CAL Automotive - contract change

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Just wanted to share a perk for all you leasing experts!

I picked up a 22 Ram night edition at the end of December. Got it for $5k down (from equity check) at a little over $400 a month for 10k miles a year.

I underestimated my use because of my new commute with our baby and day care travel so I contacted CAL directly and explained the situation, they offered to update my contract to 12k miles a year and only charged me the payment difference, I had to pay to pay this up front but it only ended up costing me $450.06 out of pocket, they sent over a new contract the same day with the reflected change and oddly enough, they didn’t even change the RV. My new terms are 39 months at 39k miles vs the 32.5k miles before. Probably didn’t matter since I plan to trade it early but this is just my safety cushion in the event I keep it til the end.

I don’t think the captive banks allow this but CAL being a 3rd party, I think they are looking to make a strong name for themselves in the NE region.

Just wanted to share in case anyone else is in the same boat.

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How did you get your lease through them? I believe their corporate office is in my area and I’ve never heard of them before.

Did you sign an agreement amending the terms of your original lease?

If no, I don’t think they updated your contract, I think they sold you prepaid overage miles.

That would also explain this:

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Math checks out to just about 6c/mile, which sounds about right for an early excess miles sale too…

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I had to docusign a form acknowledging the extra charge and they emailed a new contract after. Printed it out and side by side, nothing changed except the mileage and a notation under fees “pre-paid excess mileage”.

All the local dealers in my area offer leases through them now, along with Bethpage FCU. My SR pulled up the desking software and compared the numbers, my truck through Ally or CCAP would’ve been over $150 more a month because some of the incentives fell off and their residual was a lot lower.

That makes sense, you purchased extra miles and signed an amendment to the original contract.

Now your assignment is to use all the originally-contracted miles plus the extras before you trade it early. :slight_smile:

I’ll definitely consider trading it early but I was willing to spend the extra $400 today on the excess mileage vs at the end if I can’t get anything in equity and just turn it in. CAL Auto charges $0.50 per mile over the allotment. They also do 4 different buyouts; one for me, one for the originating dealer (ours are the same), one for third party dealer and one for third party person. Either way they aren’t too far off of one another right now.

But now if you don’t use the miles before trade-in, you get nothing for the $400.

Was there some sort of deadline to buy these at this discounted rate?

Exactly, it was a gamble but I feel more comfortable spending $400 today than $3-5k at lease end (if I don’t trade it in early and go over 32,500). They didn’t send me an offer or anything, I reached out to their customer service department and they just helped me out.

I do plan to trade it in early but if the value for any reason tanks and I would lose money by trading in, I would just take it to maturity date.

If I keep it until the end, I can now have up to 39k miles which as of right now, it’s pretty much spot on. If I didn’t pay the $400 now and ended up 6500 miles over, that’s $3250 in excess.

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Any idea if CAL allows 3rd party buyouts?

They should - but will have a massive mark up unless it’s the originating dealer.

Anyone know if a lease thru CAL includes GAP coverage?

Did you ever find this out?

Yes - I called them and they said they do include GAP in their leases

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