Our xc90 lease is coming to an end this September. Pretty early on in the lease we realized we needed a hitch and paid for the official volvo hitch to be installed (OEM, installed by a dealership, hidden/stealth). I was curious if there is any leverage I can gain when turning the vehicle back in. Can the value be added to the damage allowance? Can any value be applied to another lease? If anything could I have it removed so I could installed it on another one I lease?
I had this same situation when I leased an MDX several years ago. I tried to take the hitch off myself, but after three years the thing was partially rusted and they torque those on so tight you need an impact wrench (which I did not have) to get them loose. I asked the dealer if they could just take it off the returned MDX and put it on the new one I was leasing as the body style had not changed. Unfortunately I did not request this during the lease negotiations and once the deal was set they would not make the switch without charging me. So I left in on and moved on.
I’ve gone through 2 XC90 and on my 3rd lease now and had a hitch on all of them. There really is zero value in it but since I kept leasing another XC90 I got the dealer to put one on the new lease. I got one at cost and the other was free, so able to help with a little savings.
Always try to get the car with options you want so it’s residualized. Even if the dealer adds it for “free” that just means a larger discount was likely possible.
