Car Leasing 401 - Prepare to Negotiate the Vehicle Lease

Key Points to Negotiating a Car Lease

When getting into negotiating the lease deal, you’ll want to focus on these points first.

• Negotiate the lease price (cap cost), having a specific target price in mind. Price is always negotiable.
  
• Dealer only control the selling price. Don't expect to get very far trying to negotiate residuals and money factor (define: money factor). These are controlled by the leasing company
  
• Check for any rebates, advertised specials, factory-to-dealer incentives (define: dealer incentives), or discounts that would reduce your cap cost. Even certain vehicle add-ons (define: add-ons) may be included within the lease agreement, which you may not want, and could be removed.
  
• Consider you’re down payment and trade-in value of you’re current vehicle
  
• Ask about any acquisition fees (define: acquisition fee), disposition fees, or other charges that would affect your cost.

Once you’ve got the deal, get the dealership to calculate the monthly payment, less any taxes, based on the figures you’ve agreed to. Calculate this out yourself as well and compare the final numbers. If the numbers don’t align, check to see what the discrepancy may be, as it may not reflect any details you worked out with the dealer.

Ensure the same cap cost, residual, money factor, and term are being used by the dealership. If any discrepancies arise, have the dealership explain the calculation in detail. Often, if there is a difference, it’s likely a mistake on some unmentioned additionally charge or basic calculation error. The dealership will do their best to provide you the correct figures based on the details you worked out with them.

Part III: Negotiating a Car Lease Summary