I`m reading the thread, and most common suggestion is to name your price after researching whats available. However how does that typically work for say deals like Volvo1? Let me preface the obvious that this was on a purchase.
2020 LS500
Market report from say CD pre-incentive: 8%
LH forum search is nonexistant on previous deals in the same timeframe
Actual Pre-incentive: 12.5%
Without shopping some dealers (possibly against each other), how would one know that their actually exists a 4.5% spread of whats advertised and what can be done?
Itās definitely more challenging when there is less data. One can make some guesstimates based in other vehicles in the same brand; typically the dealer payment structure doesnāt differ that wildly from model to model. Otherwise, youāre left with trying to cast a really wide net and understanding that some interactions are purely there to test the market. Itās also plenty reasonable to have a different strategy when shopping a different market situation. Thereās not necessarily a 1 size fits all solution.
I just found this and would be happy to help, but be sure to use an @ before a username. Once you have some data, completed research on LS and its leasing programs, and have some responses from offers you sent to dealers, make a thread.
As @mllcb42 said there is an extremely amount of limited data on the LS 500 on the forum, which is why I wanted to contribute my data point even though it was a purchase. However, pre-incentive discounts for purchase/lease should not be extremely different. However, the incentives (more importantly the Lexus cash for the LS) is what matters. For me, it was either $5,000 total for lease and $9,000 total for purchase, to which I decided on the latter being that it was going to cost more to put 20,000 miles per year (with pre-paid miles at 0.20$ per mile and ~49% RV) then buy the car with more incentive and sell reasonablebased on trade-in values for older and higher-mileage models.
The being said, the discount I received was a combination of research and reasonable low-ball offers, which are not recommended if you want a bunch of phone calls and emails to lead to dead-ends (I mention reasonable offers because there is a fine line between a very good discount and wasting peopleās time, ask @HondaSoCal). If you want to put in the work, most likely you will find a dealer that will get close. It took me taking the time to send 10 different quotes for different cars and slightly different MSRPs to dealers for them to essentially say āno, but if you find somebody else to do that we will match itā (not a tactic that I like to participate in being that one person put their best price and others just want to leech off somebodyās aggressive offer). Also, the dealer I purchased the vehicle from told me that they are not going to replicate that discount again on an LS.
Summary: It is doable, but requires reasonable low-ball offers and a lot of dead-end communication from dealers.
Iām pretty new to this site, but Iāve been doing my own independent number crunching recently in the hopes of getting a good lease on a custom 2021 330i this month (preferably before the end of the year). Iāve been reading a lot of posts today and trying to better understand the way many of you are able to get great lease deals on these vehicles.
Iām at the point where Iām ready to start contacting people, but Iām a little lost on who I should be contactingāespecially since Iām looking into a custom car. I know the price of the custom as well as the price Iām willing to pay monthly and up front, but I am just trying to understand the best way to go about negotiating and contacting dealerships.
My first real question is: who do I contact? I like the idea of keeping it email-only until the deal is getting better. My second question would be: what are honestly the best things to say in an opening email? Iāve been reading posts but it seems like thereās many options and approaches.
Any help would be greatly appreciated and Iām looking to learn more about this process.
I have found it hard to negotiate over email. Perhaps it is because I stick to my local metro area (ATL) and the dealerships are pretty high volume. I donāt think most of the Audi and BMW sales folks need to spend much time emailing back and forth.
What has worked for me is appearing to be serious and letting them know that I know the components of the lease. I also try to make sure that I actually get a sales advisor and even the sales manager. I do my research before hand and state the MF buy rate, residual, and applicable incentives. I also indicate that I am open to speaking over the phone. I think it goes a long way in seeming serious and building that rapport.
In your case you may want to call dealerships first and ask who their custom-order specialists are, if any. Then use either phone and/or email ā¦ as long as you have something in writing before stepping in there or putting a deposit down.
Everyone has their own approach, there is no single ābestā
But thereās no reason to be daunted. Just pick one and go with it.
I figured I would share my last email with this particular dealer:
āDear Shaun,
While financing can be discussed in part over email via price quotes and out the door pricing lease terms are very different due to several factors including your private information which needs to be accessed by the lender as well as the sales and finance team in person when you come in for a vehicle.
You can ask to be put in touch with someone in sales. State that you prefer to work this out online. Blame covid or some bs as your reason. Volunteer to submit the credit app so they wonāt have any excuse not to discuss pricing.
Know when to stop, thereās no point in dragging negotiations out for an entire month. Try and get as much as you can of course, but realize at one point, dealers going to have to say no.
I have been trying to get in touch with some dealers, mainly their lead salesmen, or even a normal one.
However, I have had trouble actually getting a conversation with them. Submitting a request on the car page only brings bots emailing me high prices, and the models on the chatheads do the same. The dealers call, and I prefer not to talk, since I need to take my time to check the numbers. The meet the staff page rarely has emails, and when they did, the email wasnāt set up.
How do you guys initiate conversation with people who can actually process your offers?
The BDC models only take info and then refer you to someone else, who never gets in touch. What is your experience?
Google: internet sales manager email address [insert name of dealership here].
I just googled it with ten different car brands in my area and was able to get direct email addresses for all of them. Iād avoid spending the time drafting an email unless you can get their direct email address. Hereās the email Iād suggest you write after getting that email address (spoiler alert, it landed me this car for this deal about 12 hours after I wrote it).
Hi [first name of internet sales manager],
Iām wondering if youāre gunning for clearing out your 2020s? If so, Iād love to do a 36 month, 10k mile a year lease on the 2020 M340i you have on the lot (stock #L8B44299). I have first tier credit, qualify for $1000 loyalty and $500 lease to lease (turned in BMW end of October 2019 VIN #WBA8E9G54GNU30666). So with the $1000 lease cash/credit (total $2,500 untaxed incentives) if you can add 10% off the $62,570 MSRP, that would get us to $611/month (including tax in my zip code 94066) with $2,345 Drive-offs. Iām using this monthās residual and money factor from BMW FS of 58% and .00082 respectively. I would also need the car delivered to my house. I know this is a very tall order. Can you make it happen? If so, we will pay the Drive-offs and sign immediately.
I usually submit the āget more informationā form for a particular car. After some bots and emails, I eventually get someoneās contact info and then I have a better idea of if the dealer would play ball. I also do submit inquires to 10-15 dealerships, and end up with 3-4 that i actually start talking to more.
donāt waste time with themā¦ theyāre there to screen prospects and to do the grunt work weeding out the tire kickers. Find the SM or ISMā¦
āā 