This sucks. After a default, getting a US visa in the future might be difficult.
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i agree with this. Unless you plan to never return, just letting it go and owing $5k might give you issues coming back to the US in the future.
When you say ever coming back to the US, do you mean to work? (which I don’t plan on doing) or vacation also?
I don’t think you will have trouble visiting the US with a bad credit score. I don’t remember being asked about credit history when applying for US visas, and they sure don’t ask that when you rent cars or book hotels.
With that said, you also want to weigh on whether it worth it to jeopardize your US credit for ~$4.9k for the next 7 years. What happens if you are offered another job in the US? Do you want to turn that down because you have a bad credit history?
I saw you have already put $1.2k incentive on the leaseswape, which is a good start. If you have the financial ability, maybe consider put some more incentives down if no one is taking your lease in the next few days. Hypothetically, if you can afford another $1k incentive, you can put down $500 more incentive if no one is taking it by next week, and another $500 more if no one is taking it next next week. I believe someone will eventually take it, just a matter of how much incentive you want to put in.
p.s., maybe it’s just me, but consider updating the photos of your car with some brighter looking ones, especially for the interior. It looks a bit dark and dingy to me. You can even hire a professional photographer on Thumbtack to get it done. Sometimes, that does make a difference.
Have you tried to carmax the car (to see where you are at)?
Hi cartoman, thanks for the good advice. Your definitely correct with weighing up my future in regards $4.9k over a bad credit rating. In truth, California has been a lot more expensive than I ever could have anticipated and has not left me with a lot of spare cash.
I think my options are to stick with swapalease and hope something comes up in the next couple of weeks, otherwise i’ll be turning the car in before I leave. And yes, maybe with some better photos!
In responce to phalbasch, Carmax offered 15k, I couldn’t quite believe the cheek of them, considering over the phone they told me that they go by Edmunds price guide which was closer to 20k. A complete waste of time.
Have you tried shift.com? I sold my car through them a couple years ago. Almost like a consignment. They’ll let you know what price range they can sell the vehicle for. You might have to pay a little out of pocket to cover the negative equity.
They have a 2015 GTI for $20k on their site - https://shift.com/car/c127559
I imagine they can sell yours for more.
Yeah, they are hit or miss (mostly misses), but when i had them evaluate my Golf TDI i got a very good price, so i sold it (but this was before dieselgate and all that crap)
Sorry to hear about your situation OP- it’s really crappy one to be in and I can imagine the stress you are under.
Unfortunately Beepi has shut down and would have likely been ideal in your scenario, but that is moot now.
You have to be out of the country in 2 weeks on an E2, no? See if employer will put you on no pay gardening leave for a few weeks before employment is terminated to give you some time?
Don’t overstay your visa - you won’t get back in even as tourist, especially with the way immigration and visa policy is shaping up. That’s a different topic all together.
You could try to leave (go to Mexico) and re enter on tourist visa for a few weeks but you could get stopped at immigration and even if you legitimately desire to leave the US once tourist visa expires, they just have to feel like you won’t and they will prohibit entry.
Are they offering severance? Use that to dispose of the car, take the hit, move on and chalk it up to life learning experience. Get out of dodge and start over. It’s gonna suck but fleeing a debt in the US could haunt you. USA is a major player for car design and it could hurt even European job opportunities if you are barred from traveling to the USA on business trips etc.
Some things you can do now to mitigate your expenses:
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Drop your insurances to the bare minimum required by law (including reducing the mileage per year to the minimums etc), -and only keep such liabilities as you are willing to accept the consequences for (such as total loss at your fault or at uninsured driver fault etc) which is a significant cost burden should the worst happen.
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Do you have a trusted friend who could help keep the car whilst you are in the U.K. Until a private buyer is found (say a 4 week period, otherwise it just goes back to VW and you take the hit anyway) just to buy yourself some time.
Unless you can make a swapalease happen in the next week or so - I highly doubt VW will “work with you” but you can always ask them. Who knows? You might catch the finance dept on an altruistic day.
I’m genuinely sorry for your situation.
Good luck
Re the 5k left - or if you manage to drop the deficit to 3k - you could plonk it on a credit card or get a small auto loan and just work it off too. It’ll suck but it mitigated immediate out of pocket expense.
Another $1000 off brings this down to $257/month. I would think that would be snatched up asap (within 2 weeks) in Irvine/La area.
Good deal for someone, i didnt realize you were in Irvine also.
Once again thanks for all the advice. I’ve increased the incentive just to try and get rid of it. It’s going to be a very good deal for someone!!
Create a new post with the deal. I think we have some folks here who are interested in a GTI.
I checked just for the heck of it…shipping to East Coast $800-$900+. Ouch.
I don’t think so. Credit bureaus don’t talk to Homeland Security or ICE or anything like that. If I were this British expatriate I’d just dump the car at the airport and leave. Maybe send an email to the dealer where he leased the car, so that they could find it.
It’ll be weeks or months before anybody finds that car. In the meantime it’ll rack up parking fees, could get towed, repossessed; the poster’s credit rating will be trashed; the car could cause all sorts of paperwork hassles for all the parties left behind, etc, etc, but so what?
I think this guy should just dump it and leave, as a well deserved “Screw You” to VW, the leasing company, and to living in America in general. Good on him.
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Dump the car at the airport. What do you care, you’re leaving anyway, with no intention of coming back.
all about getting good deals.
but ethics, morals are more important.
Well good for you. I’m Filipino and Catholic so I don’t place very much stock in either.
Besides, with the election of our current president, in the face of all his well documented moral and ethical transgressions, and with the Neanderthal-like Alabaman Evangelical Christians still standing by their man Roy Moore, I’ve ceased to even pretend to believe that any of that matters to a sizable group of Americans either.