My parents came in at 1230 today to babysit while we renegotiated our new lease. I had warned the Toyota lease retention manager what I was looking for and what had been a negative issue the last time. This would be our 3rd lease from Toyota NY, and in this recession I was looking to lower my monthly payment. We are very happy with the Toyota Camry and it was time for our new car! 6 hours later we drove home with our car.
Last time, 3 years ago we spent a grueling 5 hours at the dealership and we thought it would be easier this time – we were wrong.
I told them I was not willing to go over $300, so his first price was 319. We quickly got him to the 299 we were looking for and we were willing to take the white car they had available for immediate delivery. By the way, we only get a 6 cylinder car, not the standard 4, it is safer for our son. Last time we did not pay tax (rather it was a hidden cost somewhere else i the lease agreement, we were happy with the price at the time so didn’t ask any questions). Imagine our surprise when they were asking for a down payment of $1400 plus! We were flabbergasted – like a text book case, we argued with the floor manager who gave us a new price with the tax amortized in – we even had them pull our paperwork from 3 years earlier to see that our down payment did not include the tax – we got up and put on our coats and asked for the retention manager to clear our old lease account and we were leaving – just like you see on TV! Wouldn’t you know it we got our $299! Plus $5 and change for gap insurance which in the past was included but even I know when not to push my luck! This model did not have a sun roof or a 6 CD changer as did our old model so the price should be a little less but we did get a great deal as our monthly bill went from 356 to 305, hey, if they want to make their year end quota they gotta work for it!
Needless to say there were some scratches in the front so that had to be dealt with, the inspection was from September and that need to be fixed to reflect that we were buying in December (that would affect my schedule for the next 3 years!), and then the battery died! A new car battery died! Of course this car has been floating around for a few months, This was especially bad as I had been complaining about the battery that died from our last lease and the service department said it wasn’t a new battery that was in the 2007 car – I was trying to get a lot of mileage out of that complaint and then ANOTHER BAD BATTERY! Every item that needed to be fixed just extended our visit and we were getting more and more drained – it was a good thing some pastries showed up at 645 as I was getting hypoglycemic! Also, we realized as we drove away 6 HOURS after our arrival that there were 78 miles on the car but enough is enough.
We missed half of the Anniversary dinner we were taking my parents to – 54 years by the way – but we did get there in time to pay – not like we have any money left!
So here we are with a brand new 2010 white Toyota Camry for $50 less a month! Just more shopping money for me!
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