2016 Volkswagen Golf R - Early Lease Return Question

Ask the Hackrs
1

I have 7 months left on my 2016 Golf R and I’m looking to get into a larger vehicle ASAP. I’ve seen conflicting things in different places about what happens if you turn in a VW lease early and it has been tough getting a straight answer from my dealer or VW corporate. I’m hoping to just pay off the remainder of the monthly payments (and a possible small penalty) and turn it in, but not sure if that’s possible.

I already got a quote from several sites for a potential buyout, but I’m underwater on the buyout for some reason (probably didn’t get a great lease deal back in 2016), so a buyout/trade-in is not an option. The car is about 10,000 miles under my allowed mileage. I live in NJ if that helps at all.

Thanks for your help.

2

What about a lease transfer? Is that something you’ve looked into?

If VW allows and the payment is right, I’d consider taking over the lease.

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3

I’d consider a trade, but the payment is high at $543.25/mo (I did not understand leasing back then). Also, one of the problems with a VW lease transfer is that VW still holds the original leaseholder fully liable for everything until turn-in is complete even if they approve the transfer.

4

VW Doesn’t allow transfers with less than 12 mo remaining. I learned that the hard way :angry:

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5

Good to know. Thanks for the info.

7

Maybe you can find a buyer for it? Golf R tends to do well private party.

8

Very few for sale nationwide I believe. For just the cost of the insurance you keep it and drive it if you make all the payments. If there’s negative equity in it, that means your payments were lower because the residual was high.

Does the payoff include tax by chance? How far below the payoff are your bids and from who?

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9

Payoff is $31k and includes tax, disposition fee, and all remaining payments.
Very high residual at $26.5k for 12/36 on a $38k car.
Offers from Vroom/Carvana/Carmax/Dealer are at $22-23k.

10

What’s your tax rate in the payoff and is the payoff different for you, a VW dealer, or a third party dealer?

11

What is the MF? In 21 months you would have paid almost 12k into the lease. How is the payoff all just 31k?

12

29 months out of 36 into the lease as of now. I’m sure the MF is outrageous and I got taken for a ride by the dealership. Will have to check my VW Financial account info tomorrow.

13

Will screenshot my payoff quote from my VW Financial account tomorrow morning.

14

Does it show an amount for tax? What’s your tax rate?

15

NJ sales tax rate is 7%.

16

Is it manual or automatic? DCC & nav? Any accidents on the Carfax? 26K miles, right? Color?

17

White. Manual. DCC/Nav + Premium 19” wheels sitting pristine and untouched in a storage locker (ride was too harsh and replaced them immediately). One accident from a deer strike where I had to get the front bumper and adaptive cruise control sensor replaced. Will be 27k miles by the end of this week as I have to take a few long work trips.

18

Looks like the comps in your area have asking prices of $30-31K, so you’d probably be looking at a $28K selling price privately, minus $2K or so if an accident or damage shows on the Carfax. So a dealer would want to be in it $23K after cleaning it up, so your bids look right.

Clearly the car has underperformed its expected resale. Without the deerstrike, maybe it’d be worth $25K, already under its residual value. If the Carfax doesn’t show an accident, maybe you could get around $28K for it and the payoff should be around $30K without tax, leaving you $2K out of pocket. Trading in is going to cost you $7-8K based on the bids you’ve gotten, which is more than (7 x $543) + $350 (?) disposition fee = $4,100-4,200. You will have paid for everything except insurance and maybe a 30K service, if you keep it. A lot of car for that incremental increase in cost.