What are "drive off" fees??

[lycanthrope]

After getting a test drive and then asking for the cost of a 12K lease, I was told the down payment was $2349 plus "drive off". The dealer then estimated the drive off to be about $1500. Is that just another way to say taxes and fees or was the salesperson trying to rip me off? A total of almost 4k down seems awfully high. I was quoted $310/month before tax. They didn't have the color I want and when I asked if they could get it, they said no. Dealers aren't trading the e-golf. Almost seemed like the salesperson wanted me to leave.

 

[LAeGolf]

Drive-off and down payment can be (almost) as much or as little as you can negotiate. I've got quotes from 6 different dealers before I leased my e-Golf on Dec. 19. The numbers I received were as little as $1,000 "out-the-door" (meaning down and drive-off combined) to as high as $4,500 --- it's a matter of how much money the dealer wants to make on the deal.

As I understand on a lease the "gap" insurance is included (but you should double check this). Meaning if the car is totaled the insurance will pay off whatever you owe to the lease company (VW Credit). But the down payment and drive-off fees, $4,000 in your case, will be "lost". Therefore my advice is to put down as little as possible, and just focus on the monthly payment between dealers.

Of the dealers I've contacted, I told the 3 whose prices were the most reasonable, that I wanted to pay $1,000 out the door, including 1st payment (this put all 3 on equal footing), then I've just picked the lowest monthly payment (in my case it's $383/month including tax, and I'm in LA).

I'd recommend you use Edmunds.com and TrueCar.com and contact the internet sales department of several dealers. Also, you can use Cars.com put in your ZIP and a radius, and it will show you how many cars are around you, what dealerships, and colors.

Hope this helps, let me know if you have any question.

 

[NewbieEV]

I agree it sounds like they are trying to come up with other names for fees so they can charge you more. once you find out which dealers are reasonable, ask them for a complete breakdown and negotiate with the various components. If you look on the DMV site, you can get an estimate of registration fees (the amount due at signing always includes this, but the amount may differ); this is a pass through the dealer so no negotiating here. registration is added on top of the $2349.

The advertised deal of $2349/299 does include gap insurance.

there definitely are some dealers who do not appear to want your business. I suspect they just want to sell to those who are less price sensitive and i guess there are enough of these around so. Dealers point out that you will get the $2500 rebate and some are probably thinking buyers may be more willing to pay more upfront because of this. But I figure, $2500 is $2500 - the less you pay, the more you keep.