Return car or lease end purchase

CA Bay Area

I leased 2018 Mercedes Benz C300 in March 2019 and my monthly lease payments are $419 (with 2.5k down payment)
I’ve 12500 miles on it. My lease is expiring in next 3 months so, I went to the mercedes to evaluate the options I’ve,

They offered me a buyout option (for remaining 29k including tax) with a finance option from mercedes at $492 per month (72 months duration @5.99 interest rate)

I am thinking of buying out this car and then sell it after a year or so.
So, I would like to ask if it’s a good option to buy out this car from the dealership at the quoted price ?

Have you thought about extending the lease? I’m not sure the max for MB, but perhaps you could extend your lease for another 6-12 months to have a cheaper payment than the finance route, since you don’t plan on keeping it for the entire finance term.

One downside to that is since MB doesn’t allow 3rd party buyouts, you’d be restricted to turning the vehicle in after extension or selling it to a MB dealer, vs being able to sell to whoever you want if you bought it out. Just food for thought

@Bumboola The dealership said that lease could be extended only in emergency conditions like not present in country etc.
I am also exploring the option of financing it out from other banks like DCU.
Is it advisable to buyout the car and then sell it in next 6-12 months ? Will that be a good deal or returning the car to MB at the end of lease term and get a new car (which I want to buy in next 6-12 months) ?

You’re not leasing the car from the dealership, who is motivated to get you to do something now. You’re leasing it from mbfs, who is who you need go talk to about extensions.

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Echoing what @mllcb42 said, the dealership isn’t the authority to be speaking with about extensions. The market isn’t great right now but it’s really up to you. Personally, I’d extend your current lease as long as you can until things calm down and you can get the car you want at a reasonable price. That’s just me tho

Spoke to mbfs and they said no to extending the lease.

The numbers from my contract are,
Residual value of car is 25533
I paid 17753 in 36 months
and the gross capitalized cost of car was 40050

MBFS is showing 26054 as the payoff amount for the car while the dealership is asking 29701 as the payoff price. Why is dealership asking to pay the sales tax while MBFS online is not ?

I am noob to this lease any buyout process. So looking at the above numbers, will buying it out would be a good deal ?

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Is the 29701 the price the dealer is offering you to buy the car at? The payoff from MBFS is what matters here. I’d take your car to another dealership or fill out a form online to gauge the value of your car. If the number you get is above the payoff from MBFS you have equity in the vehicle that you can cash out.

For the sales tax, if you purchase the vehicle then you have to pay sales tax on it. If a MB dealership purchases the lease from you, then they do not have to pay sales tax, meaning more $ in your pocket (assuming the price they’re paying is above your payoff)

Filled a form online and edmunds is quoting 31200 for the car. While dealership is agreeing to pay 2500-3000 as the equity amount

The MBFS quote excludes sales tax but should include the $150 purchase option fee plus accrued interest. You would have to pay sales tax on top of that. Ask the dealer for a detailed breakdown of the payoff amount to verify that they’re not adding any BS fees.

Also please keep us updated on what you finally end up doing. Thanks

Edmunds is not a true ‘offer’, go to Carmax , Carvana, Vroom to get a ‘real’ offer

I was in the same situation and ended up purchasing my 2018 c-class at lease end. The dealership I went through priced the car at the payoff quote but added a small fee of $399 plus title/registration. No sales tax in my state. Planning to sell the car in a few months for equity.
I would recommend getting your own financing from a local credit union. The dealership offered financing is a joke. A local credit union offered me an interest rate last than 2.3%. Get a purchase order from the dealer and use a bank to get a check.

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