I am an expat and haven’t leased a car in the US ( although extensive experience in the UK ).
This forum rocks and people here are so helpful and it has been useful to get my head around things.
I am getting a lease quote directly from Audi Manhattan and the sales person at the dealership has only provided me the following info and the window sticker for the car.
She is now asking me for a credit card payment for a deposit on the vehicle.
36 Months
10k miles per year
taxes and fees upfront $5,700
Monthly payment $911
My question is, what should the dealer be providing me in terms of info and how best should I be assessing the lease prior to me providing my card details?
That is really all they have to provide. It is up to your to ask for any other details, such as selling price, residual, etc if they don’t provide it. There are resources on here for determining what a good deal is for the market and Edmunds for residual, money factor, and rebates.
Ultimately, that’s really the only information you actually need from the dealer. You should have worked out your target pricing based on current programs before reaching out to the dealer, so you should have a solid basis for comparison. What you don’t want to do is ask the dealer for quotes blind. Remember, talking numbers with the dealer is for finding someone willing to do your deal, not for figuring out what something should lease for.
We always recommend the following method before you ever contact a dealership. If you do all of the work up front, you’ll have a stress free dealer experience and set yourself for success.
Read Leasing 101 (EDITORIAL | LEASEHACKR) to understand how to calculate a lease payment and the variables. Monthly payment is an output, not an input!! While you’re at it, be sure to watch the LH video (How to Use Leasehackr - YouTube) to brush up on how to most efficiently use the resources here.
Pick a specific vehicle that you want to target
Gather the current MF, RV and incentives from the LH Calculator - Lease Program Query or Edmunds forums for your zip code
Research the LH marketplace and other deals that have been made recently on your vehicle - what was their pre-incentive discount? How did their lease terms differ?
Plug your numbers into the LH calculator (CALCULATOR | LEASEHACKR), and use a pre-incentive discount similar to what you have seen
Create a target deal, this is what you’re trying to negotiate to. You can try different terms, selling price discount, etc. and see how your monthly payment is affected. It is also possible that different trims of your vehicle may have different MF and RV (i.e. this is very common with GM), so make sure that you look into that. Come up with a set of inputs that give you the output that you want - your desired monthly payment.
With a target price determined, you now have a deal to pursue and compare dealer offers against. More importantly, you have a solid foundation to work from.
