I have searched and seen others dealing with this but rarely the actual outcome. I am looking to pay my remaining (2.5) payments and ground my car around 110-115 days out from the maturity date. I am fine on mileage I just am working with a broker on a great hack.
I am getting mixed answers from Chrysler Capital. If I ground prior to 90 days from maturity date am I liable for difference in auction sold price and residual? The chat rep told me it would be remaining payments then any damages plus the $495 term fee which I am fine with. On the phone when I called to see where I was payment wise since I pay ahead a little which is why I owe 2.5 at this point she kept repeating I am liable unless the dealership pays off the lease? She repeated it and I hung up on her since I asked twice about having no payments left.
Quote -
Unless you work with your dealer to ensure all remaining payments have been
made, if you return your vehicle more than 90 days before the maturity date you
could be charged for the difference between the adjusted lease balance and the
sale price of the vehicle at auction, plus any accrued (past due) payments, the
$495 Vehicle Return Fee and any additional unpaid fees or taxes on your account.
Any experience here? To me if I pay all my payments I shouldn’t be liable for any of the difference in price. I paid my part but leaving it to Auction feels like a gamble.
I will answer my own question for anyone who is in a similar situation. I pulled out my paper contract and it had a more complicated way of saying if you return the car more than 90 days before maturity date you MAY get charged the difference between auction price and residual.
Went to the dealership and they had never heard of this but they don’t see many turn-ins of this type where payments are paid but 90 days + out. They called someone at CCAP that they work with alot and he was able to confirm that even if payments are fully paid this can happen. So I guess I will have 2 cars for a few weeks. It isn’t that far off!
Can confirm the 90 days thing with CCAP—I’ve called twice in the past few months and got the same answer.
I’m in a similar situation myself, with an ordered car coming in next month. Fortunately I’ll be under 90 days in about a week and a half, so the timing works out okay. It sucks that I’ll have 2 car payments for 2 months but it is what it is.
I’ll have two weeks overlap so not a big deal. CCAP has been rather terrible to get info out of. I was also told to turn in I must get the preinspection done (which I know isn’t true) but you can turn in at 90 but they refuse to do a preinspection before 75.
Eroz, you are describing my experience to the tee. Today I called Chrysler Capitol and they told me if I turned my Dodge Caravan in outside of the 90 days, they would charge me an administrative or administration fee of $424 and the early turn in fee of $495. I also heard the part about selling price and residual which may only be for early turn ins. Did they tell you that you had to pay a $424 fee as well if you turned your vehicle in early? I’m letting my car sit till it hits inside of 90 days cause I sure as hell am not giving them $495 plus $424, thats freaking $919!!! F them!
Trism, what I mean by not giving them the $495 and the $424 is I’m not going to turn the car in outside of the 90 days just to give them that much money for nothing really. My new car is coming today so I’ll let my Caravan sit parked for a number of weeks and then once I hit the 89 day mark, I’ll turn it in and avoid those two fees.
When I originally posted it was due to getting different answers. I just wanted to know what the truth was so I could plan accordingly.
I ended up getting my new car and having like 12 days of overlap between cars. Paying the insurance was way less risky than possibly being out an unknown amount due to the auction of the car.
Your specific terms may vary by state. I have a CCap lease contract signed in CT late-2019, and it’s similar to other non-Chrysler lease contracts I have (BMW, Mercedes, US Bank).
On this contract:
Section 21 is right to term early, and then says see Section 22 for the Early Termination Liability
Section 22 says, you owe any past due amounts through the Termination Date, plus $495 Turn-in Fee, any taxes, plus the LESSER OF:
(i) Realized Value, or
(ii) remaining payments, plus any excess mileage
So they can’t collect more than the remaining payments and the Turn-in Fee, plus taxes.
In most cases, you have to pay the remaining payments (just the nature of most leases not having positive equity in them), but you should never have to pay a market value adjustment on a standard lease (which these all are).
I don’t see anything about the $424 listed above, but I would note that the $495 turn-in fee is $100 more than my Disposition Fee (so basically a $100 penalty for early termination, which might be due them having to determine the Realized Value). Note “Realized Value” is determined (at their option) as either wholesale book value or actual proceeds – I assume they use wholesale book value in most cases so the amount can be determined quickly.
When I called back and spoke to a lease specialist at CCF, they were not aware of a $424 administrative or administration fee and they indicated the return fee was $395 and any remaining monthly payments, so this newer information seems more on par with what I’m hearing elsewhere. Now my new Honda Passport E-XL is infinitely better than the 2018 Dodge Caravan I’ll turn in before long.
