I am looking to buyout my leased Audi A6. I have had the car for 11 months. The car is registered in MD (and always was). I came in my local Audi dealer and tried to buy it out. They said that is fine, but I need to get it Maryland inspected, and they offered to do that for $300 (they said I can get an MD inspection from anywhere). To me that seems very sketchy. I don’t have the time or desire to pay for more inspections at this point, and they will likely fail me due to 30% tint too (if they start to inspect it).
After I looked at the Maryland Law it says “A safety inspection is not required when a leased vehicle titled in Maryland is transferred to the lessee at the end of the lease. If the vehicle is not currently titled in Maryland, a safety inspection is required.”
I am the original owner of this car and on the title along with AudiFS (co-owners). Since I am looking to finance with AudiFS, we both will still be on the title as now, and I will even have the same tag. Basically I’m refinancing the car from a lease payment to a finance payment. I am not switching ownership, bank, etc., and staying in the same state.
On what basis does my 11 month car need inspection, especially being under the same ownership in the same state? Sounds like pure lies to me.
P.S - If my Audi was financed with Capital One, and I decided to switch to Bank of America, I wouldn’t be asked for any of that. I did that with my previous car, and it was no issue at all. Just resign the papers, and good to go.
As a leasee, you do not own the vehicle. The leasing bank owns the vehicle.
That appears to be the case in many states, but most dealers will insist on the safety inspection. They will also require you to pay their doc fee. Unfortunately, you have to buyout your lease through an Audi dealer, so you don’t have much of a choice if you want to do a buyout.
On the documents, we are both listed My Name /AudiFS. Same for a loan.
If I’m just changing the method of pay, why does a new car need a new inspection? AudiFS remains the vehicle owner until I pay it off - hence same plates on the car too. That’s basically refinancing.
All the dealer is doing is switching my payment method from A to B. I am still the person who has had this car internally, hence I’m even staying with same plates…
Audi owns the car and you are a lessee. You are trying to purchase the car so that you own the car and they are the lien holder. These are two very different scenarios.
You shouldn’t need to, per the law, but Audi dealers don’t have to handle your transaction from AFS either. Their stance will be, if you want them to handle the transaction, you will need to pay their doc fee and inspection fee.
But here is the gray zone, the inspection doesn’t have to be through them… it can be any 3rd party inspection and it qualifies through their words. They won’t make money off of it. I am fine with paying dealer fees. Just not inspection b.s.
