What is negotiable during a lease?

This is more of a general question, not just about Subaru. There's all kinds of things that can be done to negotiate prices when purchasing a vehicle. Wondering what kind of things can be negotiated during a leasing negotiation? How much can you negotiate the price, for example?

Yousuf Khan

Reply to
Yousuf Khan
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You can negotiate the mileage allowance, for one. When my son got his '14 Forester, he leased it rather than purchase it. We worked out the numbers and, after the lease expired in three years, the purchase cost plus the lease payments he made worked out the same as if he purchased it outright. The advantage for him was that he had the option to walk away after three years if he wanted to or if the car had been damaged in an accident he also had the option to not keep it after three years. He did keep the Forester.

We first negotiated a purchase price and then chose the option to lease and negotiated a higher mileage allowance. The purchase price is the price that the dealer sells the car to the leasing company for. Back in the 80's when leasing was starting, car dealers would make much more profit on a lease because they would sell the cars to the leasing companies for more than they would be able to on an outright purchase. They would typically sell the car at full MSRP or even higher. Back then, the purchase price wasn't exactly disclosed to the person leasing, all they would know was what the monthly payment was which was all they were concerned with. That's why no one, whether purchasing or leasing, should shop for a car based on what the monthly payment is. When a salesperson knows what the monthly amount you are wanting to pay is, he/she might have negotiated a lower purchase price if they knew you were only concerned with the final cost but they wind up negotiating a higher cost since the monthly payment works out to what the buyer wanted.

So, is it time for you to give up the Tribeca?

Reply to
PAS

In a business transaction, *everything* is negotiable- except a term/condition that would be illegal. If a dealer tells you otherwise, he's lying.

The dealer may *choose* not to negotiate certain terms or elements of the deal with you but it's just that-- his choice. Your choice is to accept his terms, or walk out.

Lotta car dealers in my town;-)

Reply to
Wade Garrett

Interesting, that's an idea that I never even considered.

No, I'm still happy with mine, other than the gas mileage. I'm actually asking on behalf of some friends of mine who just leased a Honda HR-V. I accompanied them to go pick up the vehicle, but I felt that they were really taken advantage of by the dealer, and it was too late to help them get a better deal because they were already signing the agreement. I told them to contact me on their next purchase or lease for the 2nd car, because I didn't want them taken advantage of on that one too.

Yousuf Khan

Reply to
Yousuf Khan

I'm trying to find out what specifically can be negotiated on a lease.

Yousuf Khan

Reply to
Yousuf Khan

You'll only know that when you sit down with the dealer. Like I said, everything is negotiable provided it's legal- and maybe a little even if it's not ;-)

Reply to
Wade Garrett

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