Helping me get my girlfriend out of her Mercedes Benz GLE350 lease

Ask the Hackrs
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81

I dont really need tough love.

You can make your point without some of the comments on here about my relationship with my girlfriend. I know exactly what situation I am in. She is a fantastic person in basically every single way other than she grew up really poor in Thailand and didnt have access to a good educational system, and that has caused some problems because she trusts people too much and she has been taken advantage of.

Yes, she likes expensive things, just like a lot of the US population does.

She is REALLY REALLY well liked by her customers, doesnt drink, doesnt smoke, works harder than 99% of the US population when there isnt a pandemic going on and despite working in a bar was able to afford a horrible Mercedes Benz lease, and an expensive apartment. She doesnt mooch off of the govt, hasnt ever committed a crime, pays every bill and treats EVERYONE with kindness and respect. She managed somehow to save enough money to build her parents a house back in Thailand. She is generous and trusting sometimes to a fault, which sometimes is a detriment, like getting into a Mercedes Benz lease where they took advantage of her in every way possibleā€¦ A lesson I am trying to help her fix. If she read how people are responding to this she would just turn the other cheek and move on. So yes, she is a great person and girlfriend.

Her one downfall, if you can call it that, is that she basically spends every dime she has. I am aware of it. She is aware of it. Due to her background she doesnt mind working day and night to afford these things. I am trying to get her to accept a more balanced approach. Less work, less expensive but still nice things, and a little more free time.

I came on here to get some advice on how to get out of a lease, and end up defending my relationship to a bunch of people who have never met either of us on the internet. Lets stick to the lease stuff and let me take care of the relationship part. If I wanted advice on my relationship I would see a therapist.

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82

I am a lease noob, but to quote Starship Troopers ā€œThis [thing] crawls.ā€

Your gf signed an insane lease shortly before Covid (~March 2020) and she lost her job. You met her shortly after she signed the lease, and you also say you have been living together for a ā€œcouple of year.ā€ Seems like you two have known each other approximately 1.5 years. You are not married, you are planning a family with her, and you are making financial decisions for her. Sheā€™s not happy about having to downgrade her car to live within her means, and sheā€™s still (still?) unemployed in one of the hottest job markets ever?

I mean, maybe thatā€™s an uncharitable interpretation, but 18 months is about the point at which many, many relationships break down. Regardless of what happens with the lease, please let her do everything in her own name, and donā€™t put yourself in a risky financial situation for someone who could walk any time. Off topic, but if you are planning a family, marriage, civil union, etc., you really might want to consider a prenup.

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83

Yes, this is totally getting off topic. The OPā€™s actual questions have been answered, and heā€™s already indicated he didnā€™t come here for relationship advice.

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84

LOL that comment wasnā€™t for you. As you can see I quoted the other individual who posted. it was mainly saying that the members here like to give ā€œtough loveā€ not that you need ā€œtough loveā€.

& That is exactly what I did. That is the main reason why i said

The purpose of saying this was to give you information related to your ā€œleaseā€ situation & not to get into your personal life.

Hope everything works out with the lease. Good Luck!!!

85

She leased a brand new body GLE during its initial releaseā€¦ for effectively $968/month. She probably didnā€™t negotiate with the dealer but to say they took advantage of her is a stretch. The deal was fair even though the down payment was excessive, probably to get her to a target monthly.

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86

You registered just to give unsolicited relationship advice? :roll_eyes:

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87

Probably Dr Phil

88

Pretty much. Had he posted the ā€œdonā€™t need relationship adviceā€ post earlier, I would not have, but we ended posting at the same minute.

The tl;dr is that I was in a relationship that had many of the same alarm signals. There was no car lease involved, but there was a total disconnect between me and ex on financial matters, and things ended badly. Weā€™re still friends (or at least friendly), and thereā€™s no bad blood, but I guess I am overly sensitive to what I perceive as people going down a potentially dicey road.

89

Thatā€™s was my first thought too. She is paying about 56% of the car over three years, that is horrible for this forum, but that is pretty typical for an average Mercedes customer.

With the exception of putting $21k down, she didnā€™t do any worse than a typical uninformed leasee.

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90

Yup, I am detecting more of an animus towards the car or brand itself. The deal is mediocre, not great but also not a rip off by Mercedes standards. Even the most superficial research would tell him that.

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People on this forum havenā€™t really gotten good deals on the GLE either, I wouldnā€™t consider this terrible.

Regardless, whatā€™s the highest someoneā€™s offered you for the car now? Where are you at in the process? What areas do you need help, if any?

Step 1. Try the typical iBuyers (Carvana, vroom, CarMax, GMTV, etc) punch in the VIN and see what they offer you and compare against the buyout.

Step 1.5. (If you have time) Solicit offers from local dealerships.

Step 2. Pick the highest offer.

Step 3. Sell the car.

92

Read about 5 hours of stuff on the forum and learned quite a bit. Thank you to all that helped with my actual questions.

Got an offer from autonation for $53750 for her mercedes. Seems legit. Talked to the guy today and let him know what is going on. It is like 3 hours roundtrip, so I need to have my ducks in order for another vehicle before I take them up on the offer. I got a buddy who manages an Enterprise car sales. Enterprise actually came back with a pretty strong offer. Going to call my buddy up tomorrow and see if he can hook me up with a price to beat Autonation. I am pretty much through looking for a buyer. Checked with ERAC, Autonation, carvana, mercedes, algo and one or two others. I think I have hit top dollar.

