I have a 2019 VW Tiguan SE with 13k miles on the clock in great condition ($15,500 residual value). I currently pay $325 p/m with 10k miles yearly ($0 down, all upfront costs rolled into monthly payments). I’m nearing the end of my lease (June 1) and am after some advice on what I should do.
I’ve been reading through some older posts and see this question is a common one, and I did find some helpful info/ advice from previous posts- I’m also interested to hear some thoughts on my situation; I read that VW credit do not allow 3rd party buyouts, and some options would be to buy the car then re sell, or extend lease…
In my case; I can’t afford to buy the car, I also need a car (I can’t be without one for more than a few days). I’ve been looking into new leases and the prices are insane. I don’t know if my original lease was a good deal back in 2019 but compared to prices today ($415 for 2022 Tiguan 48 months) it looks ok. I read posts that said to wait for the dealership to reach out, which I have (they have emailed me a few times asking what I want to do/ if i need any help), is my only option to extend the lease if I want to keep driving a car like the Tiguan in terms of size/ premium/ish features for that similar $?
Extend the lease as long as possible (not a permanent solution)
Check online retailers and see if you have equity to get a ballpark figure of your vehicles value, then try selling it to a VW dealership (this way you don’t have to pay sales tax or buy it out yourself)
Turn the lease back in and purchased a used vehicle till the leasing market gets better
We leased our Tiguan S in Mar’19 (lease would have been up end of Jun’22), 39 mo lease, $0 DAS as well. Our RV was $13.6k thereabouts. Bought out the car directly from VW Credit in November. Considered selling it to Carvana and getting a new one, but didn’t seem worth it.
What I’d do in your shoes is try to get a decent rate loan from a CU and buy it out from VW Credit. Or you can see what rate a VW dealer will get for you and do a dealer assisted lease buy out, but that will likely be at a higher rate and may incur dealer fees. Even on a 48-mo loan, your payment will around your current lease payment and you still have another 3ish years of warranty since 2019s had the 72-mo bumper to bumper warranty.
VW does allow the sale of their leases to 3rd party dealers, however, they charge market rate when doing so, it isn’t effectively useful.
You can sell to a VW or Audi dealer or a dealer network with an affiliated VW/Audi dealer they can process the buyout through.
You’re in California, so you also have a means of buying the car and recapturing the sales tax paid on the buyout if you follow the appropriate steps. With a ~$16k buyout and a $27k purchase offer from carmax, this is probably not a bad option.
I sold my daughter’s VW to Rodo. They have a VW dealer in their network that they use to facilitate the buyout so they got the same payoff number. They do charge a $500 fee though.
