Purchasing our leased 2018 Nissan Rogue SL - being told we cant use the vehicle for 10-15+ days

Ask the Hackrs
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Hi everyone. New to the website, I found the forum after hearing something from our dealer that sounded fishy. We are located in Western MA.

We have a 2018 Nissan Rogue SL that we plan on purchasing. The lease is up this fall (2021), being vague here, but with still have some runway ahead of us.

The vehicle fits our needs, is in mint condition, and has low mileage. We are going to elect to purchase the vehicle as allowed in the lease contract. The lease is through NMAC.

The economics just seem right to me. With the current used car market we couldn’t replace with an equivalent vehicle close to the lease purchase price + sales tax. We aren’t planning on flipping it, but Carmax is giving an offer that is 8k more than the purchase price, that alone is a good indication to me that the we have equity in the car at least at the current market conditions.

The only snag we have hit is from a salesman at the original dealer who has been very aggressive at pushing us to purchase a new vehicle or sign a new lease. My wife and I were both told that we could purchase the vehicle (no kidding, it is in our contract), but that we would be unable to drive the vehicle for “10 to 15, or more” days while all of the paperwork was finalized.

I asked for an explanation about why we couldn’t drive the vehicle in the interim, and why it would take so long, and I was told that NMAC sent them a letter requiring these things. There wasn’t any clear explanation for the mechanics behind the delay, they are blaming “NMAC policy”.

I called NMAC, and spoke to one customer service rep who discredited that claim, and said that this was a dealership policy, not NMAC’s. She said that as long as it was before the end of the lease period they would send the title over 5-7 days after receiving the purchase amount, but that we could use the vehicle in the interim just like we were under the lease. They did say that we had to process the purchase through the dealership, but we could use third party financing (which I don’t think they can contractually bar us from using).

Now I know that the NMAC holds the title, not the dealership, and that is a difference, but it just seems like under any other transaction that nets the dealership a profit I can drive away same day or at least next business day. But here when the numbers are finally in my favor, they are adding one more strong arm tactic to try to dissuade us from purchasing the vehicle so they can turn around and cash in themselves.

Has anyone heard of this type of policy from other Nissan dealers?

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since NMAC confirmed it is not their policy, your hunch is likely right that this dealer might not be honest, or you need to speak with their finance manager and not the salesman.

I would just find a different Nissan dealer not in their network and go through them.

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NMAC requires all buy outs, in all states, to be done through a dealership.

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Wow - ignore me then. That would be a deal breaker on a lease - buyouts usually the easy part.

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The saga continues. Nissan (NMAC) will actually allow us to process the payoff payment/purchase directly through our financial institution, no dealer involvement. The one hitch is that I need to find a bank or credit union that will accept the NMAC payoff letter that is generated through the website. They won’t send a bill-of-sale or any other lease purchase agreement documentation to help the process along.

NMAC representative 2 and 3 continued to claim that the vehicle can continue to be driven during the gap between payoff, receipt of title, and re-registering with the RMV. They weren’t helpful with getting a lease purchase agreement that it seems like a financial institution would want.

I spoke to the finance manager at dealer #1 today that claimed that the issue was an insurance issue. Funny how the story changes every time I talk to a new person. His explanation was that once they send payment to NMAC the dealership owns the vehicle, and they can’t properly have the vehicle insured in the interim before they receive the title from NMAC.

I found another dealership who only processes lease purchases for people that originally leased through them, unfortunately, but they did tell me confidentially that Dealer number 1 was full of crap, and that it was their personal dealership policy, not an MA RMV regulation, or an NMAC policy. They stated that they don’t do this to any of their lessees.

Through hell or high water I am going to get this figured out, but it will be the last Nissan vehicle I ever purchase or lease, this process is ridiculous.

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I’ll cut to the chase: don’t. Not for keeping anyway.

Flip it for the equity but don’t keep it.

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Thanks Max. What is your reasoning?

We need a vehicle, and I am sure the market will correct and we will have less equity in the vehicle than we appear to have now, but given used car prices it is the most cost effective option at this given time.

Even if we flip it for the equity we are still stuck with having to deal with this crazy run-around to get a title in hand that would allow us to sell it.

