I have a 2015 Passat Limited - not a diesel. that I leased back in August 2015. $0 down except I paid first payment at the dealer if I remember correctly, and my payment is $250 a month. I think I got a good deal on it at the time. My financial situation has improved dramatically and my wife has agreed to let me shop for a nicer vehicle. I am looking for a mod to full size luXury SUV or crew cab pickup possibly. Don’t have my mind made up. My question is whether or not it is possible to trade in my Passat now with 10 months left without it hurting too badly. I have to dig up my paperwork as VW credit won’t tell me the residual, I believe it was around $13k though. Passat is in great condition with 23k miles out of 36k allowed. How can I determine where I stand on this? I’d like to get a new vehicle in the next month or two, and my budget is $1000 a month Including insurance (I’m in FL and I pay roughly $70/month for the Passat)
Check the buyout amount (usually available on your online account or monthly statement) and it’s current value. RV is usually pretty low for VWs, so you might not be too bad off.
Doesn’t seem to be anywhere online or on the statements. I’ve been looking. Fairly confident it was $13k and change. So if the car is worth 13k or more I’m in the clear, is that right?
No, your buyout price will be higher than the RV value right now. Your buyout price should be the RV + all 10 remaining payments left.
Of course- I was just saying the same thing To my wife and about to edit the post. Lol. Looks close- time to shop!
How about buying a house or saving for retirement😛
I agree with vhooloo, if your financial situation has improved, focus on things that will help you down the road. Are you happy with your current ride?
I own two houses and have plenty saved for retirement, bu thank you
I’m wondering why you found the need to say something like that. I have read dozens of posts about people leasing $1000/month vehicles and this is the first time I’ve seen someone chime in a suggest I’m being financially irresponsible
Hi there.
I have just turned in Jetta with 5 months left on contract so wanted to share my expirence.
First you want to do official VW inspection - free and it’s good for 2 months or something like that.
You should be able to see payoff when you log in to your VW account.
Also when you look carefully VW has this clause that they might charge you not just remaining payments left on contract but instead differance between what you owe vs what they get, selling car at auction.
It took al most 3 months for me to get their final statement.
VW indicated 2 amounts there - fees plus payments left and how much they sold the car for at auction.
In the end they charge me lesser amount which were fees ( disposition, some add’l milage, small dent ) plus payments.
Are they doing it all the time picking lesser amount - no idea, as this was my first VW lease return.
Scott personally I’d wait it out. No point in throwing money away when you are in a good position. You have a cheap payment on that car and have plenty of money saved up. That short amount of time will go by fast.
And deals are often better in December.
I am definitely not going out today and getting A new car. I plan to spend a Spend as much time as it takes to get an incredible deal on a beautiful luxury vehicle. December is definitely a possibility
You are well on your way. Just keep following the threads here and you’ll be primed to capture a terrific deal. Do you have any specific cars (and options) in mind? Edited to add: what are your anticipated monthly budget and out of pocket goals?
See what kbb.com trade-in value is, find out your pay-off (it will be in your online account, like @Jon said, or call them) and try to get your new car dealer as close as possible to it. I traded in a VW once with 5 months left and got $500 equity.
Crazy. Sometimes you get lucky I suppose, I would never expect finding equity in a VW lease…
Yep, did it through my friend, so that helped.
Always helps…
My friend sold his Audi A7 right before the lease end and pocketed $4500 after the buyout. I guess that is the advantage of a low residual on a lease and the car being popular.
I turned my 2015 Passat in 9 months early because I was over miles and it was more expensive to pay the overage and payment than to lease the $87 a month Electric Ford Focus I have now.
Call VW for an early inspection. It’s a third party inspection company, I had bumper damage, both front and rear, and it was considered normal wear an tear which was very generous.
When you return the car to the dealer they will send it to auction. You won’t pay any more than your remaining payments, there should be a deduction for interest but it will be minor.
If the car does better at auction than your buyout, they will credit against your remaining payments (highly unlikely). If it does worse it does not affect you.
I was able to get my $350 dispo fee cut in half by providing VW Financial a friends vin# who had leased another VW 2 months prior. This was a courtesy the dealer hinted I pursue, worth a try.
This was in April, so I would check with VW to confirm the process has not changed. It did take almost 3 months to get the final statement but payments were suspended until then.
Log in to vwcredit.com and the residual value is displayed right there after logging in.
You can get an instant payoff quote by going to Menu > Payoff Quote.