NMAC no longer allowing third-party lease buyouts?

F^ck NMAC they still owe me money after I sold my car to Vroom last year. Never buying from that company again.

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Not always - if you lease at a sales price of $30K - make $3k in payments (with a $27K payoff) and sell at $29K - you would have positive equity but still have a depreciated asset.

The only way this gain is taxable is if the lease payment was written off as a expense - not an issue for individual lessees.

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I received a $22,500 offer from CarMax yesterday on my 2018 Rogue 3.5 SL Hybrid. I went to CarMax and they said yes, they’ll honor the $22,500. I only owe $19,050 for a buyout. They tried to call NMAC to verify but NMAC closed 5 minutes prior (this was last night. NMAC closes at 7 PM Central and I think Carmax tried to call around maybe 7:05 or so). CarMax said to come back today and they’ll verify the dealer buyout over the phone with NMAC. Trying to be proactive, I chatted with an NMAC rep today. I waited forever and the rep was obviously trying to hurry me off the chat since they were busy. She said CarMax cannot buy my lease and the policy literally changed YESTERDAY. So apparently I missed my opportunity by 5 freaking minutes and they will not allow an exception? This seems ridiculous to me. If this is true, then I am ending my relationship with Nissan completely after being a loyal customer since 2012 and leasing three vehicles through them. NMAC is awful.

Sounds like they did you a favor

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Where is this thread? 5/9 would make a difference for my situation. The NMAC rep I talked to said it took effect yesterday. I am furious with NMAC.

Does it matter? You’re not going to convince nmac that their policy is actually wrong because someone on the internet said it actually kicks in 5/9. Call in and talk to a different rep, and if you get the same story, you have your answer.

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Nissan is doing all kinds of wrongs lately… not sure what they are smoking

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Fair point and good suggestion. After almost 15 years in various forms of customer service, I hate answer shoppers, but I also know that sometimes reps are just trying to get you to hang up.

Also - another idea - minus sales tax, what’s to stop me from getting a Lightstream lease buyout loan and then selling the car to CarMax? I mean, other than the fact that I’d pay sales tax on the remaining balance and probably have to wait for the title to transfer to me. CarMax’s offer is only good for 7 days and I doubt that’d all take place in such a short timeframe, but I also don’t really drive right now (working from home for another month at least) and it seems like this could be an option. I’ve dealt with Lightstream before and they get you your money in like 2 days or less.

Well that’s the biggest factor in reducing your equity.

There’s also the question of whether you need the title in your name and how long it takes to get it.

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The offer is good enough that I am willing to eat the sales tax, if that’s all it takes. But of course NMAC makes even a buyout a pain in the @$$. Now I can’t reach them via live chat. They probably have me blocked, lol.

Does your online account have a purchase/payoff option?

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Yeah. It gives me a payout amount and a PDF letter, which I printed yesterday and took to CarMax but they said they needed to hear it over the phone with NMAC, which is how I ended up where I am today.

The printed PDF letter, at least in Florida, does not include sales tax and you can’t purchase the car directly from NMAC. You have to go thru a Nissan dealership to buy the car, and pay dealer fees and taxes. Again this is just for Florida but wouldn’t be surprised if it’s for all of NMAC.

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Really? How awful. I mean there’s a dealer 5 min from my house but I don’t really love them. But I guess I could try that. I’m trying to get rid of this lease so we can live with one car for the time being.

Not $hitting on your anger here (completely justifiable) but even if you sold it last night, I don’t think Nissan would accept it. It would take a few days for them to even get the payoff amount from Carmax. I think the deal needed to be completely done by the cutoff time for Nissan.

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Fair point. Welp, I’m talking to Carmax now and trying to get them to talk to Nissan to get some answers since I cannot reach Nissan. At least Carmax is responsive.

If you do make headway with Nissan, verify with them whether your state allows them to accept the payoff directly from Carmax. When I sold my Nissan about a month or two ago to Carmax, I kept checking my NMAC account and the next payment due date came and went, along with a nice late fee. I called NMAC and they informed me that Carmax (or any dealer payoff in Florida) had to send the payoff to a Nissan dealership, who then deposits the check, and then NMAC gets notified and closed the account. Carmax sent the payoff check to NMAC. Thankfully when I called Carmax the guy I spoke with was familiar with this as Ford and Mazda require the same thing- he cancelled the check and reissued a new one to a local Nissan dealership. Something with NMAC doesn’t have a dealer license or something to accept payment directly, which also goes hand in hand with you not being able to buy directly from NMAC.

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So I am in an interesting scenario (maybe). Signed deal with Algo on my Pathfinder last Tuesday. They picked it up Sunday night and I was handed a check, which has cleared and is sitting in my bank account. I received a text from Algo this morning telling me the payoff check was sent to NMAC today via UPS and providing me with a tracking number.

Is there a possibility this deal somehow does not go through, or would Algo already have reached an agreement with NMAC prior to sending the payoff check?

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If Algo got the title from Nissan already then you should be all set. I know Carvana won’t pick up the car without having the title, or at least when I sold a Chevy to them back in December, the inspector came with title in hand.

Edit: after re-reading, I wouldn’t touch that money from the check from Algo for a little bit. Hopefully there is some leeway with Nissan here, as there obviously would be pending deals, but just CYA.

Wow what a pain. Maybe I’ll just drive over to my dealership and see if they can do anything for me. They’ll try to rope me into a new vehicle, of course, but I’m a tough negotiator. Thanks to sites like Leasehackr, I’ve learned how to haggle and sales guys don’t harbor much love for me, lol.