Car payment relief during Coronavirus + incentive programs such as 'zero interest' and deferred payments

You’re joking, right? Did you lose your job or suffer some sort of a hardship? Outside of this, why would you even ask and what incentive do they have to eat that loss like @max_g said?

Edit: I didn’t realize so many people asked a similar question or I wouldn’t have. Please don’t pile on further until OP replies

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Just say its a Force Majure Lease return issue-Non Essesntial business shut down

I think I’m going to take a break from LH for a few weeks.

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Much needed rest haha

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What, and miss all the people salivating over 50% off deals they’ll never see, or what to do with their lease now that the dealership is closed, or trying to walk away from their lease just because?

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If you take a step back and look at the entire ecosystem of leasing you’ll see that there are so many moving parts that are required for it to operate as it has for years. This event started to sprinkle sand in the gears and it is getting to the point where the entire system is almost shut down.

All of the inspection companies are no longer inspecting vehicles (as of today). Auctions went simulcast only last week and this week have either already shut down or are expected to do so in the coming days/week/weeks. Most vehicles ran through the lanes last week resulted in no sales as sellers weren’t willing to drop prices $2-3k vs prior weeks and buyers were willing to sit on the sidelines and lob low ball offers seeing if they get any bites. So inventories of units waiting to sell at auction are swelling. Luckily for companies like mine, sellers have held their floor prices, avoiding a firesale price crash which would be more salt on the wounds. I’d rather sit on inventory for a month or 2 (or 3) and then sell than try to find the true market prices in today’s bottom-feeder pond. Many dealerships have already shut down or will be shutting down in the near term (outside of service departments).

So that means the entire infrastructure to dispose of off lease vehicles is about to be completely halted. Every lessor will be in the same predicament.

The finance companies are trying to figure out how to make it through this with the least blood possible. Reducing residual losses and reducing credit default losses are the primary concern. If a lease is nearing term, the first line of defense is to try and extend that lease through the crisis. Reg M (Consumer Leasing Act) states that the maximum extension is 6 months. They can’t force this upon the lessee so if that isn’t an option for you, expect to be asked to park the vehicle at your house or possibly some specific location until the infrastructure starts to open back up. Some lenders may have a way to pick up vehicles but I wouldn’t bet on this.

Some lenders may allow you to waive one or more payments but these payments will need to be made before your termination date. I don’t know of any lender that will let you skip payments entirely without paying those at some point.

I could be wrong on any number of these statements.

Regardless, this is going to be a very interesting time in history that is unlike anything anyone alive has had to experience and hopefully will not be repeated in our lifetimes. Predicting how the industry will act/react to what is happening, what might happen and what will happen is impossible at best.

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I fundamentally agree with you but there is a question of fairness that has come up in a few threads. Manufacturers understanday don’t want to end leases early even from people who have experienced job loss. But they also want people to keep paying on their expiring leases due to difficulty of grounding the lease with the Covid shutdown. This forces buyers to keep paying for the car, potentially for many months (when dealerships finally reopen it will take months to ground all these backed up leases). This also happens to be great for the finance company since they keep getting paid rather than taking the car back and sitting on it for months before taking a bath at auction in middle of a recession.

I think in the end the best way is just to stick to the contract signed. Both consumers and car manufacturers want the benefit of contract modifications without making a corresponding sacrifice. That isn’t how it works and modifying the rules on the go isn’t going to be effective.

Maybe we can go back in some recent threads and product a “where are they now special.” Guaranteed 7%+ returns versus…:chart_with_downwards_trend:

We’re in an unprecedented situation and people, businesses and captives alike, are flying by the seat of their pants right now trying to figure out what to do. Nobody has a disaster preparedness plan for a whole world shutdown.

That said, and with all due respect, nobody said life was fair.

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+1 on this, but perhaps in a different way than you had intended. Saw on social media that a distant in-law had written (paraphrasing), “Wait in line to go in to the grocery store??? Never! Not in THIS country!” And I said (to myself), “Good Lord, shut up.”

Anyways, back to car-payment relief during the pandemic…

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I agree and I believe that is why we have written contracts. Wouldn’t need contracts if everyone just acted “fairly.”

Edit - this isn’t to say that each party can’t agree to modify the contract post-signing for mutual benefit. Just that if a “fair” outcome can’t be mutually agreed upon, I think the agreement that both parties previously consented to is the fairest way to move forward.

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Not only are the days of a trusted handshake long gone but apparently even a signature on a contract means nothing anymore.
Instead we have someone appalled at BMW for not taking back his lease early and goes so far to say he’s done with them.
Nobody cares for fairness as long as they come out on top.

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To be fair, we also had a thread where the captive wouldn’t take the car back but expected to keep being paid monthly even after the lease expired. Both cases are pretty ridiculous.

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And my comment on this thread was a joke if that wasn’t already obvious.

This is true. Both consumers and captives are in similar positions. I guess that defines fairness in a nutshell.

Slightly of topic but I am at war with the “good ole days.” We have 500 years of common law contract jurisprudence because the “trusted handshake” never existed. People were just as drunk, self-serving and dishonest in 1820 and 1920 as in 2020.

Contracts are the best we have come up with over many centuries so I think we should keep using them.

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I wanted to share my experience on a different thread where someone was having trouble returning his car when the dealership was going to close, but since the thread was closed, I am posting here if it helps anyone.

My current BMW lease is due on April 2nd and tomorrow the state of Kansas declared a lockdown. While the dealership will remain open for service, today was the last day for sales and the likes. So I called BMW financial services, informed them of what was going on and they offered me a one month extension for free. They would extend my mileage allowance pro rated for another month and I had until May 2nd to return it. While I considered a great option, because we have another car at the house, I decided to return it at the dealership anyways.

In summary, I guess it is case by case.

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That sounds like a very expected outcome given you weren’t trying to return your car a year early.

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My bank is amazing - allowing me to skip payments til July with no interest.

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WTF did I just read.

at the end of the day, for them, its either losing a few $$ in interest, or repo-ing a car, which costs a lot more $$, headache, and the possibility of having tons of cars that have no demand on in this economy

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