First of all thanks for creating and maintaining this portal. It is immensely helpful to us newbies. I was looking at a suv for the household and thought of opting for a new one on lease this time. I jumped on this portal and read most of the 101 articles and started using the calculator to prepare a quote myself before going to the dealer. There are some elements which I have doubt on:
Selling price: we generally have access to the internet price that has some discount and then bonus rebates / incentives. Is selling price the MSRP - dealer discount?
I see a lot of “offers” on the website of the dealer but nothing clearly defines them as rebate vs incentive or bonus cash getting me confused if they qualify for tax or untaxed incentives?
How do I get a list of FEES, TAXES, REBATES. This would be fetched from the dealer or someway I can research on this on my own?
I really want to understand how to find these values to set my expectations and get a good deal by taking them a deal and negotiating on that
All you need to worry about is the pre-incentive discount. You can check what incentives are in your area with Edmunds - you can also confirm a RV and MF. It’s also helpful to know which incentives such as loyalty, conquest, college grad, etc. you qualify for.
Ignore all dealer advertisements - it’s usually a bait and switch. They will lump all of the incentives which you probably don’t qualify for. Make it clear when you’re getting a selling price that it does NOT include whatever rebates and incentives you qualify for. They will look to muddy the waters here to confuse you.
Fees and taxes vary by state. You can easily research those and what are capped and which are not.
Thanks for the response. So basically concentrate on the dealer discount MSRP - whatever they offer rather than the “offers”.
I did do the check in my area for the cars I am interested in, edmunds provided RV/MF and some amount for incentives. The incentives didn’t have a detail with them. On using the calculator I just used the price on the internet which included the dealer discount only.
I just googled car lease tax in my state and it gave a number but I am not clear on how to fetch the fees? I would try google again but if there is something like edmunds please do refer.
What state are you in and what car are you looking at?
Edmunds will usually only disclose general lease incentives, they won’t disclose incentives that some people won’t qualify for - unless you specifically inquire about a specific rebate/incentive. So depending on the make and model, you have to know which other incentives you qualify for, like Infiniti’s VPP, bmw loyalty, etc.
I am currently in NJ and planning to register here. I got 7 percent as the tax for the car leases. The calculator also says the tax would be on the monthly car lease payment what would that mean? Also, I am looking at multiple models including Ford / VW / Kia / Hyundai, this is because of Hyundai and Kias leasing out at crazy prices and then Ford dealers not even responding (leasehackr posts on ford leases don’t sound comforting)
If I understand the tax would be levied on the lease amount (per monthXtotal lease term) and would have to be paid upfront in my case?
I had run some numbers for a Telluride, the dealer says the tax is included in the payment… ??
The amount is based on total lease amount, but they can then roll it into the monthly payment. That’s different then applying sales tax to the monthly payment.
