I know most people don’t end up doing a buyout, especially as there are some sweet lease deals around now, but, how succesful have people been in negotiating a pre-set buyout at the end of the lease?
For example, I have a ATS-V sedan which is about 80k MSRP. Sweet deal on the lease where they inflated the crap out of the R.V. to move cars. That car has a buyout of 42k at the end of the lease. I know for certain that car will not be going for nearly that much after 39 months and 38kish miles later, especially nearing end of warranty. Its a sweet car with a very unique package of options between the color, recaros, manual and carbon fiber package. If I could negotiate a sweet deal I would def buy it out for the sake of having a super unique “weekend car”. The cars now about 1.5 years old and like 20k miles are going for less than that buyout. I still have about 24 of my 39 months, so its early, but I like to gauge ahead of time. Some people on the Cadillac forums say that GM will negotiate 0, but I find that hard to believe they will take a massive loss on it for the sake of not negotiating. I know yeasr ago theres been success with some Land Rovers. I also have a Jeep Grand Cherokee with a sweet buyback which is going to be about 8k less than what the car will sell on the lot for which is another car I am contemplating buying out in about 10 months, though Im positive Jeep wouldnt give it for even less but who knows
There was a thread 3 days ago about this. You signed a contract agreeing to the residual value, and thus that is your purchase price at lease end. GM Financial doesn’t negotiate plain and simple. Ally and US Bank negotiated on Gen 1 Volts, but they are not GM Financial. They will simply write off the loss against their taxes.
If you can get your dealer to buy the car from GM Financial they can turn it around and sell it back to you. The only issue is on higher trimmed cars the buyout they get is still above market (but typically below residual). The other option is to return it and google the VIN # to see where it ends up on a used car lot and call that dealer to buy the car back. 2nd is more risky as someone could find it before you.
Your point is correct but the big captive finance arms don’t negotiate buyouts for two reasons. Primarily, people are often forced to buyout leases due to mileage overages or damage. Say someones car is worth 5k less than the residual but they owe 2k in mileage overage or needed repairs. I’d guess a solid majority of folks buying out their lease (probably via a loan from GW financial) are the ones that can’t come up with the cash to return the car. GM doesn’t want to let these people off for way less then they owe when they have no other option but to pay the residual. The number of people like you who just happen to love their lease and want to buy are much smaller.
Also, the administrative expense of hundreds of negotiaters must seem like an unappealing expense. If everyone tried to negotiate a buyout at lease end, imagine how many people GM would need to hire to deal with this. Maybe hundreds… probably thousands.
They could just give their existing customer service reps an amount to work with, then print out an amendment to a contract and send it by mail. Still cheaper than hiring an estimator, tow truck driver, then sell it to a wholesaler.
