Could be that many LHrs from the get go have no intention to keep the lease for its entire term and they are always chasing the next Unicorn …
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I’d say that’s a correct premise. But I feel they are the exception rather than the rule, when it comes to leasing.
Sure, getting rid of lease transfers may not be in their best interest from a business stand point (although, considering how small of a percent of their business they apply to, it may not actually make much difference and the net difference is probably a lot less than those in this circle feel it is), but that’s a FAR cry from it being something that a lawsuit would be applicable to.
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Wonder how much SAL would sell the list of 1000+ people that were trying to go thru the process
I’m also not sure if it’s lawsuits material, not a lawyer. But if it’s such a small portion of business, why dispose of it? Especially in the middle of a pandemic!? Creating a differentiation against your competitors now isn’t a good idea imo and the fte cost they’ve saved doing this will be outweighed by the clients they’ve annoyed.
People trying to transfer have been burnt and won’t likely come back to the brand. Is it worth the risk that they’ll influence friends and family members away from considering them just to save a few bucks?
Lease transfers, generally speaking, are really only utilized by a very small subset of the customer base (namely those who find this community). It also is a huge lift to execute against relative to other tasks - coordinating with multiple parties, credit reporting, DMV work, insurance verification etc.
It makes total sense to me that a manufacturer would drop this temporarily or permanently with very little impact to their bottom line customer base. Sucks for us, but that’s about it.
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The cost! An entire staff of people to run credit checks and process tag and title, just for transfers.
I know 0 about the internals of MBFS, but I know several people at BMWFS who do/did this. It’s time consuming for the captive, and once you sign the lease agreement you are personally on the hook to fulfill on the lease.
It’s a cost center that generates 0 revenue, that processing fee doesn’t cover all their costs.
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IMO I think they’ll bring it back. It just sucks if you’re in desperate need to transfer now. Everyone I know who transfers typically stays with that company. Not saying that’s thousands of people but to my knowledge they’re picking up new customers by allowing it. Someone mentioned earlier payment history. Maybe that’s what lead to their decision. But I think it would make more sense to allow transfers. Like others have mentioned I don’t think most people in our community lease for the whole term. So it sucks for us.
Annoying? Maybe for those who enter a contract only to get out of it before they are actually supposed to, on paper. I am sure MBFS and others expect their lessees to fulfill the terms of their agreement. That being said, a transfer is a benefit, not a right, and it is well within their purview to discontinue it with or without cause. Now if someone wants a luxury car at a 3 year lease price, but intends to keep it only for a year or so, that person should bite the bullet and finance it, or enter into a shorter term that is offered by the captive. If I had to guess, that would be the captive’s position on this matter.
It’s a cost center covered with a lease transfer fee. If the issue was it was cost prohibitive then adjust the pricing to reflect the cost, don’t close it down.
This implies all people looking to complete lease transfers are gaming the system. Sure there are a few but there’s others with legitimate reasons. For those who do need to get out of an agreement now, they’ll likely just pay the associated termination costs And end their relationship with MB for good because of it.
A blanket cancellation under the cover of a pandemic isn’t a good look to me even though they have a right to terminate the service.
Or lease a BMW. Sure it’s not guaranteed with them, but I’d much rather take a chance with that then financing a MB and selling after a year. I have zero holdups “getting out of a contract” if BMWFS offers the option, it’s not gaming the system as there aren’t any losers, just three willing participants.
If it helps you sleep at night, tell yourself the transfer fee is now $10,000 and therefore all the prospective buyers have disappeared
But then I’m sure you’d continue ranting about the high transfer fee.
What exactly do you hope to achieve by complaining ad nauseum here and not to MBUSA/MBFS?
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I’ve already aired my grievance with MB
That’s exactly right. If it’s all the same to you, go for the option that gives you more flexibility. But we cannot fault MBFS for no longer being a “willing participant”. If their analysis proves that transfers are a loser for them at the end of the day, it’s an understandable business decision to do away with them.
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Personally I think all the leasing companies should drop transfers.
Force majure. It’s impacting everyone at the moment.
I wonder if any of the MB folks here have stats on lease penetration for new vs existing lease customers. Everyone I know who leased a MB with 1 exception (buyout) went elsewhere after disposition. Not a ding on MB themselves, but it you know a high % of your lease customers won’t be back anyway, why offer swaps as a courtesy?
Just like the lease contract you signed says 
It could be worse, they could end swaps AND forbid 3rd party buyouts. Or maybe bring them back, but the original lessor retains liability ala Audi.
During this pandemic, all companies had to re-evaluate their businesses and trim the fat where possible. MBFS probably determined the lease transfer department is bleeding money therefore removing it altogether. Raising the price won’t solve the problem because it would shrink the pool leaving MBFS in the same predicament. You guys can’t expect a company to continue a service that they are losing money on esp when new car sales have been dismal.
It appears MBFS has received a sufficient amount of calls on this to be pretty well scripted on it. As it stands the options are to payout the lease or terminate the lease. Lease termination incurs a fee that equates to the remaining lease payments. They’re processing transfers but only for deceased estates. The lady I spoke with did say that they’ll look to review later down the path. In all, it makes sense to provide your feedback to MB if this is important enough to you.
On brand loyalty, I think they’d be a fair few number of sticky customers for top brands. It’s why a heap of them are branching out into smaller and cheaper variants, try get the user while they’re young and they’ll upgrade as their needs change. I’ve leased 2 Mercs but will admit I’d probably change to a Japanese brand if i had to finance or buy outright.
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