As a current lease holder of 2016 Lexus IS300 AWD,...

As a current lease holder of 2016 Lexus IS300 AWD, I m paying less than $350 a month. When I got this lease back in September of 2016, they offered some incentives which were able to lower the original MSRP ($42K) plus they were trying to get rid of 2016 inventories. I paid $3K at signing, and ended up paying for prepaid maintenance and $3K refundable deposit to the Lexus financial. Originally they quoted for more, but I was able to get it down to $343 a month. The sales person was courteous and worked hard with his sales manager to get the car I wanted at the price I wanted. I showed my gratitude by giving 5 stars on Yelp and Google reviews. Today I m revising my previous review and testimonial from 5 stars to 2 stars.

I recently received a letter from the same dealer for their March Invitation to Lexus promotion. It basically stated in their fine print, they are offering $1725 dealer incentive on top of the $5275 Lexus sales incentive which makes $7K discount on their 2019 IS300 inventories MSRP.

My current lease will be up in 5 months but they said their is no penalty for early upgrade from this letter and also by a sales associate via phone call. Sounds sweet, huh?

I decided to stop by the dealer with my wife to speak to a sales associate and check out a couple of cars. I sit with this sales associate named Kay Yoon . I mentioned to him I m a current lease holder of IS300 and interested in a couple of cars. Also mentioned I may be interested in driving the same IS300 again if the deal is good knowing 2019 IS300 is due for redesign/remodel this year and their sales may not be as great as it s on its last year before the makeover - explains why they re offering $7K incentives only on their IS model.

From the get-go, he goes you may not know this but the actual price/deal will not be even close to the advertised. The same car you re driving IS300, you won t be able to get anything under $400 a month.

I explained to him, I ve leased many cars by various luxury car companies over 20 years and I know typical car makers sales tactics and very aware of the fees they don t include on their advertising. So in other words, I wasn t there to expect to get a $339 a month with $3999 due at signing on $42,219 MSRP 2019 Lexus IS300 as they advertised on the Lexus website - although it sounded very close to my current lease rate.

But I just couldn t understand how bluntly he said that I would have to expect to pay above $400 a month on the same car I m driving with $343 a month. We exchanged some heated arguments and I demanded to get me his best lease deal on one of their IS300 F Sport inventories at $47,863 MSRP. (So this one is about $5-6K above my current IS300 with its options.)

He comes back in five minutes and explained he spoke to his manager and the best lease deal they can offer is $450 a month if I want to do the exact same $3K at signing with 36 month, 10,000/year miles as my current lease. (What happened to the $7K incentives and other available incentives like Lexus royalty customer rebate?)

When I was shopping for my current lease, I also looked at the F Sport one with similar price and even received a monthly quote much lower?

I can tell when they are willing to work with you vs when they care less about your business. I knew they were not interested in keeping me as their customer.

At this point, I explained to him there is no way I ll pay more than $100 a month on the same car (with just 5-6K more in options) I m leasing at $343 a month. If I want to pay $450 a month on a lease car, I will take my business to else where.

I m giving 2 stars to the Lexus of Englewood for their lack of interest and support to keep their current customer.

I m also giving 2 stars to the sales associate Kay Yoon for the way I was being handled and his lack of professionalism.

My current IS300 is the second Lexus I ve leased and will very well be my last!