Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
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When did you write them and did they ever reply?
Hi all. This issue seems to have a significant amount of people interested. But I have not seen this topic being raised on social media, news… While it could be a huge PR fail for Mercedes, to do away with lease transfers for people who entered into the leases when the program was still in place, it is not - for that specific reason - if you google it, there is absolutely nothing but this thread.
I would expect that if there was enough public attention brought to this, with Mercedes failing their customers in the time of a pandemic and extreme number of job losses, they may reverse the course.
If all of us went to their Instagram, Twitter, Facebook page and complained… if the media caught up, I’m sure Mercedes could no longer just sit there and call it “business decision” in disregard of the horrible economic situation in the country when most businesses are trying to step up and support their customers. Who would go and get a new lease from them knowing that they acted so selfishly and knowing that if things changes, they could not transfer the lease?
Thoughts?
The overwhelming majority of lessees have absolutely no idea that transferring a lease is even a thing.
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Most auto transactions are financed, then leases, then cash purchases.
Most people who lease have no idea transfers are a thing: it’s a courtesy that some (not all) captives offer.
Score another one for LH
If you have a MB lease you are stuck trying to transfer out of, and you wanted media attention, I’d reach out to the reporters who initially covered lease transfers and see if its something they would be interested in.
The story might even have legs if someone who has standing contacted a lawyer who agreed to take their case…
Don’t forget about Ally.
As far as I know, there is no fine print on the lease agreement that states MBFS has the duty to allow the transfer. It was, but no longer is, an added benefit, not an obligation. Therefore, a PR fail it might be among the LH masses, but the fact that there is no social media outrage over it leads me to the simple conclusion: most lessees don’t care about transferring out. And that’s very reasonable as far as I’m concerned. If anyone is eager to get out of their leases, there are other ways to do so.
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The MBFS lease contract actually explicitly states that leases cannot be assumed so it was always a policy exception. Even if they decided to re-instate the policy they could just decline all the incoming requests for any reason they see fit.
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It doesn’t take much imagination to understand those wanting to transfer are likely being financially prudent with everything going on. Those wanting to assume in these times likely less prudent. Why would they want to waste time facilitating transfers that add more risk to their portfolio. Again, this is a GENERAL statement. Obviously exceptions to this.
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From my experience, Majority of customers do rely on the ability to transfer (having that option). While not everyone gets into a lease expecting to transfer, most know that it is an option, and if circumstances in life were to change, they could always pass down the lease.
Overall, regardless of the reasons, I’m sure if all of the people on here who wanted to transfer and were bummed out by the MB’s decision, went and posted on their social media, twitted, etc… it would be likely that the decision may be reversed. The fact that we are all complaining on here to each other will not move a needle. Public image is valuable… as long as its public.
Plus, when the written terms of the agreement are intentionally and regularly changed/ignored by the company - like allowing lease transfers and having a set application process, price, even a dedicated department - that is quite enough to assume reliance of customers and invalidity of such contractual term. Essentially, you cannot fail to enforce something for extended period of time and then expect that condition to be valid 100%… just a thought.
Interesting… from what I’ve seen, most lease customers aren’t even aware you can sell a lease out before the end of the term, much less transfer an active lease against the terms of the contract.
In these circles, that’s not the norm, but if we’re talking about John Q. Public… not so much.
GUYS!!! TWEET THEM ABOUT THEIR DECISION. Nobody knew there will be Covid in 2020 and it will affect this hard on us. I have paid my monthly payments to MBFS without failure for almost 7 months without being able to drive the car. I am outside of USA and couldn’t comeback til Dec due to the great contribution Of Covid in my life. My friends are ready to takeover the lease but this MBFS ruined everything EVERYTHING…
They’ve ruined their brand reputation and trust which they’ve built for decades with just ONE BS decision. 
no matter how low the % of lease transfers but it should be taken into consideration.
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I can assure you with 100% confidence this did nothing to their reputation. You can tweet them to your heart’s content. This community and folks that leverage lease transfers outside of this make up a crazy small percentage of their customers. It was offered as a courtesy - not a guarantee.
I’m not here to defend a big company, but you should not be surprised that MBFS reallocated resources to handle other issues during this crisis, just like literally everyone else. That they don’t want to bring it back will not make a dent.
If you’re having an issue with keeping your car, call and see if they can work something out for you.
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Unsure of your personal circumstance but international travel into the United States is open…
Someone can correct me if I am wrong here, but if you have a current lease, the implication is that you have a Social Security # and are not considered a foreign national. That would mean you are allowed entry in the USA, and can continue driving your car.
Agree with above. As has been said here before, most customers don’t even know they can transfer their lease. It is also a very very few number of people that actually transfer so nothing is going to happen to them or their reputation over not allowing transfer.
Can’t believe this thread is still open. You couldnt transfer MB two months ago, you still can’t, and prob won’t be able to next month and no tweet or lawsuit is going to change that.
I’m about to ask for MF and RV for a car here so it gets closed.
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Other companies are considering lease transfers. They certainly lost me for next car. I know it could be a very small percentage (although I don’t know where you get that data from) but man you can’t just let your customers down and I am sure the number is increasing because 67% of Benz in US(2017 and I am sure the number has increased) are being leased. Leasing is becoming a new trend now. GTA thingy only with monthly payment 
til you get into next car.
Loop
Drive > Throw Money > Get Bored? > Change Car > Drive > Throw Money
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Idk if you can’t commit to a car for 3 years try a car share service… especially a MB, you ain’t hurting for cash (shouldnt be)
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You can still buyout and sell the lease…
What bothers me is nobody really cares aby WHY they stopped lease transfer. I know it’s easy to look at MBFS as some big bad company, but the reality, their entire workforce has been displaced from their offices and is working remotely. They never had very many people assigned to the lease transfer group, and with the huge increase in customer service call volume, they moved those people from lease transfer to lease servicing. They now need to equip their entire workforce with laptops and get them all on remote VPN to connect back to the office. It’s been a major disruption for them too.