Admins, please move to landfill or off-ramp if necessary
Looking for advice on how to proceed with a trade assist offer from Volvo.
Background: I leased a 2018 Volvo S90 T6 Momentum last year based on the deals I found on this site (thank you, site). Love the deal and love the car. More details can be found below starting around post #700.
I’m 12 months into a 24 month lease. I’ve chased a vibration in the car for the entire year I’ve had the car. Volvo has offered to put me into a new vehicle.
Option 1: I could file paperwork under lemon law and see what that brings. I anticipate this to be a time drain and a potentially lengthy process. Not overly interested in pursuing this.
Option 2a: Volvo puts me into a new, model year 19 S90 and I ride out my remaining 12 months. No change to the contract term, length, etc. Is the new car vibration free? Does this solve my issue? Volvo contact has told me that in “these situations” a person would typically pay the “upfronts” again. I have told them that it will absolutely not happen.
Option 2b: Volvo puts me into a different model that has an equivalent MSRP. I prefer the S90 out of the entire lineup. Only other model I would consider is the XC90. The story quickly shifted to “in addition to MSRP they would look at rebates/incentives and compare adjusted cap cost as well”. That sounds weird but I don’t know!
Option 3: Keep the car and negotiate some compensation? I guess anything is negotiable. Just cut me a check for 6 months of payments?
I’m looking to see if there are any implications here (good or bad) to getting into a new vehicle with my existing lease agreement. Shouldn’t impact my MSDs. Could this create equity at the end? Is this a paperwork nightmare? Is this going to lead to a complicated turn-in process? Anyone go through a buyback/trade assist and have any advice on what to do or not to do?
Again, move to landfill if this doesn’t meet the “ask the hackers” criteria.
I would do 2a or 2b as long as no drive off fees are charged to you.
Then, I would see how much you could sell it for. You should have some equity at that point if your original lease is unchanged.
First of all, that’s a really strong offer from Volvo!! Good for them.
I would offer an Option 3 with 12 payments compensation ($4584) and see what they say. In my opinion, this option would be far cheaper and far easier to Volvo and the dealer than either 2a or 2b which I would guess would cost Volvo well over $10k. But I guess it depends on how bad the vibration is and if you can tolerate it for another year.
Sounds like you certainly qualify for lemon law, which would cost them way more than any other option you have listed (since they wind up paying lawyer and court fees as well). But, if it really affects driveability, why would you want to continue driving it? I’d take a new one OR have them refund my drive-offs (if any) and take the car back and I walk away.
You are correct that 2(a) and 2(b) might create an interesting conundrum – equity. First of all, they would have to draw up new paperwork no matter what, because you cannot drive a car without paperwork on it, and they would need to do that to title it, have you register it, get insurance, etc. If you have 12 months remaining, then obviously the residual would be higher on a 2019 in 12 months than it would be on an 18. If they are offering you the same residual, despite what residuals may be now (they just might be lower now, which is one way there were the amazing deals last year), it’s still a newer car and only 12 months, so the value obviously wouldn’t reflect the residual at turn-in.
What this creates is something that could go two ways:
They write into said needed new paperwork that the residual at 12 months is the same as your current one, not at 24 months, and then they create discounts to make the numbers work out to your payments, since Volvo corporate is paying for it and not the dealership, from what I see and understand.
If they were to residualize it at 12 months, let’s say that the residual is something like 70% on a 2019 at that point, so what you effectively “owe” on the car at turn-in does create equity because your buyout amount is based on the original car and 24 payments. That could create a tax situation for you, either because it is a benefit inured to you in general because you did get a newer, more expensive car for nothing out of pocket, or if you try to flip it, anything you make would be taxable in a different way than it would be in the original car, especially since taxing authorities may view the basis as $0.
It’s a very interesting situation. Of course, they could specify that you must return the car to them after 12 months and you have to waive your right to sell it to a third party, but then it could be argued that that’s too restrictive and then you should also have a right to buy it at the end of the lease if you wanted, just like you can any other car you lease. Like I said – it’s an interesting situation, and it’s also tricky.
I don’t think Volvo will put him into a new one for 12 months. They will probably do a new lease for 36/24 months at the same terms. Essentially a pull-ahead with the same terms as the old one.
They agreed to no upfront / DAS costs out of my pocket for the swap.
They have confirmed it’s a collateral swap. I continue with the remaining months of my original agreement. I’m VERY curious to see the paperwork though.
That would be a “must” in any case. But I’d love see the final contract, too
Can they do a 12 months loaner rent? i.e
punch a new car and give it to you to drive. But the question is about insurance then.
That was part of my point exactly, let alone registration, etc.
Also, would they take note of his current mileage and somehow amend the contract to say he used X miles and has Y miles remaining? They’d have to draw up some sort of paperwork no matter what, though. They can’t just give a car to someone to drive.
i.e