I’m reaching out from the Twin Cities, Minnesota, for some advice on a lease offer I’ve received for a 2023 Jeep Grand Cherokee 4XE. Here are the details:
MSRP: $63,665
Discounted Price: $53,206 (after $11,500 in discounts)
Lease Term: 39 months
Monthly Payment: $686
Due at Signing (DAS): $0
Despite the significant discount, the monthly payment of $686 seems quite high for the final price of $53,206. I’m seeking your insights on how to negotiate this lease further or to understand if I’m missing something that’s contributing to the high monthly cost.
Specifically, I would like to know:
What should be an ideal monthly payment for a vehicle with these terms?
Are there any specific money factor or residual value considerations for a Jeep Grand Cherokee 4XE lease in Minnesota?
What negotiation tactics can I employ to lower the monthly payment?
Any tips regarding Minnesota-specific tax, insurance, or other lease-related considerations would also be greatly appreciated.
Looking forward to your expert advice, and I’ll be sure to share my final deal with the community.
The problem is you don’t have a significant discount here. You have a mediocre discount with some manufacturer incentives being applied.
As is always the answer to these kinds of questions, you need to work out what the deal should be before you ever talk numbers with a dealer. This goes for every vehicle you’re considering leasing. You should never, under any circumstances, be getting a dealer offer and be unsure if it’s a good deal or not (frankly, you should never be getting a dealer offer period, but that’s more of a negotiation style question).
I’m based in the Twin Cities, Minnesota (MN), and I’m looking for your help/expertise on a lease quote I’ve received for New 2024 Volkswagen Atlas Cross Sport 2.0T SEL Premium R-Line. Here are the key details:
Due at Signing (DAS): $825 (includes first payment)
Lease Term: 36 months
My concern is the monthly lease payment. It represents approximately 1.6% of the selling price, which seems high. When I asked about the money factor, the dealer played dumb. I like the vehicle, but I’m unsure if this is a competitive lease deal. It seems absurdly high for a $51k vehicle.
I’m looking for your advice on:
Is the monthly payment reasonable for this selling price?
What should a good money factor be for this vehicle?
Any suggestions on how to negotiate a better deal?
Additionally, I’m interested in understanding if there are specific tax or insurance considerations for Minnesota that might affect this lease.
I appreciate any input you can provide, and I’ll make sure to update the community on the final deal in the SIGNED! section.
You’re wasting your time on the Atlas. VW programs are trash.
Jeep leases, specifically Chrysler Capital (aka CCAP), can be great for the right people qualifying for the right rebates (returning lessees). Otherwise that might be a dead end too. To answer the question create your target deal in the LH calculator.
Plug the following into the LH calculator after MSRP of the vehicle you’re looking at:
Selling price based on % pre-incentive discount found by searching Shared Deals and Marketplace sections of this forum.
RV, MF and incentives (lease cash) from Rate Findr. Add any extra rebates you qualify for (college grad, etc) under incentives.
DMV fees and taxes based on your state’s official website.
With all these posts about various car deals, I’m not sure what you’re shopping for. You have to decide that first.
What is your budget/total cost? What is your target vehicle (or vehicle class)?
You’re never going to walk into a dealer cold and get a good deal. You need to do your homework and propose a deal first. @mllcb42 and @max_g have all the right info above.
Also, look at the brokers in the Marketplace. There can be some really strong deals there, maybe better than you’ll negotiate on your own, and you might eliminate a lot of stress and time for yourself. If nothing else, you’ll get a sense of how some of your target cars are being discounted across the country.
I need to buy two vehicles, and clearly I’m a newbie.
I want a lease payment with first payment DAS (that’s it) in or under the $600s and I don’t know how to put something together first and then approach dealers, so my approach has been to approach them, get a quote, and then negotiate.
Is there a tutorial I can watch to put together the deal that I want and then approach the dealerships?
Heh, I’m not looking for anything specific. Maybe that’s the problem? I don’t care. I don’t have my heart set on this or that, I just want something nice for < $700/month with the first payment DAS. Nice could be a Jeep GC, could be an Audi A6, Q5, Q7, Mercedes E-Class, or GLE (unrealistic, I know)…etc.
Lease terms can vary, but if you’re thinking about leasing a car for 60 months, I think that’s almost always a mistake.
You’d almost always be better off financing a purchase and having some equity at the end of 60 months (or whenever you decide to trade it in) than just giving it back. Especially considering at the end of the lease term you’re on the hook for any wear & tear, and the longer you keep it, the more wear & tear you’re going to put into the car.
I wouldn’t call being open to (almost) anything a problem, but it does create some challenges.
If you don’t have a target, you’ll be chasing deals endlessly. You’ll always wonder “is this one good enough?”
Every month the deals are going to reset. Some get better, some get worse, some are new, some disappear. You have to accept the right deal for you and accept that almost always a better deal will come along, even if you think you got the deal of the century.
Negotiating with lots of dealers about lots of cars simultaneously is work! It takes time, so narrowing down is to your benefit.
If you don’t really care what you get, then set a calendar deadline and price point(s) and find whatever deal(s) give you the best outcome for your situation. Use the LH calculator score to help you establish how “good” a deal your particular lease deal is.
Usually closer to the end of the month/quarter/year is better for getting a deal, but it always varies, and you have to put in the work to find the dealer.
LH is full of information and (mostly ) helpful people. It’s easier for people to help you when you know what you’re trying to accomplish going in.
I appreciate the pointers. You’re probably right. The vehicle that I leased back in May when I first started posting on this topic was in a wreck in August (everyone walked away OK thankfully), but just this week the insurance company finally totally it out. I’ve been in a rental car since August, which is longer than we drove the new Jeep! Luckily, the rental car is a 2023 A6 which I really like. Unfortunately, the insurance company stopped paying for it last Friday, so I need a car.
As I slowly figure out the rate calculator, I put this together based on the Audi I shared above:
Now, it is a 48-month lease. I have done a 48-month lease before. Would you recommend not? Chance I very good that we would just end up buying the vehicle after the lease term is up anyway, but I like the lower monthly payment.
There seem to be some misconceptions around what leasing is and who benefits from leasing.
The people who benefited most from leasing were those who were going to drive BMWs, Mercedes, etc anyway and found leasing as a way to lower their TCO (total cost of ownership) through inflated RV, subvented MF and massive depreciation reduction through a combination of rebate and discount.
They could also do so because they had the cash to put down MSD, had loyalty from prior ownership, or had corp/fleet from working at a select list of companies, knew about OL codes and had bought CCA membership, etc etc.
Leasing also benefited people who wanted … let’s call them toys for lack of a better word and again had the financial security to easily afford the overlapping monthly payments and insurance coverage on those extra cars. People who could pick up a Camaro V8 on a whim, an extra Mini to toss around, maybe even a Jaguar F-type.
You have to know what situations benefit from leasing in order to take advantage of it, or the banks will take advantage of you.
Question, and I think you may have answered this for me a long time ago, Max, but I can’t find the response…
When I reach out to a dealer with a deal that I put together with the lease calculator, what is the best approach? Should I detail every thing out for them that I put together in the calculator and wrap it up with a bow on top or just keep it short? Do you have any example communications that you could share with me?
It’s definitely worth playing around with different lease terms to see where the sweet spot is. On the GC 4xe, for example, the sweet spot right now is either 39 months or 27 months.
