I’m trying to do something a bit unconventional to hack a deal, and looking for some confirmation.
I’m trying to get my wife into an e-tron and take advantage of the loyalty and Costco deals. Though neither of us are Costco members or drive an Audi, her father has both and is willing to sign onto the lease with us as a guarantor of the debt. However, he doesn’t want to sign on as a co-lessee, which would make him liable as an “owner” of the vehicle and require that he carry insurance.
I know this can be done on an auto loan, and it should be possible here. In fact, the dealer I have a deal with says they could do it if a business was the second guarantor; legally, there’s no difference between a business and individual. But they’re saying it can’t be done here.
Like I said, I know this is unorthodox and I may get flamed for it, but I’m giving it a shot and looking for a little advice.
He would not need to carry the insurance. At least in Ohio he wouldn’t have to carry the insurance, now that being said, “as an owner” he would be liable should someone sues you.
Oh, I hear you. We have no problem with that. If there was any financial problem, I wouldn’t go near this. And I’m certainly not going to force a deal here if there’s going to be any problem. But if it otherwise won’t cost me? Yeah, I’ll take the discount.
I could be wrong but what @j_e_f_f said doesnt round right.
You can only register a vehicle to one address, the garaging address, no?
If you FIL has his credit run, wouldnt he need to be on the lease contract itself? Otherwise, what is the point of running his credit and where would he be listed as a personal guarantor?
Are you certain about the last point you made, that he would need to carry insurance? I dont think that is accurate but I could be wrong or it could be different by state.
My FIL and I share multiple cars. We live at different addresses. We are both signed on a couple of leases for rebate/point purposes. For each car, they are registered to one garaging address and insured through one of our policies. It would not make sense that we would both need to insure the same car. That would essentially mean anyone who drives any car would need to insure it, no?
Exactly. I was listed as a PG on business loans/leases before, they never appeared on my credit - although my credit was run for approval.
He wouldn’t need insurance, your insurance would be fine. (Similar to how people the co sign to help their kids get approved don’t need insurance, but their kids do). As someone mentioned above, he could technically by liable in a lawsuit, but that isn’t something I would personally worry about. It would have to first exhaust your insurance limits, then your umbrella policy and then his umbrella.
It’s that last part he doesn’t want coming to him. Unlikely to happen? Absolutely. But he wants no liability. He’s happy to help us get a discount, but only if there is zero extra liability on his side.
If you understand there to be no way around that, it’s good to know.
Yeah, then I would just drop the idea. If he cosigns, he will have financial liability. Typically people are more worried about the primary on the account defaulting, but if he’s worried about insurance liability, that can also be an issue.
The only alternative would be to do the lease in his name and transfer it over - but I believe with VAG, he would still have liability anyway.
It’s a thought, but it seems that all co-lessees are liable.
Protection comes from insurance held by the driver of the vehicle first, so as long as long as the primary owner’s insurance is solid, any co-lessees are unlikely to have any problem.
This sounds right. Forget about your business PG scenario (doesn’t apply here) - the rules for Costco and for Audi loyalty mean that he needs to be (at least) a co-lessor and the car registered at his address, which means he needs to be on insurance, which means he is also personally liable for the lease until disposition (not a concern you expressed) and potentially in an accident. Knock wood nothing happens, but it is a valid concern.
I don’t believe co-signing will fulfill the terms of all the rebates here (Audi more-so than Costco), and not for all liability no.
