Worst leases you've seen

Saw someone else’s deal on dealership screen
Toyota 4Runner 42k MSRP
5k down and $599pm.
Unfortunately didn’t have a chance to see Months/mileage.

I went in to a local VW dealer a few years ago armed with numbers provided by a broker (didn’t show them the numbers, just knew what I wanted to pay). I wasn’t asking for any of the holdback. I felt I was being reasonable. I knew the car I wanted had been on his lot for two months (Jetta wagon). Salesperson said she thought we could do that deal. Brought it to the GM. GM sits down at her desk, looks at me and my wife, and says, “let me give you a little lesson in how to lease a car because you obviously don’t know what you’re talking about.” We walked out. That “dirty butthole” GM lost probably three or four new cars leased from me and my wife thanks to that comment. Shocked is one thing. Insult is another.

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I don’t really care what they say, in 2 or 3 years that dude won’t be there and I’ll be emailing every dealer in town and shopping, whoever wants to whore the car out gets my business. No loyalty in the car business.

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He’s still there. A work friend of mine just leased a car from him which is what reminded me of this story. He said you just have to deal with the personality. I said no, I don’t. I didn’t ask what he paid, but when we discussed using my broker to at least get a cost printout of what he should pay, he said no thanks, so I didn’t pry.

Interestingly enough, it was a Saab/VW dealer (had 900’s and 9-5’s for many many years, and was webmaster of Saab Club of NA). :slight_smile: My 11-year-old son still wants me to get a Saab (or SAAB) of some kind to work on.

Ha, I use to work at a Saab/VW dealer. One Saab story after another

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I am just curious if you talked to a broker why did you go to the dealer directly? I am not sure what your situation was, but in general, it is best for everyone if the brokers deal with dealers and build a relationship over time. Paying a broker fee compared to the monthly payment of the car is nothing and worth every penny.

Must have been a wrx or STi. People pay irrational money for those

My broker has two options. He can either give you the numbers or do the deal for you. I prefer to do business with the local dealers wherever possible because I want to support them if they can get close to the broker price. For instance, with our Grand Cherokee Limited, I got numbers and walked in the dealership knowing they had 20 of the vehicle I wanted and I knew what they paid for it. I asked to speak with the sales manager and said hello, I am interested in this VIN or similar and here’s what I’d like to pay for it (did not tell him I knew what they had paid for it or that I had numbers from a broker). Within five minutes we had negotiated a deal we were both happy with. I went in the next day, politely declined the F&I offers, and signed everything. The benefits of buying directly from this dealership was free towing, loaners, free inspections and oil changes, etc. Only three years earlier we had had a very bad experience with a 2014 Grand Cherokee that was bought back by Chrysler. Since the dealer it was purchased from wasn’t one that offered loaners, we ended up with $$$ in rentals on that one (the dealer had the vehicle as much as we did) so the free loaners next time around with a Jeep were particularly important to me. We had a CR-V between GC’s and I let the broker handle that one for me because I didn’t expect any issues and just wanted the lowest price. Long explanation I know, but that’s it. If the servicing dealer offers loaners when you buy from them, that is worth me losing a bit of money on the deal if it’s a brand I might have some issues with.

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The broker is just the middle man, the car still usually comes from a local dealership and you should get all the perks from that dealership. The car that Chrysler bought back from you has nothing to do with the broker. You would have had the same experience even if you bought the car yourself from the same dealership.

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I just clarified my earlier post - it wasn’t because of the broker that the Jeep was bad, I was just saying that when we decided to try Jeep again, I preferred to buy from a specific local dealer that I knew had a good service department and that offered loaners if there was any issue with the vehicle. That meant making the deal myself instead of letting my broker buy from whatever dealer within 100 miles or so of me that he had a relationship with and that gave him the best deal.

There are probably 30 Jeep dealerships within 100 miles of me. If I had gotten the 2014 at my dealer of choice instead of whoever would do the best deal with my broker, I would have had free loaners when it went in for service.

As for getting the car from a local dealership, that doesn’t always happen. On a couple of occasions I have had to go to the next state over to get it. I didn’t mind, it wasn’t that far, but again, I don’t always have a choice, especially if the broker doesn’t have a relationship with anyone at my preferred dealer.

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I guess… but why would you ask the broker to begin with knowing full well you aren’t going through them?

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Possible that broker gets paid one way or another. Like pay a fee and get these numbers and go hunt the deal yourself? Or pay more and also get full service through me?
Have not seen that but just may be…

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Exactly. I mentioned that in my first response - “My broker has two options. He can either give you the numbers or do the deal for you.”

I pay him either way for his time.

Interesting conversation guys but this is a thread about worst leases, not worst dealership stories. You should probably start a new thread if you want to share bad experiences.

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Yeah, sorry. People kept asking questions, so I kept answering. Will stop. Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to sideline things so much.

Effectively 627.78 per month for an Audi A3.

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This was due to bad credit. :frowning:

I don’t think bad credit affects money due at signing? Correct me if I’m wrong. Were MSDs put down as well?

In a secondary way it may as there could be max loan amount thus the rest is sitting in DAS that could not be financed.

eeek! $10k DAS

I would be driving it very, very, very carefully