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Hope NMAC lease Contract has this in fine print that buyout has to go through the Dealer so the Finance Manager can screw you one more time. This is becoming a Joke now. FL has same rules for all manufacturers and believe 2 other states too. Will never lease another Nissan . In the past I bought Maxima and lease a Mourano and EV Leaf.

Edit: After reading that NMAC will allow you to go to your credit union to buy the SUV.
I did the same for a VW GTI 6 months back.
Payoff letter will be good for credit union to send them a certified check. Make sure payoff letter has local Tax included otherwise you might have problem in DMV paying taxes on the vehicle .
NMAC also need to provide a tax form that they get the tax from you so you can show that to DMV.

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I wasn’t the OP, but sounds like he should be in good shape if he doesn’t have to go through a dealer. As long as the payoff statement includes all outstanding balances to close the current lease, a bank or credit union should be able to use that. Some finance companies will generate a ‘packet’ including things like the odometer & tax forms, etc that will move the rest of the titling process along, but OP should be able to apply for a loan just knowing that accurate payoff balance.

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Off course they don’t. But they do have a big fat arbitration clause in there, so it doesn’t really matter. You probably couldn’t do anything about it even if you had pictures of them holding a gun to your head while they marched you over to the local dealers finance department. :sweat_smile:

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My Credit Union ask me 2 letters . One with payoff numbers and one with odometer reading.
They didn’t ask for Tax info since they think Tax is between me and the seller.

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I’ve seen excerpts from NMAC contracts that do state that you’re required to go through the dealer. Are you sure yours doesn’t?

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This generation of their product was bean-counted to death, and the CVT is probably a ticking timebomb. My buddy was starting to have issues with his Pathfinder and got a $5,000+ estimate for the repair. Let the highest bidder among vroovarna take it away the next day. He owned it so NMAC couldn’t cockblock him.

Cost effectiveness is not measured by entry price. It’s measured by total cost of ownership (TCO). Compare against buying a brand new RAV4 Prime at sticker. Take the federal tax credit. Plus any state or utility rebates in your area. Watch it depreciate less than your used Rogue (counter intuitive) + get a lower APR to finance. Save on gas too.

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Note that there is a 5 yr/60K warranty for Powertrain on Nissans. So keeping the Rogue an extra 12-18 months is not really much of a risk. We bag on Nissan, but the Rogues are surprisingly an in demand vehicle that tends to hold its value. So keeping it is an option that you can consider - assuming the Nissan dealer buy-out issues can be managed and there are no other overpriced options that meet your needs right now. You know your car…

Keeping your maintenance records and at least getting regular timed oil changes at the dealer.

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It is vague, it states that I can go to the originating dealer or another location that they specify. They are giving me the option to use a financial institution assisted payoff, and I generated documentation on the website which ostensibly would be used for that purpose at a bank or credit union, so I would argue that I have the option or they would have blocked it on the website.

Phone calls with NMAC customer service confirmed that I can use that option.

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Everyone bags on Nissan for the CVT but there’s a ton of other parts that are not covered by the power train warranty. Every single part in that car was bean-countered to death so buyer beware.

I honestly can’t think of any reason except ignorance or laziness why someone wouldn’t compare the TCO of a new RAV4 PRIME or other PHEV to a used Rogue to see what the difference is.

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Sure of course as part of the keep vs. buy consideration assuming Rav4 deals can be had and the OP is interested in that vehicle or a hybrid Prime, but randomly suggesting the Rogue powertrain may fall apart in year 4 because a friend with a Pathfinder who may or may not have appropriately taken care of his vehicle had issues isn’t a valid reason to scratch the idea of keeping the OP’s current vehicle through the leasepocalypse

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TBH,

I’d do the purchase & sell it ASAP & use that equity towards a better car.

This exactly. Don’t get scared into buying a bad long-term car because of the current market. Use the equity and use it to your advantage.

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I would agree if the OP can actually net 8K after dealing with NMAC and the dealer fees cash it out…

A new CX-5 could be an additional consideration

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It’s not an isolated incident. IDK if you really are uninformed of Nissan reliability issues or just want to argue for the sake of arguing. But if Nissan reliability is the hill you want to die on, go for it.

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