elsewhere in the NJ tax laws.
In January 2016 I went to the one in Paramus. They started out by telling me that no one would buy my trade (a 2 year old Nissan Frontier Pro 4x with 4k miles) and that people only wanted Colorados. But then they told me that they would give me the number that I wanted but in reviewing everything nothing matched up. Then they tried to explain that mileage allowance/residual wasn't based on the actual math I was explaining to them. Bottom line was that they treated me as if I were dumb and when I called them out on it they said "You guys think you know everything", I replied that I know math.
I ended up going to Bellavia in East Rutherford and getting an excellent trade number and a good deal on a Traverse. Now that the Traverse was within the 4 payment window that GM would cover I wanted to downgrade to the cheapest lease I could get (excluding Trax and Cruze). I contacted Bellavia but they weren't very aggressive (very honest dealer though and I would return there in the future in without a doubt).
After talking to a few others I got a solid number from Schumacher Chevrolet of Denville. 2017 Equinox LS FWD. MSRP $26,540. something like $4,400 in customer cash, $1,500 conquest, $1,000 IVC Coupons, and supplier price (6% off sticker) not to mention the 4 payments on my Traverse $333.00 each. I also used $550.00 in GM Buy Power Earnings.
Final cost including all taxes, bank fee, doc fee, etc…$0 out of pocket, 23 payments of $141 for 10k per.
I think I'll have a GM lease at all times at this point based on their huge rebates and inflated residuals.
