Pent Up Demand?

[FatSal]

I just wonder how many people are in the same situation that I am in. I would love to place an order (and update the tally for everyone) but I have a lease that won't be up until the end of the year. I really don't have the room to overlap my cars, but I also can't be without a car.

Are there others in a similar situation where you are trying to time their order to line up with a leased vehicle? My fear is that when non-US orders begin to be filled, the delivery lead-time will start to slip. Should I just place an order and then defer until I get closer?

 

[dsm363]

Welcome. It might be tough to time exactly but you will know by late spring how long the wait will be and decide to place an order then. They won't start making your car until you finalize so if you place your order in early summer the timing should work out. I'd call Tesla though and ask them.

 

[andrewket]

Have you considered buying out your lease? When I realized I was under burning my lease (using fewer miles than allotted) I refinanced through PenFed (1.49%). In your case you could buy out your lease and then sell the car. There are also lease trading sites. I've never used one, but several people have mentioned leasetrader.com.

 

[bellwilliam]

simplest: take your car to Carmax, they will do all the numbers with your leasing company. either they hand you a check, or you write them a check. you will be in and out in couple of hours.

 

[LagunaDallas]

I was 19 months into a 39-month lease on my car (a 2012 M-B CLS550) when I got my email button to finalize. I put the car on Swapalease.com for $99 and a very qualified new lessee committed within 2 weeks. Paperwork took less than 2 weeks, and I even delivered the car to him in Houston after MBFS had finalized the transfer docs. My payment was very fair, so I didn't even have to offer an incentive, and he paid the transfer fee. My Model S arrived 3 days later, so I really lucked out on timing. Not all leasing companies are flexible with lease takeovers, but others (BMWFS & MBFS in particular) make it very easy. I've used Swapalease.com and Leasetrader.com 6 or 7 times to both find and list leased cars with great success.

 

[FatSal]

I hadn't considered selling early or swapping but they are both great suggestions. I'll definitely investigate it. Anyone know if Audi allows swapping?

 

[artsci]

I just wonder how many people are in the same situation that I am in. I would love to place an order (and update the tally for everyone) but I have a lease that won't be up until the end of the year. I really don't have the room to overlap my cars, but I also can't be without a car.

Are there others in a similar situation where you are trying to time their order to line up with a leased vehicle? My fear is that when non-US orders begin to be filled, the delivery lead-time will start to slip. Should I just place an order and then defer until I get closer?

Take a look at your lease contract to see if you can swap or sell it. I have a Chevy Volt with about 16 months remaining on the lease, and my contract (with Ally) permits me to sell/transfer it. So I signed up with Swap-A-Lease, posted the car on their web site, and in about 4 days I had a buyer. So I'll be rid of the Volt lease obligation just around the time my Model S is delivered.

If you buy out the lease and sell the car instead of swapping the lease you may take a bigger financial hit. That certainly would have been my case.

 

[LagunaDallas]

I hadn't considered selling early or swapping but they are both great suggestions. I'll definitely investigate it. Anyone know if Audi allows swapping?

If their policy is still the same, Audi does allow a swap...BUT you would still be attached to the lease until the end if the new lessee defaults. They go through the full credit approval process in order to take over the lease, so risk is minimal, but it's still there. Porsche Financial is the same way, and when I got out of my 911 lease a few years ago, I was lucky to have someone that lived just a couple miles from me that wanted it. We ended up having mutual friends and they are very wealthy and responsible people, so I didn't worry about them defaulting. I know I wouldn't have felt as good had it been shipped 1000 miles away to a complete stranger, though. Other leasing companies like BMWFS and MBFS completely release you from any liability after the swap is complete.

 

[kmporter]

If their policy is still the same, Audi does allow a swap...BUT you would still be attached to the lease until the end if the new lessee defaults. They go through the full credit approval process in order to take over the lease, so risk is minimal, but it's still there. Porsche Financial is the same way, and when I got out of my 911 lease a few years ago, I was lucky to have someone that lived just a couple miles from me that wanted it. We ended up having mutual friends and they are very wealthy and responsible people, so I didn't worry about them defaulting. I know I wouldn't have felt as good had it been shipped 1000 miles away to a complete stranger, though. Other leasing companies like BMWFS and MBFS completely release you from any liability after the swap is complete.

Yep, their policy is still the same. Just last week I turned my S4 in early, since I knew my MS would be here in the next couple of months. I decided to do it early, so that I would have a couple of months without the payment, since I wasn't sure what the liability would be. I explored CarMax too. They actually made me a pretty generous offer. But, then I had the car appraised and it turned out to be more economical (only by a few $100) to turn the car in to Audi Financial. But, I really was amazed by the offer from CarMax.

When I was investigating how to end my lease, I found that in the "typical" method of returning it, you wait a few weeks for your final invoice, depending on what the car sells for at auction. I was not comfortable with this at all, since I wasn't being forced financially to return it. But, then I saw in contract, that I could pay for an independent appraisal (Audi FS had to approve the appraiser). This turned out the be the best solution, although I had some tough time with their customer service, since most of them were not too familar with the process of using an appraisal. Having said all of this, I was also under my allotted mileage for the car and it was in pristine condition. I'm sure that helped boost the value a little.

It was a somewhat stressful process. I am just happy that it is behind me and I can now focus on the "stress" of waiting for my MS.

Kevin

 

[jkirkebo]

I
Are there others in a similar situation where you are trying to time their order to line up with a leased vehicle? My fear is that when non-US orders begin to be filled, the delivery lead-time will start to slip. Should I just place an order and then defer until I get closer?

This is what I would do. You can then pull the trigger and finalize whenever you're ready. No point in waiting with the reservation.

 

[montgom626]

simplest: take your car to Carmax, they will do all the numbers with your leasing company. either they hand you a check, or you write them a check. you will be in and out in couple of hours.

Very good idea!

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Swapalease????