Their support of this was in writing on their website, and they just suddenly took it away without any grandfathering, in what appears to be bad faith business decision. I’m sure there are enough lawyers who could determine suitable cause.
There are 1079 MBFS cars currently on swapalease alone (granted some of them are brokers), and a lot of leases outstanding. I’d imagine the class could be of a suitable size for some group of lawyers to bite.
Always a possibility… 3-5 years to make its way through the backlogged court system… will be interesting. Definitely hope things change and work out for those affected by it but… 
Long term, does every captive then do away with lease transfers? More restrictive transfers?
It seems that on MBFS’ website, they are still saying “till further notice”
I really hope that they plan on restarting them soon because like you said it, this is bad faith.
that’s like saying MB announces they will stop electronic payments for leases and lessees file a class action lawsuit arguing that they are inconvenienced. .
I think MBFS says it can change it’s policies as and when it needs. The only contract between you and them is what is payment and payment date.
Stopping electronic payment would still impact all MB lease holders, stopping transfers only impacts a fraction of them…
This sucks man, My lease ends at the end of the month, I wanted a E-Class, hopefully it opens up soon Smh
It’s a bummer but I saw it as a “nice to have”. As others have mentioned, you signed the lease for X amount of months. As many companies are trying to save money this was one of the first things to go. On the other hand I also see the negative for many folks who might not be able to make payments on their MB lease due to the current situation and would of liked to transfer out of the lease and can’t.
Any word again?
I spoke with a rep from MBFS yesterday and didn’t learn anything new. She reinforced that lease transfers are suspended indefinitely. When asked if they would resume after the pandemic, she said it’s under evaluation and it’s possible that MBFS may not permit them ever again. But It wasn’t definitive.
I currently have two Mercedes (S class and E Class) and I’ve been desperately finding a solution to this nonsense that MBFS is pulling since May. Spoke with Swapalease a couple days ago and they said they are switching all MB listings from a lease to a financing loan gradually. The account manager confirmed that since now MBFS is not allowing any transfers in the US, the only option for people to take over the car is by financing it, where Swapalease will buy out the car once they confirmed the buyer/running their credit and work out the details with the buyer.
But after speaking to a lot of interested buyers, this option just turned a lot of people away since it is a huge financial commitment to finance and MOST IMPORTANTLY people can just lease a new car from the Mercedes dealerships with that amount of money…, which MB explained since dealerships and MBFS are two separate systems; dealerships can actually process new leases but MBFS can’t process lease transfers, this is actually going on… I really don’t understand how Mercedes is operating like this… total nonsense… honestly there has to be a way or else def a class action… so many people are affected…
Sorry for the rant but any thoughts/ideas to get the car safely off my hands? Thought through a lot of ideas that was mentioned, just looking to see if anyone came up with something new. Thanks.
I feel for you but you cannot sue someone for not doing something for which they are under no legal obligation to do. Not how contract law works.
You can park it in a bad area and leave the keys in it…
Otherwise it’s just the eternal fight of resale value vs payoff. It does seem certain price bands of used vehicles are increasing probably due to lower new vehicle inventory and some people having less money at the moment.
Would be interesting if this prompts BMWFS into making any changes. Currently of the German triumvirate they’re the only one to offer pretty much unrestricted lease transfers.
The dealership and the financing arm are always separate. This is how every brand works.
There’s not going to be a class action lawsuit for MBFS deciding to stop offering something they did as a courtesy. They have no obligation to do transfers at all.
This… Unless transfer are explicitly written into the original lease contract they have no obligation to do anything… The only concern they have the the potential impact on overall customer satisfaction and that is a metric I am sure they used as they decided what to do with respect to transfers, and if they should implement specific policies to continue them safely…
I agree they’re under no contractual obligation to provide transfers but they did have a place in the lease program. Some that come to mind are people switching to a different model, transferring due to change in financial circumstances, life changes (growing family as an example). Transfers was one of the drivers for me deciding to lease another Mercedes, because it gave me an option in the event I was relocated.
People who need to transfer and end up having to take a financial hit if they have to buyout the car and sell it at a loss will be left with a very sour taste, likely vowing never to touch the brand again. Lease default rates could also increase, which is possible when the Covid-19 related pay deferrals end, which would be a hit to their bottom line.
I’ll be watching closely. Doing something because you can doesn’t necessarily mean it’s always a good idea. With so many comparable products in the market, it’s a bit silly to agitate people by taking away an option that can help people out for various reasons.
I’ll be watching this closely,
I’m guessing they believe not allowing transfers will reduce overall losses (why switch from someone with a payment history to one without). Raising the transfer fee to cover any potential losses would seem like a reasonable compromise.
The only reason why I’ve never leased an Audi is because they don’t allow lease transfers. Had MBFS been upfront about that, I wouldn’t have leased a Mercedes & would’ve stuck to BMW.
Lightswitch rule changes are disastrous for the brand. Status quo shouldn’t be changed overnight, especially for existing contracts. Maybe if they decided that MY2021 onward they are not going to allows LTs, that would’ve been fair. Screwing over existing customers is just plain wrong.
I know people are saying that this is a courtesy, but it feels like a class-action lawsuit. LT ability was one of the SOLE reasons why I leased an MB.
Grand fathering existing clients, increased transfer fee, creating an exceptions based process would have all been palatable options. Transfers played into my decision to lease another MB (even though loyalty wasn’t available when I was upgrading). I avoided Audi and VW because liability stays with you even if you transfer.
I wasn’t planning to end my lease early, but liked the flexibility it gave me. I hope I don’t have to end it early and hope they have a chan here of heart soon.
I could be wrong but I’m inclined to think that, outside of the LH community, being able to transfer out of a lease is a nonissue for most people.
Then why don’t you find and speak with a attorney that takes class action cases against car companies on retainer, have them evaluate your case, and let us know what they say?
I explored a class action for something not-car related in December and January, and it’s (among other things) a lot of time and effort for the initial plaintiffs, and then finding enough people with standing in enough places to certify as a class action.
Once you get them past of the lease contract where the captive isn’t obligated to process a transfer…
