Yes, thats the point.
nearly all say no.
If you’re proposing a deal every dealer is willing to do, you are way above the floor.
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Certainly, there is no arguing that.
And, as one poster earlier mentioned, if I go to the same dealership 6 months or a year later, I won’t get as good of a deal, even if the person who closed my earlier great deal is still there. There are multiple factors involved, including the time of month, how motivated the dealership is to move their stock and etc. But all the variables factored in, still, I didn’t have any luck with ones I didn’t first establish good rapport with. In any event, what @philliefresh1988 suggests is cost effective method worth trying. It’s not too hard to fire 100 emails and make few dozen calls saying “On your stock number AB12345 with MSRP $X I offer $Y, with your standard MF for Tier A1 of 0.00cde and monthly payment of $F/mo for 36 mo 10K/yr, taxes and fees rolled into monthly payments”.
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I can answer this. I recently purchased a car while living in one of the most uncompetitive areas for dealerships in this country. When I called dealers around me, I told them my terms and monthly payment target. Told them that if they met those, I could be there in 30 minutes. Two things happened: Either their majesty wouldn’t deal over the phone or the quote was so uncompetitive that I could essentially change the tier of the car I was purchasing. In the end, I shopped far away and called salespeople at different dealers with terms, target payment, and an assurance that I would sign the contract electronically. Some couldn’t even come close to the offer, while 2 others did the following:
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Gave me their number and I told them it was higher than I was looking for. Salesmen told me that to get to my target payment, they would have to reduce more off MSRP and the manufacturer doesn’t allow them blah blah. So I showed them a dealer near them that was doing the necessary MSRP off and that it was completely possible. Salesmen continues to play dumb despite being caught in a lie and doesn’t reduce a dollar.
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I actually thought this dealer would meet my target payment as their initial quote was really close and the moment I mentioned I would need it in writing before I come down there(dealer is several hours away from), they went on and on about not wanting to be shopped around, they don’t send quotes etc etc. I told them there was no way I would come down there without seeing numbers in writing and held firm.
The conversations with the dealers went for days. One was playing dumb and the other was trying to act smart. Finally, I called another dealer in that area and within 5 minutes of conversation, we met at my numbers and I signed. I didn’t hear one word about being shopped around, not putting numbers on paper blah blah. They could do the best offer in the area and they knew it, so they weren’t scared. Signed papers and picked up the car.
OP, always call(don’t email, BDC useless) and mention your payment. Never go in person and tell them you want the offer in writing before you go out of your home.
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Some excellent advise here from seasoned professionals and buyers/lessees. But…
Please remember and spare a thought for those who live away from large metropolitan areas and don’t have access to dozens of dealers on their doorsteps. They don’t have the luxury of being able to shop around. I leased a Mazda last December and there is only one Mazda dealer within a 210 mile radius of where I live. Same with BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Jaguar, Alfa Romeo, Subaru, Tesla, Volvo, Volkswagen, Lexus, Audi, and so on.
The broker I contacted multiple times on this site never responded, so I did the deal myself and probably - almost certainly - ended up paying more than I should.
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I see only two main disadvantages of your location:
- Once you close the deal you may have to ship the car (and pay for transportation)
- You would have to travel long distance in order to individually inspect the car before purchase, if you wanted to see it before signing papers.
Other than that, you should not be restricted in your search for dealers, you can still google them (within 300 mi radius) and apply the same methods used by other seasoned hackers here.
Your being remote may even be your advantage, if the nearest dealerships are also outside of the large metropolitan areas and have relatively lower demand than in major cities. Even though we have many dozens of dealerships in DC metro area, the downside of this location is that too many people are out to lease cars and pay whatever dealers ask for.
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As you’ve seen, there are many different approaches to finding a lease. Here is a link to an attempt I made to systematically explore some aspects of leasing. Overall, the attempt was a failure, but I think it goes to show that (1) You need to cast a wide net, and (2) There is a HUGE variance in dealer pricing. I also have some examples of the messages I sent to dealers during that attempt.
I can also tell you some anecdotes I’ve learned over the years:
- To find a good deal, you’re going to get 99 dealers telling you that you are insane, and one telling you that you have a deal.
- You aren’t going to be able to replicate all deals in all areas. You aren’t going to be able to replicate all deals, period!
- Dealing with lots of dealers is painful. You generally have to do it anyway.
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This is a point that seems to get often missed. It always amazes me how many people say they went and made an offer, the one dealer said no, and theyre confused as to what went wrong.
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I think confusion sets when you contact 10 dealerships and 9 say no (or say nothing), and one is going out of their way insisting that you come “test drive the car and work out the deal”.
Also, each make/model is different. Getting a great deal on Volvo is much easier compared to some notoriously bad makes and models with high standard MF for tier 1, low RV, no cash bonuses/rebates/incentives in existence.
