Field & Stream's "discounts" are getting very old, and probably illegal

[Five Seasons]

10 minutes ago, Core said:

My last few cars were leased. I got close to 0% rate on them and bought one out later and got another loan at 2.5% for another several years. At rates like that it just makes no sense to buy outright even if you have the cash. For a number of years now it's been possible to get incredible prices on leasing new vehicles, like $200-250 for an altima (or similar price/vehicle) without a penny out of pocket. New car, no worry about repairs, depreciation already comes out of that payment, etc. I figure the luxury of driving new cars vs an old one is costing me net about $100/month per car.

i used to be very anti-lease until lately and for all the reasons you mentioned. If your lifestyle allows you to keep the miles off it's a good deal. I'm leasing my silverado but I'll end up buying my next truck because i do keep the miles off and i'm handy with a wrench. If you're not handy or really like the new car every 3 months a lease is the way to go. But I like that I've had my pontiac g8 for 8 years and only 62k on her. She's out of warranty but i can fix most of what breaks and nothing has yet. It's a little dated in tech, but I haven't made a payment in 3 years and that's a wonderful thing too.

Edited October 30, 2017 by Belo

[dbHunterNY]

4 minutes ago, Belo said:

that's not entirely true. Yes sometimes the good financing deals come without the discounts. That's why you might see 0% for 60 months OR $2k cash back. You have to do the math based on what you can afford to may monthly and it probably ends up being close. If you can pay cash on $40k truck, of course take the cash back. But maybe don't take the cash back if your interest rate nets you more than $2k in interest payments over the life of the loan. 

watch the price of the vehicle throughout the year and always start with the final payment and then discuss financing leasing. This way the sticker doesn't move. Trucks this time of a year are a good example of discounted price and good.

it's like a mortgage these days. Few can pay for it all at once, so you pay in the end to ease the financial burden. 

i agree you should do the math.  some don't even bother.  they just know what they're monthly payment is.

[Five Seasons]

10 minutes ago, Core said:

Check this out. I got this from slickeals forum. A couple years ago a bunch of us went to best buy before black friday and bought a specific TV for $300 or was it $350 using our citicards. Then black friday comes along and we already had known the tv was on a BF deal for $150. We used citi's "30 day price match", which unbelivably and stupidly even works with BF deals, sent the ad to citi, got the difference. I ended up getting a 50" tv for $150 and not standing in any lineups.

citipricerewind. I have got sooooo much money back from that it's unreal.

[Core]

23 minutes ago, Belo said:

i used to be very anti-lease until lately and for all the reasons you mentioned. If your lifestyle allows you to keep the miles off it's a good deal. I'm leasing my silverado but I'll end up buying my next truck because i do keep the miles off and i'm handy with a wrench. If you're not handy or really like the new car every 3 months a lease is the way to go. But I like that I've had my pontiac g8 for 8 years and only 62k on her. She's out of warranty but i can fix most of what breaks and nothing has yet. It's a little dated in tech, but I haven't made a payment in 3 years and that's a wonderful thing too.

I used to be anti-lease also, buy used cars and keep them a bit. I'm leasing one car now I may end up having to buy out next year because I've been obliterating the odometer, but I'm not sure. At $.15/mile overage on this thing the fact is if I pay toyota back or I buy it and sell it in the future, I'm paying for miles one way or another. So the overage on lease miles is not as bad as it actually seems, it just makes the cost harder to hide than if one buys the car and sells a few years down the line.

There is a big local dealer for nissan/toyota/chevy and they often post very good deals on their website. These are not loss leader, but true deals (I've taken advantage of them). A month back they were selling a 2017 Rogue AWD for $217/month lease, 12k/year all-in. That's no extra money. Show up, sign, $217/month. Right now they don't have great deals so the best they have is a brand new nissan maxima for $300/month all-in for 24 months. You go and buy a used car $300/month will get you one for about $14k after taxes over 5 years and it won't be under full factory warranty with all the new crap. So, it's probably still a slightly safer financial decision, but not by much. My new car lease addiction is a fairly cheap luxury  

[philoshop]

I'll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.

[Doc]

18 hours ago, Core said:

.......However, for two years now I've noticed they constantly advertise "up to 40-50% off" and it's a lie 99% of the time.......

I constantly see signs in the windows of stores that say this. It is the "up to" part of the phrase that makes it not a lie. All that means is that somewhere in the store there is something that has been discounted by 40-50%, but not necessarily everything. All it indicates is that discounts start at 0% and go up to 40-50%.

[Core]

4 hours ago, Doc said:

I constantly see signs in the windows of stores that say this. It is the "up to" part of the phrase that makes it not a lie. All that means is that somewhere in the store there is something that has been discounted by 40-50%, but not necessarily everything. All it indicates is that discounts start at 0% and go up to 40-50%.

But look at the examples in my first post. Has anybody here ever seen that $60 stand for $120? If field & stream has ever sold it at $120 it's been for such a short period of time it seems to be contrary to the law, in my view.

[knehrke]

I always tell my wife, "it's not what you save, it's what you spend". I just laugh at Dicks/Field and Stream with their regular advertised specials. It's always the same stuff at the same price, like clockwork. I have never seen the prices any different than their advertised sale price.

It reminds me of when we were in Italy two years ago. Every store had a "Saldi!" sign in the window. If it wasn't on sale, it wasn't for sale. I told my wife that America was moving in that direction, too. So long as you keep the consumer confused, it's good for business, I guess. I miss transparency.

