Signed last week: a 2024 Hyundai Ioniq 5 Limited AWD. MSRP: $59,290. Paid $10,764 via One Pay for 24 months/12,000 miles.
Location: Massachusetts
Just wanted to share my journey in case it helps someone. This is what I did and what I learned.
What I did first:
- I looked up what people were paying via Signed! and checked the incentives and discounts I should expect.
- Cross-checked broker prices on the forum to understand my target. Unfortunately, no brokers shipped to MA, and I didn’t find local ones.
- Paid $10 to become a Leasehackr Super Supporter for a month to access current MF/incentives/residual for my location in the calculator. (Tip: Cancel the next day if you don’t plan to continue paying.)
- Went to Cars.com and searched for the trim/color combo I wanted within 500 miles of my location. Reached out to everyone via cars.com web form.
- Ignored all phone calls and requests to have a call or visit the dealership. Sent a standard response to all first email replies: "Hey, I want to buy this vehicle. I live in Boston and don’t mind driving N miles to pick it up if the price is right. I want to buy it by the end of the week. Now I only want to know the best selling price you could give me.”
- Dealt with dealers reluctant to give numbers without a visit or a call. Kept asking for the selling price. Once received (which may take days and escalations), I started negotiating the discount I wanted.
- Now, here is the first trick. Some dealerships send auto-emails from under Sales Manager or a General Manager names with their addresses. I used this as an opportunity to reach out to them directly, mentioning the person I was working with but stressing the need for a specific discount to proceed. Sometimes it worked; often, there was no response.
- And here goes the second trick: I searched inventory on the Hyundai website and reached out to a couple of dealers there. Didn’t help with the car, but this led to an email from Hyundai with a $500 personal coupon about a week later. So it’s definitely worth doing.
- Eventually, it came down to 3-4 dealerships willing to send numbers and apply a discount close to what I was ready to agree on. But the day I was planning to take delivery, I found this forum post with even better discount (I had $3k off, and this guy got a $4k!). As a result, I decided to visit this dealership (they’re somewhat close) but with the specific strategy in mind. I came and told them that I have a friend, who knows someone, who had received a discount of $4k off MSRP from you, and I want you to give me the same (never mentioned the forum, just said a friend of a friend, so I don’t need to use names). By chance, as I learned later, it happened to be the same sales assistant who helped the guy from the forum post (Sales person name was actually on papers in the aforementioned post lol), which might have influenced my deal. Speaking of, thanks boyzclub2409 and hope it’s ok that I used your deal as a reference without asking (Probably should have).
- But that night I left empty-handed because I refused a test drive (had no time and no reason to do so), and they wouldn’t discuss numbers without it. Super silly, but that’s what it is. Emailed the next day, still no numbers until I visited again to do the test drive. I kept asking the same question, and they kept telling me to come back. Was very pissed off tbh. I usually don’t do it, but this time around, knowing about the deal other person got from this place, I decided to give them another chance.
- I came back and did the test drive, followed their script, played along, and then got back to my request for a specific discount and money factor. To cut to the chase, I even gave them the final number I calculated previously for one pay (-10K incentives, -4k discount, -500 personal coupon, not marked 0.00211 up MF) and they agreed quickly (well, almost. A bit off, but still close). So I signed.
What I Learned:
- One Pay saved me ~$2400 (~25% of total cost) in comparison to paying monthly. If you have cash you could use and ok with the risk of losing money if you total the vehicle — IMHO it’s absolutely worth it in cases like that.
- Using Hyundai’s inventory search was unexpectedly helpful as it got me an instant $500 off — For no cost for the dealer, so it’s a win-win.
- Apparently, dealerships have limited manufacturer’s coupons, $500 each, which are being replenished by HMG every now and then. My dealership used three of them, plus my personal coupon. And there was another dealership who told me they have 5 they could use.
- You probably know that, but some floor sales people won’t give you any good price online as they can’t go off script — They need you to be there. It’s not because they’re bad people, it’s just how their job is structured. And in some cases, your presence can be leverage (as they say), but only go if you know you can get a better deal, otherwise it’s just a waste of time and energy.
- I didn’t know, but dealerships can get the car you want from another dealership (via swap? I believe this is how it’s called) and even use the same discount - 3 dealers I worked with agreed to give me the same discount for the car from another place. But the final lease number was very high so I guess they wanted to balance out by marking up the MF. I pointed that out but still got no response.
- Speaking of, it should come as no surprise, but dealers really love to mark up the money factor, especially if you pushed them to give you a good discount. Or they may say they won’t, and they tell you the MF they presumably use, but the final number could be 30-40% higher than it should be. So be aware and do your math.
- Final contract numbers can be confusing and don’t always match calculators. I literally spent hours today trying to replicate dealers’ numbers in the calculator and in my local excel - no luck. So I adjusted the selling price on the calculator so the final price matches.
Hope this helps someone. If you’re in Massachusetts and looking for a Hyundai, try contacting Ron at McGovern Hyundai on Rt. 93. I told him I will share his name with my friends who are looking for the vehicle (And you all are my friends). He seems to be a nice guy after all, and he got me the price I asked for, so… here is that.
Signed!: SIGNED! DEAL | LEASEHACKR