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One more thing to consider: the number of dealerships you can reach out to could be realistically limited to a dozen or so for a certain make/model, if you set a radius of 150 miles from your zip code (the most distance I would be willing to travel in person to pick up a car). If you throw wider net you will have to either:
A) Travel very long distance to inspect car in person before signing a lease (IMHO it’s always better to do in-person inspection of the car before you drive it off)
B) Order long distance, hope car will be in the condition you expect and pay for transportation costs (add hundreds of dollars to transaction)
The A might be necessary if you have a car to trade. You don’t want to travel 400 or 2000 miles, only to be told by dealer “My numbers were based on assessed value $X, but your car is worth $Y, so we must add the difference to your balance now”. Walking out from a dealership 2000 miles away (and/or shipping your car to it) is not the same as walking out from some place 60 miles away.
Which brings me (in my individual case) to a possibility of having to select my next car make/model based on the best deal I can get rather than the car I would really want.
I want GLE350 or 450e, but at this time I am skeptical of the prospect of getting a great deal on it anytime between now and 2025 when my current lease expires. Possibility is certainly there, MB may roll some handsome incentives between now and then, the Feds may drop interest rates and MB MF may get closer to reasonable, but it’s also possible (even likely) than none of these things will materialize. So, I would then be forced to look into other makes/models or restrict my search to strictly MB EV’s with lowest MF and highest incentives available (not a good choice for me because I genuinely detest EV cars).
But, as one poster praised pro dealers for being flexible, capable of evolving and adapting to existing conditions, a seasoned lessor may also be forced to be flexible, to evolve and adapt by setting their eyes on makes/models they would not be willing to consider under any other circumstances.
And patience, above all, is a must. Impulsive and desperate drive to get the car you want , now and here might be the worst thing to avoid.
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I think that boils down to the are you shopping the deal or are you shopping the car.
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Never had to chose one over other in the past 20+ years leasing cars, but may well have to, just given the conditions I can’t control or change. And I think I will go with the deal rather than a car.
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I think brokers refuse to work with you if they know off the bat that they can’t deliver a deal that you want. The same thing happened to me when I contacted non-MB broker (won’t say which one) here and asked if I could pay advertised monthly lease without paying anything else on inception (they demanded taxes upfront, or to be rolled into monthly lease). They figured they wouldn’t be able to make a deal and decided to invest their time on leads they had high odds of closing.
I had better experience with MB broker here from @AutoNinjas. Rather than being ignored, I received a call and had very good 5 minute conversation where everything was laid out to me transparently and it became clear to me that what I want on GLE450e is out of reach at the moment.
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Read my negotiating tactic on this thread in the first post where I talk about how I incorporated the phone.
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It sounds like you told them you werent interested in what they were offering. Why be surprised that they didnt want to do business after you told them you werent interested?
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No, I did not tell them that I was not interested. Since they responded to my initial inquiry and said “taxes due upfront with that advertised deal”, I asked them if I could get the advertised monthly payments with taxes included in it (and not added to monthly, on top of the advertised monthly lease). I was asked to provide some additional details (vin # of car I currently have, so they could calculate the tax credits and confirm that they would match CarMax offer), but was ghosted ever since. I didn’t follow up, to me it’s a clear sign that broker couldn’t accommodate my request or is not willing to waste time on what they know they can’t deliver.
You told them you werent interested in their offering and told them you wanted thousands more off. Is there a nicer way to tell you to pound sand than ghost you? Yah, probably, but you announced to them you werent a viable customer. Taking thousands more off isnt “accomodating a simple request”.
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Did your significant other yell at you this morning, or you just have a bad morning? 
Why should anyone tell someone to pound sand? I don’t get all this emotional involvement, anger and drama when it comes to price negotiation. To me it’s simply “Yes” or “No”, and it goes both ways. I am very cool when dealer asks me $6000 above what I am willing to pay, or says “No” when I ask for more discount than they will give. I see no reason for them to be ‘nice’ about telling me to ‘pound sand’ (which implies they must be very angry with me in the first place). I am not willing to give them what they ask for, they are not willing to do the same for me. So what? Life goes on and I wish them best of luck closing what they consider viable deals. That concept should be simple enough to process.
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Exactly the point.
You told them you didnt want to do business, so they didnt do business. End of story.
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I replied to other poster, who said he was ignored by brokers, I didn’t make anything of it other than what I have said. The part you quoted from my reply was preceded by “I think brokers refuse to work with you if they know off the bat that they can’t deliver a deal that you want”. Is there anything in that statement that you find disagreeable? 
Note that I said nothing about anyone pounding the sand, nor did I say that “I told them I don’t want to do business with you”. By that logic, the first thing I ever do whenever I contact any dealer is “I won’t do business with you!”, because I almost never call dealer to buy the deal they advertise (which usually involves $5000 in downpayments and $8000 DAS, to get advertised lease payments)
Nice of you both to hijack thread with your petty back and forth…but maybe take it to DMs