A single woman walks into a dealership trying to lease a Ford Mach-E and the energy shifts from “customer” to “prey.”
I asked the associate what the MF/rate equivalent was, and the guy from the leasing dept barked:
“Do you even know how a lease works?”
I decided to stop going to dealerships and instead started researching signed California Mach-E deals on here in the $400s/$500s YET I’m getting quoted:
• $978/mo with $1k DAS
OR
• $822/mo with $5k DAS
for a $55k Mach-E Premium at 15k miles/year. Residual shown is 49%.
At this point I feel like I need:
a finance degree
a forensic accountant
and the confidence of a 6’4 guy named Mike walking into a dealership
just to lease an EV.
I really want to support American, and would genuinely appreciate help figuring out:
where this structure is getting inflated so aggressively
whether the MF/rent charge is heavily marked up
which numbers on these worksheets are the biggest red flags
and realistically where this deal should land for California / 15k miles / top-tier credit.
Worksheets attached because I refuse to suffer alone.
Car with 49% residual and very small discount and/or incentives just won’t be leasing well. Maybe good to find a broker to help? OR if open to other EVs…Have you looked into any of the Chevy EVs?
I looked into the Ioniq 5 and BMW i4 already, but I keep coming back to the Mach-E, I want this car.
What’s throwing me is that a fully loaded BMW i4 was quoting around the low $700s, so seeing some of these Mach-E worksheets pushing into similar territory feels completely bizarre.
Good on you for not feeling pressured. The finance manager is likely the only person in the building who can calculate a lease but that has nothing to do with getting a good (or even fair deal, which this isn’t).
Great, so let’s figure out what the best possible deal is and once you’ve put those number together, move to a strategy of making offers by email. You don’t need to step foot into a dealer again until you’re ready to sign.
You’re already a super supporter here so you have access to the residual money factor (Ford uses interest but it’s converted to MF in RF) and incentives through Rate Finder.
start a deal check and calculator based on this example $53,600 msrp, 36m/15k): ask any questions you have, post a calculator link when you have one.
There is 0 reason to ever ask a dealer what the money factor is or to care if they elect to mark it up.
Establish your target deal based on buy rate and make them an offer. If they need to mark up the money factor with a commensurate discount to satisfy some internal quota or bonus structure and that enables them to meet your number, by all means, mark it up.
Trying to be prepared with the pertinent lease details is the right step, but that’s information you need before talking to a dealer, not sourced from the dealer.
Walked into a ford dealership a week ago… the floor sales guy did not know what mf and residual was lol. Was about to pull a triger on Mach E but never thought of it since.
Walking into the dealership and asking for information is just a bad idea as you’ve now learned. All of the data for residual value and money factors are available on here in the rate finder tool. Figure out if there’s any incentives that can be applied to the lease and determine what would be a good discount. Put everything together and that’s your target deal. From there call as many dealerships as you want and give them your offer.
Unfortunately though, as others have said, a Mach E lease might be a non starter. There’s not many EV lease deals in general anymore. If you really want a Mach-E it might make sense to buy a used one for cheap at this point. Or start browsing Marketplace and see if anything catches your eye.
Research and confirm your #s online, crosscheck RateFinder to Edmunds forum for the desired car you want. Make offers to your local dealerships and surrounding areas. Best chance is end of the month, end of the quarter for them to play ball. On email, it don’t matter if you are M/F, they can’t tell so you won’t feel diminshed. If they play games via email, move on to the next dealership.
Look at Signed section and what brokers are offering for your target price. If you can’t get to your target price on your own, then seek a broker deal to save time.
We’ve all had them or considered them before passing. They are honestly very basic cars that are priced right when they’re cheap. Otherwise just move on.
And there’s no sense in an emotional attachment to a brand that treated you badly.
