It’s 4% of your current buyout amount or “adjusted lease balance” in contract terms.
When you get a payoff quote with MBFS online it includes this and all other fees.
So, I finally finished up my order/purchase plan. Frankly, it took longer than I expected it to, but here is what I found for my purpose, your mileage may vary.
First, my goal was to end up owning the car outright, I HATE interest payments unless they are ridiculously low, and that is not the case currently. Second, I wanted a 2024 GLE 450e. I appreciate all of the folks on this thread who mentioned that there may be “better” vehicles available, but I know what I want. I’m not looking for speed, when I want that I drive the sports car. Finally, I had a few options that were not negotiable and a few that I simply could not see myself paying for, they just didn’t make sense for my purposes.
With that background, I reached out to several dealers and in all cases, the penalty for paying off the lease early completely ate up the $7500 credit. As much as I like the idea of keeping money from the government, it just never made sense for me. Moreover, I could not find a dealer who would give me the 13 month lease. They all said that it had been discontinued. This was such a consistent story that I assume it to either be true or a very well-coordinated conspiracy lol. Also, because I had such specific requirements, it made sense to do a build, which is what we are doing.
As for discounts, I managed to talk my way into a $1K discount up front and a $500 fleet discount. Most of us can find some reason for the fleet discount and, frankly, my dealer did not even ask me to prove my eligibility.
Overall, not cheap by any stretch, of course, but the best route for me was to pay outright and be done with it. Like I said, your mileage may vary.
Isn’t it 4% of the payoff? Your payoff would need to be $187,500 for a 4% penalty to be $7,500
So why does the existence of a 13m lease matter? Your plan could be a lease of any length if you’re paying it off in sub 30 days.
There was an additional sum for the penalty, not sure where you got the 4% from. If that’s what you have, then great. I didn’t get that offer.
13 months because I could keep the lease for 13 months and pay off the residual without a penalty and come out ahead. Anything longer and the lease plus residual was more than the original cost minus the $7500.
I don’t think 13 month is over.
It is if you can’t find a dealer willing to offer it to you. 
Well, find it then!
When the car gets you by the balls, your heart and mind will follow.
Did you tell the dealer you planned on paying off immidiately? They tend to lie so they don’t lose commission.
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How much was the sum?
What does the contract say?
Can you combine this with 2.5k fleet. I want to see how to qualify for this BOA offer.
Nope. I said I wanted a lease, asked for the 13 month term, and each and every one of them said that it was no longer available. After a period of time we reached the law of diminishing returns.
Following up with this, I don’t know why that would matter so much, their commission is on a sold unit. Why would it matter to them if I leased for 13 months versus 24 months?
I was referring to this statement. Why would lease and immidiately buy eat the 7500?
Because the penalties for an early buy out are significant. Every one of the dealers told me that an early buy out resulted in having to pay the remaining terms of the lease (let’s say you leased for 2000/month for 24 months, you owe that) in addition to the residuals. By the time you pay that out, you are paying well over the $7500 you were trying to save to begin with.
Now…someone will tell me that they were BSing me. May have been. I cast my net fairly wide, going from one end of Virginia to the next and got the same answers every time. Then, I did independent research online and found the same statements, that being that once they lock you into a lease, they do not let go of the profit thereof without making it painful. That’s what made the 13 month lease the only viable option and, when I could not get that, then paying cash straight out was the option.
Anyone is welcome to approach a dealer and maybe get something better than what I discovered, I’m telling you what I got only.
Never got to a contract. When I heard the terms common sense told me that the lease and immediate payoff was a bad idea, those terms being, as noted, that you still had to pay out the lease and then pay residuals.
I bought my MB lease a few months early and I can tell you
is completely BS
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Dealers just truly don’t know (they don’t take the time to actually read their own contracts) or lie to your face so they don’t lose the commission if you buyout within first three months. Topic has been discussed numerous times before here, you are only responsible for the remaining depreciation portion of your remaining payments. Confirmed by HHHshah above.
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If you do an early buyout, I do think you need to make the remaining base payments minus any unearned rent charges + acquisition fee + whatever early termination fee exists. So what the dealer told you was not entirely wrong.
If the buyout occurs immediately, there’s no rent charge, so you basically be paying the selling price (and the you get the $7500 rebate). The pre-incentive/rebate selling price should not differ in purchasing vs. lease.
What is the acquisition fee and early termination fee for MB?
Ah. Then maybe I misunderstood (or they did) what was meant by making the remaining payments. That said, wouldn’t making the remaining payments and then owing the residual still put you at a disadvantage?
Too much higher level math for me. 
Making my head hurt.