Hey All - I’ve been getting up to speed to negotiate my first car lease. I’ve historically lived in urban areas where it doesn’t make sense to get a car, so this is the first time I’ve gone through the leasing or buying process.
I’ve been reading through the posts and FAQs, but a few topics are still unclear to me. I’d love guidance on the following:
Who do I reach out to to get the conversation started over email? I can just fill out a contact me form on the website, but is it better to reach out to somebody at the dealership directly? Most dealerships have a staff page, so it seems like I can find the email addresses pretty easily, but it isn’t clear to me who I should reach out to - sales manager, internet manage (if they list it), some other position?
I’m considering a 2019 Audi A4 or A5. There are quite a few cars available in inventory across the dealership in my area (SF Bay Area). I’ve seen on Edmunds that the dealer marketing allowances for these models in my area are $6,000+. Does the size of these allowances affect the % discount I should be expecting to negotiate off of MSRP pre-incentives? Based on other posts, it seems like I should be aiming for a 13-15%+ discount pre-incentives, but incentives weren’t that high previously. Will this affect the discount dealers are willing to give / I should be negotiating for? I just don’t want to give myself unrealistic expectations on what to aim for.
Dealer discounts and incentives are not related if you’re negotiating the pre-incentive discount. Some dealers may try to tell you otherwise, but all they’re really saying is “we don’t want to do that deal”. Which is fine. Move on to one that will.
As for the first question, I usually reach out to the internet sales manager if I can.
You can reach out to anyone in sales, but often times more senior sales staff and managers are easier to work with and you’ll avoid playing the “don’t kill the messenger” game. A lot of unseasoned sales folks don’t know much, nor do they have the ability to negotiate, so you’ll play a lot of back and forth with them and most times you won’t get anywhere. If you find that this is the case with any current negotiations, move on or reach out to another sales person.
The best way to get an idea of discounts is simply by searching inventory and seeing what kinds of markdowns exist. Keep in mind that dealers want to be competitive, but also know that car sales rely on negotiation. So you’ll need data points to serve as benchmarks. It helps to also know industry folks who can help set expectations. Knowing numbers like invoice can be helpful but really aren’t necessary. Additionally, manufacturer rebates and incentives don’t come out of the dealer’s pocket, so I don’t think they play much of a role when dealers determine discounts on their inventory.
Generally speaking, the way to get the best value is to find cars that:
a) are being discounted heavily
b) have high residuals and low money factors
c) have ample manufacturer support (rebates and incentives)
Audi notoriously aren’t considered great leases from the perspective of payment against MSRP. The reason being that competing makes and models typically offer better ratios. Using the 1% rule as an example (where payment = 1% of vehicle’s MSRP), it’s significantly easier to get a BMW 3-series under 1% than an Audi A4.
