I have been visiting this forum for quite some time now and it’s been very helpful. I am still struggling a bit to understand all of the calculations, but I think I am getting closer. I am looking for a Maza CX5 lease for my mother - she’s having some health issues and she asked me to “handle” the car lease. I normally purchase my cars and so leasing is totally new to me. I won’t walk into a dealer without knowing all the details of the deal and I prefer to deal though email (I am sure I am their favorite type of person). I have about $2500 to bring into the dealer the day I sign the lease and I need her payments to stay at or below $225/month. If I can put less $ down, even better, but the $225 a month is the monthly limit. She also has an existing lease with only $525 left on it, so I don’t think that really factors into it. The car will be registered in NJ, but I live near Philadelphia so anything within an hour or so, just for the best deal.
I reached out to a few dealers and I have these quotes, looking for feedback and where to go next.
Dealer #1: FAU
Residual:
57% for 12k a year
58% for 10k a year
.00160 is money factor
No fees
Drive off cost is the $2500.00 down
Dealer #2: PER
Money Factor: .00160
Residual: $14,729.10
Lease Cash: $3,265, though I was told $2500 is the drive off cost
Thank you, sorry if I missed some information, I am learning all of this as I go.
I was gonna suggest just that. If the car is ~300 a month with no drive off would it matter? Same difference, although some people will argue about paying inceptions up front instead of rolling them in. That’s up to you. You’re getting trapped into shopping a payment amount instead of the bigger picture, which is the best possible price on the car. With that being said it doesn’t look like there are that many FWD CX5 Sports around your area, and the ones that are around aren’t being advertised for much of a discount. Is there a reason for that particular trim and drive train? Depending on your comfort level and timeline you might just want to reach out to @nyclife and see if he’s got any Mazda deals currently, I’m sure you could cover taxes, fees and his broker fee with the cash up front and you’ll know that you are getting a good deal without beating your head against the wall over it.
I just bought a new 2019 AWD CX-5 GTP for $349 10k/36m and 2082 DAS(including first month). My guy gave me about a 12% discount on MSRP beating a deal further away from me. DM me if you want and I can get you in touch, dealer is in jersey.
Thank you both - $2500 down is what I had, but the monthly payments also matter. $2500 is $70 a month for the 3 year lease. It sounds like the suggestion (to not be an idiot) is to instead put less $ down and then increase my monthly payments.
Honestly, the CX5 was just one of the ones my mom indicated she liked, but the actual issue is that my step-father is battling leukemia and is not able to easily get in and out of a normal height car. Having a higher seat like an SUV type car would make it easier for them. My mom can’t lift him so he’s on his own getting in and out of the car. I was also considering the Subaru Crosstrek, especially since I am a huge Subaru fan and I like the idea of AWD.
If there is a decent (read: safe, reliable) smaller SUV or “high seated” car, then I think she would be willing to change. She does not have much money, so the lease was an effort to make it cheaper per month until things at her house stabilize a bit more. I am open to other suggestions, including using a broker, but I am not familiar with how brokers work. Again, I am just trying to help out here, and I appreciate the information, but as you can tell, I am still green at leasing.
Thank you, though unfortunately that’s well outside of the budget that is available. However, maybe they have a lower end CX5 and I can still get a decent discount on the MSRP. I am seeing the mistake I made was to go in and discuss the payments up front. Lesson learned.
Dealer #3 (JNK) just offered me $196.02 36mths//10k miles per year//$2500 due at signing
MSRP: $27,370, Sales Price $26,320 which is only 4% below MSRP. I also don’t know if that includes taxes and feeds.
Yea, I wasn’t suggesting my same deal, just saying the details.
It helps to know exactly what you want. What I suggest is you select a trim and package and ask about the same to all those dealers and get the best quote there.
Do you know if you want the sport with the activesense package?
The point that @BoardWalkNJ and I were making is that you should just use the money down to offset the higher monthly payment yourself. Just throw it in savings and draw from it as needed. Sure the payment will be higher, but the money is safe and you won’t lose it in the event of a total loss or theft. The exception would be if that money down was “Total due at signing” and covered all the fees and taxes instead of a “down payment”. Some people prefer to do that so they aren’t getting hit with taxes and fees on inception charges.
Yes, totally agree with doing that. Which is what I did on my latest lease. I paid upfront for the taxes and fees so i wouldn’t have to pay interest on that!
That makes sense, I am ok to bump it up to $300 a month if I can save the $2500 DAS (learning the lingo) and come in at $0 to drive off.
Given the three dealers I have listed, do I have a decent deal in my hands? So far, Dealer #3 seems to be the best, but I am a bit lost with the DAS versus paying fees and taxes up front. When buying a car, I am used to the expression “out the door cost.” Meaning if I walked in with cash, here is how much you would get.
I am still a bit lost on what I am doing here unfortunately. Did any of the dealer quotes I provided seem reasonable? Also, how does a broker work? They handle all of this for you for a fee?
Well, if you look at the last deal, $2500(DAS)-196(first month)= $2,304/36(divide bypayments) = $64. That means net effective is $196+64, so $260month all in.
Not bad actually, but that mean there must be some incentives there that he isn’t including in the sale price unless this doesn’t include fees.
I would call and ask exactly if the 2500 is the out the door price including fees and first month and also ask him for the 0 DAS price.
What are the MSRPs of the three cars? Are they all identical trim, etc? You need to find out the MSRP, the selling price of the car before any and all rebates and incentives are applied, a breakdown of the rebates and incentives that they are using, the residual, money factor and a breakdown of any and all taxes and fees being charged. It’s impossible to tell which of those deals are better because we don’t know which one has the best dealer discount. Assuming all the cars are similarly specced and priced, the dealer discount should be the only thing that matters. Everything else should be the same, unless someone is marking up the money factor. Confirm the “standard” residual, money factor and incentives available in your zip code on Edmunds for your specific model, trim and drive train. And yes, a broker will handle all of this for you, either for a fee paid by you or a kickback of some sort paid by the dealer, depending on how they prefer to operate.
Thank you again for the information - is there a standard list of “items” that I can email the dealer? I really dislike talking to dealers on the phone and I refuse to go into one without a final deal in place. From what I am seeing I should aks the following:
Specific Model + Trim of the car (Mazda CX5 Sport, FWD)
MSRP
Selling Price
Breakdown of all rebates and incentives
Residual value of the car
Money Factor
All taxes and fees
Total $ Due at Signing
Anything else? My plan is to then take that information and shop it around with other dealers.
Thanks!
Start simple. Send a quote request asking for a sales manager to email you the selling price of a particular stock number before any incentives or rebates are applied. Or email the manager directly if that is possible. From there get a more detailed lease quote from the dealership offering the best discount, and ask for the complete breakdown. Verify against the numbers you’ve researched.
Meaning I should go to their websites and ask about the selling price of a specific car. While I have a particular car in mind, I am not married to it. I would basically swap out any small SUV for the right monthly payment and $ DAS. I can go back to some of the dealers who have been responsive and request the sales price of specific cars they list on their sites.
Why not hop on Mike’s Rogue SV deal (@aronchi), w/o VPP you’re looking at about $240 w/ $2k due at signing. The Rogue is about the same size as the CX-5 but comes w/ AWD whihc would make it better in bad weather.
But you have to move fast, need approval by tomorrow. Good Luck!
