Hey all, my father in law passed away last week and has a current lease with MB. My MIL lives on but cannot drive. The car is not going to be used.
Curious if I should contact MB for this and try to turn it in for him? I don’t want to get hit with early return penalties or other nonsense courtesy of MB if I do this… I also don’t want to personally assume the lease. But… I don’t want to sit on it and pay insurance on it etc. His insurance rate was comically bad.
Has anyone been in this situation before and what was the outcome? We have ~6 months left on his lease. Additionally, the vehicle has been in an accident, has some rim rash and other stuff going on. Suppose I should fix all that ASAP. Does Carmax or carvana buyout MB leases?
Check the contract to see if there is a specific clause. If there isn’t, it may be the liability of his estate. Either way, contacting MBFS would be the right first step.
Interesting. I suppose I will have to give the car a good inspection and see what I am going to owe on these rims and other damage. Add up the cost of payments and penalty and see if carmax is a better deal.
Short story long, I can assume the lease if I want or I can pay the termination fee from the estate… Do you know if carmax carvanna will buy out MBFS leases?
Honestly, if you got a deal deal on the car, just transfer it out cause you can’t do it within 6 months of it left. Post up what your FIL had, maybe fellow LH member can take it over!
Thank you. It is a tough one, we loved that guy. The lease is OK, nothing hack worthy ~400 month GLB 250 and it’s got some pervious damage on it. Miles are also close to the limit, not a transfer I would do to anyone except carmax =)
Sorry for the loss of a loved one. I know your instinct is to be helpful, but the estate/probate process is long, slow, and annoying. If you’re not the administrator of the estate or a named party on the lease… just let this one go and have the process play out. If you are the administrator or are an interested party for the lease, then get in touch with the attorney managing the process to discuss possible next steps.
This link discussed some options for a different captive lender, but I think the general rules apply.
That’s my point… the OP shouldn’t do anything unless they’re administrator or has some interest to cure the lease outside of probate.
And even as administrator, they may not be able to determine how to address the lease. Resolving this could be handled alongside all the other creditor claims in whatever the probate workflow instructs the administrator to do. Maybe the OP can influence the probate resolution/settlement if the attorney is open to hearing ideas.
I find it unlikely the FIL co-signed this lease with the OP.
My SIL is the admin of the estate, but we are a close group. I will inevitably get pulled into the managing the lease as the family car buyer. I called a local rim shop already, 200 bucks for the curb rash. I’ll get the next oil change taken care of and any warranty stuff outstanding and pay it off with MB. Ill manage it like any lease return. Apparently this guy pays 6K a year in car insurance (really bad driving record!! ) so we need this thing moved out asap.
AI says this. I would have the person in charge call MB finincial and ask. According to this you may be able to not pay more than regular fees of turn in.
Yes, Mercedes-Benz Financial Services generally offers a, Customer Bereavement Program that allows the return of a leased vehicle without standard early termination penalties if the account is up to date. The program allows for vehicle return, with potential waiver of penalty fees, often within a certain timeframe (e.g., 10 days).
Key Aspects of the Mercedes-Benz Bereavement Program:
Account Status: The program usually requires the account to be current.
Options: Families can often return the vehicle, or transfer the lease to a qualified family member.
Documentation: A death certificate is required to initiate the process.
Action Required: The executor or administrator should contact Mercedes-Benz Financial Services immediately.
If the account is in default, the company may still work with the estate to reach a solution rather than strictly enforcing penalties. It is crucial to review the specific lease contract and contact a Mercedes-Benz dealer to confirm, as policies can be applied on a case-by-case basis.
Second article on this from Auto News from 2/2026.
When a lease customer dies during his or her term, what happens to the contract?
That’s the case for less than 1 percent of the clients in Mercedes-Benz Financial Services USA’s portfolio. Previously, Mercedes-Benz Financial employees were assigned to those lease accounts and spoke with the clients’ families.
The conversations were difficult not only for the family members, but for the employees.
So in 2014, Mercedes-Benz Financial brought in a grief counselor to help employees learn how to best handle those phone calls, and the company launched the Customer Bereavement Program.
Now, if the account is up to date, the deceased client’s family has two options:
Return the vehicle within 10 days and allow Mercedes-Benz Financial to relieve them of payments; or
Transfer the vehicle to a family member’s name. That family member can either take over the payments or pay off the vehicle.
IMO if you’re not the administrator, just sit back and do nothing. Some other family members may think you’re meddling outside of scope, and somehow having influence on the administrator.
The administrator usually just does whatever the attorneys tell them to do and collects information or sends out communications under direction. Unfortunately I believe most states don’t allow dual administrators where responsibilities are divvy’d up. Dual administrators usually just means they both have to act in unison, which is annoying for everyone involved.
This is unique to MB. Just talked to the dealer and they told me to bring in a death certificate and the car. You don’t pay off remaining pays or a penalty. May still have to come up for miles or wheel damage but it is the best case. Thanks for responding everyone , I’ll update this once I finish the transaction.
I just finished this transaction with Mercedes. They have a program called “do not pursue.” In the case of a death, they do not pursue debts against the estate.
You call and notify the group that someone has passed away and they will ask you to return the car within 10 days. Once it’s returned, you fill out a surrender form, send them a death certificate, and they waive all fees associated with the account.
This is completely unexpected for any manufacturer and changes my view of the company a bit… it’s also a pretty great lease hack!
) so we need this thing moved out asap.