Seeking Advice - March Prius Lease Special

Based on the March lease deals that I’ve been reading about on these forums and elsewhere I’m seriously looking to get into a Prius this month, but I have a few questions I’m hoping someone more knowledgeable about this process than me can answer. (Also, while I know that the lease/buy debate is lively on these boards, please refrain from suggesting that buying makes more sense for me. While I paid cash for both our MDX and TL, I've crunched the numbers and at this time and with this specific lease offer, leasing comes out ahead. Anyways, so here are my questions:


1) I saw that amazing March lease special on the main Toyota website at the beginning of the month and decided to wait until closer to the end of the month to pull the trigger on the assumption that dealerships might be more likely to negotiate then on the car’s price. If I recall correctly the special I saw on Toyota's website said the deal expired March 31st. But now when I visit the “Specials†section of the Toyota website, the Prius lease special is no longer listed. Obviously a ton of people on these boards have leased cars under this special, but I’m wondering if the March Prius lease special (which I assumed was nationwide) is still offered if I can’t find it on the Toyota website?

2) This lease deal, assuming it’s still valid, is pretty darn good. From news reports Toyota sales have picked up considerable in response to their special offers. My worry is that if they’ve moved enough Prius’s, the Prius lease deal may not be offered in April thus I should pull trigger before the month is over. Thoughts?

3) When I dropped by my local dealer today, they said “Oh yeah, we’ve got Prius lease specials†and came back with an insanely priced offer that actually made me laugh. I know I should have gone in with my numbers already figured out and just made an offer, but I was driving by and was curious where my local dealer (Koons in N.VA) would start the negotiations. Their offer was 50-70% higher than the average lease rates that most people on this board have been getting. Their residual value was around 65% and their interest rate was over 8% (without having even run my credit score). When I pointed out that this in no way resembled the current Prius lease deal Toyota was running for March, they claimed that deal did not apply to our local area (though they refused to say what constituted the "local area"). So here is my second question – Is the decision to participate in Toyota’s nationwide promotions up to the discretion of each dealership? Do some regions actually get excluded, or was this just BS on the dealerships part?


4) I’m actually curious how manufacturer incentive programs actually work. If Toyota USA decides to offer a ridiculous lease deal, how do they get dealerships to participate unless they are making the dealership whole financially. What I mean is that if the prevous lease rates were in the lower 300’s and now they are in the lower 200’s, Toyota as a manufacturer has to be doing something to make sure the dealership is making a reasonable profit at the new rates. I’m assuming Toyota does this by adjusting the residual rates up, subsidizing the money factor in some way or another, or maybe some sort of internal rebate to the dealer. Understanding how specials and incentives work from the dealership's perspective should help with negotiations, if anyone can explain how they work.

5) Assuming that the March lease offer is still valid and I can find it offered within a days driving distance of where I live, I’ve got a handful of days to pull the trigger before the end of the month. I’m curious if anyone has any suggestions on what you think the best approach to locating a dealership willing to honor the March lease special might be? I can up with what I think is a reasonable and fair offer based on the actual details posted on these forums and elsewhere but then should I start emailing each dealership within a few hundred miles or start calling around? Is there a recommended method or approach?

I know this was a lengthy set of questions and I appreciate your even taking the time to read them all. Any answers, suggestions or feedback to any of them would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you!!!

 

Thanks Spud for your reply. When I look at the March special on Toyota's website, it's saying that it's only valid for NJ, NY & CT, though I'd swear that I saw the same special earlier this month locally. Also, a number of people on the boards mention getting cars under the March special, and I didn't infer that they'd leased them all in those three states. I was hoping to get a reply to my other questions, but maybe I asked too many....that and this thread probably doesn't get nearly the traffic that the main forum does where I'd posted this initially. (Though I do understand why it was moved.)

 

I'm in Northern VA near DC, so after checking VA and finding nothing I checked the neighboring states. Nothing in MD, DE, WV, and PA. It seems that NC or NJ are the closest zones running a lease special, though in all honestly, I was just spot checking zip codes because there are so many. Given the distance and it's Easter weekend I likely won't be able to pull this off.