I worked with a lease broker to get a good deal on a XC90 in late November, but it’s since turned into a registration nightmare. Hoping folks here who have leased across states can chime in with why this went wrong and how I can start legally driving this car.
I lease in early December through a California dealer and had the vehicle shipped to Washington. The dealer submitted paperwork to register the title in CA and told me Volvo would have on it file shortly and they could provide a copy so I could register in WA. I wasn’t pleased about the delay, but ‘shortly’ seemed like no big deal.
A month later and Volvo financial has received nothing from California and they say this process can take 90 days!
What went wrong here? Should the dealer have registered in WA initially? Do out of state lessees wait months before they start using their vehicles? Is CA notoriously slow? Is there another process to getting a temp tag that I can go through?
Are you sure the dealer actually registered the car in California? There would have been no reason to do so, and many reasons to not do so. The advantage of having the car shipped is that you do not need to pay tax in California or register the car and pay the annual fee in California.
I have. They mentioned contacting the dealer - maybe that helps?
I am likewise going up the chain at the dealer. I have no idea why they titled in California - is this linked to some incentive for the dealer? Why haven’t others who lease out of state hit this issue?
I’ve only done one out of state lease. I’m in TX and a Jeep Wrangler that I leased came from a Louisiana dealer. They registered the car in TX and collected/paid my TX sales tax.
For most manufacturers (I think Volvo is the only exception), incentives are based on the zip code of the person buying/leasing the vehicle. Not the selling dealer. That’s part of why brokers on here always want to know your zip code right away. It’s not just to calculate taxes, since taxes vary by state on a lease/purchase.
I don’t see why they would try and title the car in CA if your registering zip code is not in CA. Seems like that would be a big red flag to the title clerk at the dealer.
I am likewise confused (and rather unpleased). The dealer is attempting to wash their hands of the situation - saying simply that they filed the title with the state.
So perhaps the dealer titled it in CA to try and get an incentive? If that’s true I would’ve rather paid a few more dollars to prevent this massive hassle.
I suppose my only choice going forward is to try and engage Vovlo corperate to see to put pressure on the dealer? I not one to blast businesses with bad reviews, but perhaps that’s another mechanism to attempt to get some recourse.
You need to blast the broker who seems to have abandoned you.You paid them to handle all this for you. They have the relationship with the dealer, but they probably don’t want to bite the hand that feeds them.
I doubt there was any incentive tied to this, just pure negligence on the dealer’s part.
They had no idea what they were doing and/or didnt know how to title/register the car in WA, so they just did it in CA (what they’re familiar with) and moved on.
My past 2 leases have been out of state, in both cases the cars came with a temp 30 day tag from the dealer state (GA & IL) while the title/registration was filed in my home state (NC). Are you saying you don’t even have a temp tag?
Pretty much - they only cavaet to that is Volvo requires the dealer to register vehicles on behalf of the customer, when it’s a lease (bc the bank owns the car).
Depending on Cali (if they’re a paper title or E title state), this is going to take 90 days + would be my guess.
OP also needs to figure out it WA will register a leased vehicle that is titled out of state - some states will not process that w/o flipping the title to their jurisdiction.
This is about to be the new drama thread on LH, isn’t it?
I’m really not sure why they didn’t give me a temp tag - another question for my next round of emails with the dealer.
Thanks for the insight on how this is supposed to work!
I’m really hoping it doesn’t take 90+ days. On the plus side it appears CA has processed the title, but Volvo financial services is yet to receive it. The dealer is saying this should be fairly quick (but they’ve been saying that for 3+ weeks…).
Yeah that’s incorrect. The broker, who obviously doesn’t know what hes doing by taking out of state deals from cali, isn’t responsible for dealer error.
The broker didn’t cause the error, but they should be engaging with the dealer the help rectify it. That’s part of why you’re paying a broker. To handle the COMPLETE transaction.
I am not saying the broker is responsible or that OP should out the broker publicly. What I am saying is the broker should help the OP get the matter resolved since he was paid to deliver a vehicle that could be registered and driven. Also, the broker should not have allowed a deal to go through that would have an out-of-state customer registering a vehicle in California. For all we know the OP has paid taxes and registration to CA for a vehicle that will not be registered there.
What is reasonable to ask the broker and dealer to do? Should I ask the broker to refund the fee? Ask the dealer to facilitate extending the lease at no addition cost?
I really just wanted to drive this car but at this point I’m not sure what to even ask for to remedy the situation as it seems likely I’ll go 2 months without full use of the vehicle.
For starters ask for temp tags that you can drive on. Then get clarification from the dealer - directly or through the broker - what exactly they did and what the plan/timeframe is to get it registered in your state.
I wouldn’t worry about compensation until it’s resolved. We had someone post last week their registration and tags haven’t been issued for a year.
