I’ve been searching for a Jetta lease and multiple dealers say they’ll only give me a quote if I stop in. None over the phone or email. I went to one dealer close to me and they gave me a decent price but refused to send me home with anything in writing. Why are they so slimy? Should I ask to speak to a manager or do they have no obligation to quote me unless I “stop in”.
There’s no obligation on their part, or your part to do business with them. They don’t want to give you a quote in writing for fear you’ll take it to some other dealership because all of them supposedly will beat any written quote. (Not true in practice of course.)
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So you can’t shop it around against them.
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It’s ridiculous because every dealer says bring us a quote and we’ll beat it. The thing is you can’t get any quotes to bring LOL.
Expand your search area, and only work with dealers that will be transparent via email with you. It’s always a trap and waste of time to get sucked into the dealership. Most VW dealers that I’ve dealt with in the past have been cagey.
There are a lot of good posts here you can search for that talk about how to word emails to dealers. Also, even though I don’t like that subreddit in generally, if you look at askcarsales on reddit you’ll see a lot of reps give their side - and basically what it boils down to is if they think you’re shopping them or otherwise not serious about buying from them, they won’t give you anything or give you something ridiculous. Sometimes it boils down to store policy.
It takes time and some practice to find a method and tone that works for you, and then finding the right dealer to work with.
The funniest is when they say that, then you come back to them with an aggressive LH-style quote from another dealer and they won’t even match it.
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Dude that’s seriously an epic response. I really appreciate your time!
Some dealers won’t e-mail offers, some will. I leased a 2017 VW from a new dealer even though I have leased 4 cars from a dealer around the corner from me. The close by dealer refused to e-mail me a contract. The problem was that I was in North Carolina at the time on vacation. The dealer 45 min away quoted me over e-mail, send the paperwork via Fed-Ex and delivered the car to my home 8 days later when I arrived home. Even post dated the deal so the lease didn’t start until 8 days after I signed the paperwork and got home
LOL I had one manager that straight up said, just go to the other dealer we will not match or beat it
So, I’ll be honest, I’ve openly admitted that I stink at negotiating. So I’ve decided to change how I do it in the future…
If there’s a lot of VW dealerships in your area (or if you’re willing to drive to a more distant one) then, as everyone else says, expand your search.
If there’s a VW dealership near you (my nearest dealership is literally like 1.5 miles away), and if you have an hour free, why not stop in for a quick test drive? It won’t take much time, and I can’t imagine they won’t give you a quote after that. Don’t take time to negotiate anything there; just drive, ask them to e-mail you a quote, and then by on your merry way. At least you’ll get a first baseline quote to use in the future…
Because their quote can be used to leverage other dealers into beating their price. That being said, why do business with someone who doesn’t encourage you to shop around?
I did exactly that. I went in person and test drove one and got a quote for $192 including tax a month on a Jetta s manual with $1,000 DAS for “fees” (sigh). Msrp:20,300
List price:16,900
3 years 10k/year
Residual: 60%
MF: .0012 (according to VW)
According to the calculator it’s a decent deal but not the best I could get. The problem is I asked for a print out of the breakdown or an email and the salesman refused until I was ready to sign.
If you have all of those details then you don’t need a written copy. Take the deal and see if the next dealer can do $20 a month less.
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That or the same on a sign and drive.
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List price? I assume you mean selling price?
You’ve got a quote, now start shopping it around! 
The residual and MF were not given to me by the dealer those came from the internet. I think the problem is my area. I live in the philly suburbs near New Jersey As well. Prices here are ridiculous and there are about a thousand dealers in the area who don’t seem to budge. I may have to look in Maryland or Drleware for a deal. Although I heard Delaware charges high initial fees due no not having sales tax.
I’ve had good luck in the Cherry Hill area… anyway the gist of it is to keep casting a wider net until you catch one
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Don’t overthink it, broaden the search if you want or simply call your current best offer dealer back and tell them you’ll do the deal for $0 DAS or for $20 a month less and let them stew on it.
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