[Core]

Well here is a naughty little trick, if I'm piling on dicks/field.

And for the record I like these stores and will keep going to them.

Today I go to dicks and there is $10 off every $50 spent. I want to buy an item for just over $100. The deal is online only. So I figure I'll buy online for store pickup. Thing is, the items I want all report as "limited stock" locally. They ARE in stock locally. But "limited". Basically, the website won't let me pick it up locally. In other words, they are trying to avoid me using the online-purchase of $10 off every $50 with a local pickup. I see what you're doing Dicks. Not a fan of this.

[uberyan]

3 minutes ago, Core said:

Well here is a naughty little trick, if I'm piling on dicks/field.

And for the record I like these stores and will keep going to them.

Today I go to dicks and there is $10 off every $50 spent. I want to buy an item for just over $100. The deal is online only. So I figure I'll buy online for store pickup. Thing is, the items I want all report as "limited stock" locally. They ARE in stock locally. But "limited". Basically, the website won't let me pick it up locally. In other words, they are trying to avoid me using the online-purchase of $10 off every $50 with a local pickup. I see what you're doing Dicks. Not a fan of this.

Buy them in store and order online  (shipping should be free for that amount). Use whatever now while you wait for the order to be delivered.

Return the online order with the in-store receipt. You have to make two trips but you get the discount, the points and get the product right away.

A lot of retailers do this as a way to boost their e-commerce sales volumes for the books.

I've been exclusively leasing for the last few years. Did the math and with most cars you need to own them for at least ten years to make a significant financial advantage over leasing (at least for the numbers I ran). Call it wasteful spending if you want, but I do like having a new car every few years and not having to worry about any repairs. 

Remember to always go zero down in NY as there is no benefit to a down payment. And always negotiate on the purchase price of the car, not the monthly payment.

For those worried about mileage, the difference between 10k miles/year and 15k miles is about $20/month on most leases. You can also pre-buy extra mileage on top at a much lower rate. And if you stay with the same make/dealership on your next lease they're usually pretty good about waiving most overage fees.

[Five Seasons]

9 hours ago, Doc said:

I constantly see signs in the windows of stores that say this. It is the "up to" part of the phrase that makes it not a lie. All that means is that somewhere in the store there is something that has been discounted by 40-50%, but not necessarily everything. All it indicates is that discounts start at 0% and go up to 40-50%.

but in yesterdays sale it was 40% off everything up to $50. Like I said, I got a $180 pair of binos for $130. 

5 hours ago, knehrke said:

I always tell my wife, "it's not what you save, it's what you spend". I just laugh at Dicks/Field and Stream with their regular advertised specials. It's always the same stuff at the same price, like clockwork. I have never seen the prices any different than their advertised sale price.

It reminds me of when we were in Italy two years ago. Every store had a "Saldi!" sign in the window. If it wasn't on sale, it wasn't for sale. I told my wife that America was moving in that direction, too. So long as you keep the consumer confused, it's good for business, I guess. I miss transparency.

there are gems from time to time. normal sales aren't spectacular but their flash sales are decent. I tend to score well on their shoes and athletic gear towards the end of the season. Sure a lot of times it's only in XXXL or something, but occasionally there's a gem. 

[Five Seasons]

1 hour ago, uberyan said:

I've been exclusively leasing for the last few years. Did the math and with most cars you need to own them for at least ten years to make a significant financial advantage over leasing (at least for the numbers I ran). Call it wasteful spending if you want, but I do like having a new car every few years and not having to worry about any repairs. 

Remember to always go zero down in NY as there is no benefit to a down payment. And always negotiate on the purchase price of the car, not the monthly payment.

For those worried about mileage, the difference between 10k miles/year and 15k miles is about $20/month on most leases. You can also pre-buy extra mileage on top at a much lower rate. And if you stay with the same make/dealership on your next lease they're usually pretty good about waiving most overage fees.

buying low mileage lease turn ins ins't bad business either. Although, I'll admit my lease doesn't get the 3 stage polish and wax every spring. But I agree with everything else you said. If you're significantly under mileage you may even get credit towards your next ride. Shop around dealers to find out. Remember all they really want to do is move inventory. 

[chas0218]

Just looking through the Field and stream ad and saw they had $150 off the Tikka T3x Lite Stainless. I was like holy crap I'll be going in to buy one today. Well I look and it is $150 off MSRP! HA what an f-ing joke. They must be desperate for some sales. The rifle can be had all day long at $600, the TC compass is $75 off at $219 which isn't bad but I would rather have the Venture than the Compass.

[chas0218]

On 10/31/2017 at 12:30 PM, Belo said:

buying low mileage lease turn ins ins't bad business either. Although, I'll admit my lease doesn't get the 3 stage polish and wax every spring. But I agree with everything else you said. If you're significantly under mileage you may even get credit towards your next ride. Shop around dealers to find out. Remember all they really want to do is move inventory. 

Unfortunately in my case I keep vehicles for long periods of time, My current DD is a 2004 pontiac vibe with 225K miles. Only repairs were some wheel bearings and routine maintenance. I do all my own work so it maintenance is cheap. My truck is a 2003 silverado with 105k it doesn't get driven much but has had a lot of work done to it (motor, all brake lines, fuel lines, water pump, alternator). Unfortunately I ask a lot of a 1500 and my next truck will most likely be a 2500 and I can't lease a 2500 from any dealership. But the truck will barely get driven so the mileage will stay low and will end up being a garage queen with no winters unless it is very necessary.

Edited November 2, 2017 by chas0218