Dealer agrees to sell a car at negotiated price but refuses to lease based on that price

bsh8

Following a frequent advice on the internet on how to get a good monthly payment when leasing a car, I first negotiated a price as if I am buying the car and then I said I want to lease it. I knew the money factor and residual value that the leasing company set for this car/term/location, and had calculated the monthly payment from those numbers. The dealership then said they would not lease for that monthly payment, even though they are OK to sell for that price. They said they had different dealer incentives (not buyer incentives!) for selling and for leasing and that if they leased for that monthly payment they would lose money. They insisted on either raising the negotiated price or raising the money factor. Were they telling the truth, or just found a way to get more money from me, seeing that I just wanted to lease but not to buy and not to walk?

Michaell

bsh8 said:

Following a frequent advice on the internet on how to get a good monthly payment when leasing a car, I first negotiated a price as if I am buying the car and then I said I want to lease it. I knew the money factor and residual value that the leasing company set for this car/term/location, and had calculated the monthly payment from those numbers. The dealership then said they would not lease for that monthly payment, even though they are OK to sell for that price. They said they had different dealer incentives (not buyer incentives!) for selling and for leasing and that if they leased for that monthly payment they would lose money. They insisted on either raising the negotiated price or raising the money factor. Were they telling the truth, or just found a way to get more money from me, seeing that I just wanted to lease but not to buy and not to walk?

There are different incentives for purchase vs. lease, so it's possible the dealer is telling you the truth.