Looked at consumer reports to see what vehicles rated out highly and printed off all consumer recommended vehicles. Took the girlfriend ā€œcar lookingā€ on a Sunday so we wouldnt be bothered and wouldnt be able to test drive a vehicle. Looked at 42 different makes/ models of SUVā€™s. Sounds like a lot, but she loves shopping and it only took 3 hours. Learned a LOT about what she is actually looking for and listened to her clues on what is really important to her. Everything she told me is pretty easy to find except 360 driver vision. Other stuff (black or red exterior) black interior, 360 camera, leather seats, and the size of the vehicle are pretty easy to find.

Narrowed 42 down to 5, based on what she can afford and what she liked, and SUVā€™s that have the features she is looking for (ex honda eliminated because they dont have 360 camera) I threw out a couple vehicles because I hated them (Lexus) but she pretty much chose what she wanted.

Top 5.

  1. Genesis GV80 . Positives- she absolutely loves the way it looks. Negatives-very, very top, top, top of budget. Dont want to break her bubble, just hoping she eliminates it herself.

2 Volvo XC90. Positives- loves it, have some great lease options right now. Negatives- hard to find those lease options. (more on that later)

3 Volvo xc60 Positives loves it, some great lease options right now. Negatives, also hard to find those lease options. A little smaller than expected.

  1. Ford explorer. Positives- price relative to other vehicles. She really likes them. Negatives- Not very reliable vehicle, breaks down a lot according to consumer reports, so it would be something that I would probably only lease. I am not of a fan of them and think they are POS, which they sorta are.

  2. Mazda CX9. Positives Very reasonably priced. Very reliable. She likes the way they look. Negatives. She is not ā€œin loveā€ with the vehicle, it is only really nice, so she is already settling in her mind, which is fine with me, but she is the one driving the vehicle.

So yeah, it is all over the board, but at least it is narrowed down, and she genuinely seems pretty excited about all the models.

Tomorrow we are going to go test drive the 5 different models, to see how she likes driving them, (if we can find a dealership that will allow us to test drive. Lots are just absolutely barren.

Wrote a message and set up a time with Benvenito for Wednesday. Hoping he can pull a miracle with a lease on a Volvo or at least give me a couple different options. Acclimated myself with all the different leasing terms that I wasnt familiar with so I can have an intelligent conversation with him.

Right now buying used is not an option. Did a couple hours of searching on Autotrader tonight comparing used to new. It is ridiculous. The market is going to change in the next couple of years and it would be an absolute mistake to buy used right now. I just need to buy a couple of years right now until the market changes, and that is why I am advising her to consider leasing again. This is a once in a lifetime situation where leasing really does seem to be her best option, in both the short and long term. Sounds like Ben knows what he is doing, and with all the options he has vs what I have and the time it would take me to find those deals, I am probably just going to go with a pro, unless I happen to find that diamond in the rough in the next couple of days. I know they are out there, they are just really really really hard to find right now. All my usual car buying sources are just shot. The market is insane.

Anyway, so that is where I am at .

93

Save money, lease the cheapest vehicle she will find acceptable.

Turn in the lease and buy the really nice car she would absolutely love.

Best advice I offer in this situation. Considering this isnā€™t your comfort area, best bet would be to take the best deal available and not necessarily the best deal on the car. Shop the deals, not the cars.

Sometimes sacrifices are needed to get to where you want to be. Thatā€™s my .02 cents since you came to the internet asking strangers for advice.

94

Sorry, how would this be different than keeping the GLE?

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95

I liked

Because it is - sometimes to help someone see what they claim they want to see, you have to be direct.

80 posts and 2 days ago I brought up:

It doesnā€™t matter how much ā€œequityā€ you extract if you vaporize it in the transaction. Iā€™m glad to see you finally came around to that:

Now that weā€™re on the same page there.

Iā€™m glad to see also youā€™ve done some reading, but back to

I couldnā€™t agree more with

One of the only vehicles leasing worse than a GLE right now.

I realize itā€™s only one on the list, but if youā€™re going to have a shot in this market at a better deal than she currently has (which as others said was not atrocious, just wayyyy too much CCR), you need more than 4 hours read time.

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Unless @Benedetto works his magic (like he did on my last lease), but if you donā€™t understand the numbers, how confident are you in the ā€œdealā€?

There is a ton of good leasing suggestions in this thread - keep reading. Itā€™s the worst time in history to transact on a car, so be confident in all sides of the deal when you do.

Good luck.

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96

@freddy4play

Looks like you got a lot of good advice hereā€¦

Your girlfriend seems like a hardworking good person. She just got in over her head with an expensive SUV.

Just sell the GLE to the highest bidder and get her into something much cheaper. Sheā€™ll have to understand that it might not be as nice as a GLE but easier on both of your wallets in the future .

We all sometimes like nice things and get in over our heads.

Good luck !

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97

Sure it can be, but no one asked him to post this, so he threw himself out there.

98

What are you actually trying to achieve here?

The GV80 is a horrible lease value. Youā€™re talking about trying to get her out of a vehicle thatā€™s too expensive so that you can light all the money on fire to get into another vehicle that is a horrible value.

Is your goal here to help her financial situation or are you just captivated by the carrot of the equity on the gle due to her putting way too much money down and see it as an way to get into something shiny and new, cost be damned?

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99

GV80, XC90ā€¦ did I miss the post where girlfriend got a job? Pretty sure the dealer/lender will be interested in how much she currently earns. How does getting her into another recurring monthly expense help when she doesnā€™t have an income?

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She likes getting hammered. Bad for car buying ā€¦

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