Hello everyone, I’m pretty new to the idea of leasing a car but luckily I found this forum and have been learning a lot. However, I still have a few questions and would be very appreciative if you guys could help me out a bit.
I had never really thought much about leasing until I saw the $299 deal from Alfa which got me thinking about it and ultimately led me to this forum. I now understand that that deal is not necessarily as good as it sounded on TV. After doing some research using Edmunds and this forum, I am now more interested in other cars in that segment, specifically the Jaguar XE (I like the car as much as the Giulia, but the deals seem much better).
I’ve been looking at inventory in my area and found a few cars that I am interested in pursuing, but now I’m kind of at a loss.
My biggest question is, how should I initiate contact with the dealer to start negotiating?
I understand email is the preferred method, but what is the best way to go about it? What kinds of things should I mention in my initial contact? Just tell them what numbers I want?
I live in upstate NY, so there are very few dealers in the area for most luxury brands (3-4 Jag dealers within about 4hrs). I know some users don’t mind making a deal across the country, but I would prefer to be able to drive my trade-in over to pick up a new car and I am a little concerned about accidentally alienating any of the few options I have.
TL;DR - I am new to leasing and am curious about the best way to go about negotiating with dealers via email
Thank you so much for any help you guys can provide!
Negotiating via email is hard especially for luxury brands at least in NJ. Usually the dealers won’t play along and will tell you to come in or get lost. However, once you show your face or you email numbers from one dealer to another, you can request a match.
GL look forward to see how well you do since I’m from the same area and will likely be bugging the same dealers towards the end of the year.
Have you tried talking with the Alfa Romeo place yet? The Giulia isn’t high on my list but it’s something I’m keeping an eye on cause they have a pretty big inventory and I haven’t seen hardly any on the road.
I negotiated everything for my mothers TLX back in May all via email (I was in Manhattan, she in NJ). It helped to tell the dealers she had already test driven the car and is 100% certain it’s the car she wants. I would reference a VIN from their particular inventory, ask for the adjusted cap cost and mention the lease terms (36m/10k miles, whatever). Most of the dealers wanted to know her zip code too. I was polite but firm in my preference for email given I was usually in the office or in meetings most of the day, but did have a few short (<5 min) phone conversations. As we were approaching my targeted payments, I started saying that we’d be able to pick up the car on XXX date if we reached a mutually acceptable deal. Even after agreeing on a price and pick-up date, it still felt like pulling teeth to get the dealer to send me the full paperwork to read through in advance. Eventually we were able to walk right into the dealer with the paperwork waiting, sign and leave with the car within an hour. Good luck!
Thanks again for your help everyone. I’ve sent out some emails to both Alfa and Jag dealers (some frome Truecar, most not) and will post an update if/when I get some decent numbers.
I contacted them this morning and quickly received a standard boiler plate response “Thank you for your interest, come in for a test drive, etc, etc”. Responded a little more firmly looking for numbers on a few specific stock numbers. Will have to see how it goes…
I never really understood the reasoning behind blasting 10-15 dealers at once and having to deal with the emails or worse, the phone calls. Everyone has their own method that works for them but in the past I reached out directly, not through the form on the dealer’s website, to the Internet Sales Managers with an email explaining I am prepared to buy the vehicle in question and am looking for the relevant lease data and their asking price. I usually try 2-3 dealers in the area, and in the case of my current car they only had 3 dealers at the time, and if all of the offers are roughly the same I select the one and start negotiations with them. If negotiations go south I move on to the next dealer, and the next, and if needed expand my search or adjust my offer.
I have to say that I don’t stand by email being the best method. I would always call and make sure I talk to the fleet manager of someone in internet sales. Assuming you know the deal you want, just call, tell them the exact deal you want and that if they can do it you will lease the car. Nothing gets them to do a deal more than saying you will come in there and then to do the deal if they can match what you are asking.
Don’t fall for them asking you to come in to talk, waste of time, say you have leased many cars and never set foot in a dealership until you have an agreed deal.
This is kinda my ideal scenario. I’m pretty locked in on either the Jag XE or Alfa Giulia but there is only one dealer for each within reasonable travel distance. Between that and working rotating shift work (some times nights, some times days, some times weekends) it isn’t super feasible for me to go visit them until we have things figured out.
How do you go about getting the Sales Manager’s contact info? Poking around on dealer websites only seems to yield the stupid form that some random person reads…and promptly ignores all information you wrote about what car(s) you’re interested in
