This was the first lease deal I’ve done from start to finish. I’m very grateful to the whole leasehackr community and @michaell and @kyfdx at the edmunds forums.
This lease is for my parents and the Outback was the most comfortable for my mom. My mom also really wanted the EyeSight package, which bumped up the MSRP from the base $26,810 (with higher residuals) to the Premium $30,605. All local Outbacks with EyeSight had another $1,000 in options.
A few dealerships have told me that no one would honor this deal. However, all details have been confirmed by the General Manager by phone and email with delivery taking place later in the week. Lease quotes started with monthlies in the $340’s and ended up at $251.
I will post a photo once the Outback has been picked up.
Congrats! That’s a great deal. And yeah, kyfdx at edmunds is incredibly helpful. I wonder what he does for a living.
Quick question - my experience with getting some hard numbers over the phone or email from salespeople have not been successful. How did you end up negotiating with the General Manager?
@Chi_Ahrens - I did almost all negotiations with one of their internet folks via email - she was great. When I was happy with the discount, I calculated the payment with a template I had set up. That template showed me they were marking up the MF from .0004 to .0009. I called to speak with the internet rep and said I wanted to put down a deposit on the vehicle, but needed to talk about the MF being used first. She said that she could transfer me to the General Manager, who was desking the deal to begin with. He said the MF is marked up because depending on credit, it could be at the high end and they would always rather decrease a payment than increase it. When I assured him of tier 1 credit, he said he could do the deal with the buy rate MF without any arm-twisting.
If you ask for a General Manager via email or phone right off the bat, they may be unlikely to provide info. They haven’t qualified you as a “real potential buyer”. Once I had 20 emails back and forth with their internet rep, obviously I had dedicated sufficient time to this interaction to warrant a response from the General Manager.
