This is the second auto lease I’ve ever done. The first was nine months ago but there was nothing special about it.
I went into this one as a learning experience. In retrospect I did make a couple of mistakes. Fortunately for a one-pay this low the magnitude of the mistakes are small. What I learned should prevent bigger mistakes in future leasing, might have one coming up within the next two quarters.
What made this deal work was stacking incentives, not any particular magic with the specific dealer. I stacked:
- $5,350 Colorado EV (anyone in CO should get minimum $5,000
- $3,000 Bolt EV Owner (special incentive for Bolt owners)
- $500 Educator
- $500 GM Card
Incentives that others might qualify for depends on what else you own (for loyalty or conquest) or where you work.
Lessons learned:
- No matter how clear I tried to make the front-end document the deal, what I was shown in the back-end was different. The final price was the same but the way it was calculated was different.
- Somehow I ended up waiving the acquisition fee for (I think) a higher MF. I would have been better off paying the fee for lower MF.
- Some add-on products were added that I’m working to cancel. Those will reduce my final price by about $200.
- I should have walked away to clear my head when I realized the numbers didn’t quite make sense, but instead I was tired and wanted to close the deal to go home.
I have two other EVs and this one kind of fits in the middle. I like the Equinox EV overall, considering the intended role as GM’s entry EV. It seems thoughtfully designed and would be a great starter EV for a family. The 3LT would have been worth the little bit extra for additional comforts like ventilated seats, garage door opener, and dual climate. Especially now that I understand that I really only pay a fraction of the package cost on a lease like this.
The whole point of this transaction was to learn about leasing and negotiating, not that I needed another car. Most likely I’ll use this as a “placeholder” while I sell off some other vehicles and upgrade my wife’s car. Depending on what GM does with future MSRP and incentives this might make an attractive lease transfer for someone in the future. Unlikely I’d ever have any equity for a early termination to make sense.