I leased a loaner MB GLC300 in 2022. I have 6 months left on the lease but I am already over mileage by almost 3000 miles, overdue for service and probably need new tires. I have 6 payments left at $659 per month or I can buy the vehicle for $30k (which I do not want to do)…I was hoping to turn it in early and lease something else but now finding out I would have to roll the negative equity (around $4k-5k) into the new lease which seems crazy.
It would be nice to get out of this lease before I rack up a lot more overage on miles and need to get it serviced and replace the tires but is there any way to do that and avoid this deficit? Am I better off holding on to the car until end of lease and just dealing with the mileage issue then? Do I have to go through MB to get it serviced since it’s a lease? They wanted to charge me $800 for the 40k service even though I had prepaid for service during the lease bc I am over on my miles. I would appreciate any advice. Thank you!
is having to roll negative equity into the next lease a MB thing? (presuming you mean negative equity in addition to the payments you still owe)
No easy way out. One way is to ask a dealer what they’ll offer to buy the car outright from you (not turn-in/ground the lease). You may still be in the negative. And they’ll ding you for maintenance/tires/mileage.
But do not end the lease early without taking care of maintenance/tires. you will be billed full retail by MBFS and negotiating it down may be difficult. You can get servicing done by any decent shop.
You don’t have negative equity (yet); only costs for the maintenance and mileage overage. You’re probably better off holding on to the lease and addressing the maintenance. Mileage penalty should be 0.25/mile so if you can minimize your driving, the penalty may not be so bad versus you buying the car. Tires you can get used ones if you’re okay with that as long as they are all the same and above minimum spec on tread. Service can be done at an independent shop.
Also, I think Mercedes is doing 3 month pull ahead on leases so look in to that (but you will still have to pay for mileage overage and maintenance).
I think it’s $0.30? But in any case, I agree that mileage penalty is not as bad as higher negative equity.
You need to pay for the maintenance but it doesn’t need to be at a Benz dealer. You can take it to an Indy. Just keep the receipt.
sorry i’m new so i probably had the terminology wrong…when i went to trade it in they were adding the money owed into the new lease payments which was making them sky rocket
Thanks for all of your responses and help. Yes it’s $.25 a mile so I will probably go ahead and take it in for service, get some used tires and just try not to drive it as much over the next 6 months. That is going to be difficult since I drive my son everywhere he needs to go and we live in LA…but not a lot of options I guess.
Is the 3 month early lease end an actual thing or just marketing to get you in another MB? I am thinking about switching to a less expensive option.
By the way the highest offer I got on the car was $26,500 and for my lease buyout is $29,900 right now.
If you trade this car in on a new vehicle or sell it to another dealer now you will owe the difference between what the current payoff is per MBFS and what you are being offered on the vehicle. That “negative equity” is going to simply be rolled into the next lease/finance (unless you can write a check to cover that amount). Hence making your payment higher than what you’d like. You can’t just “turn it in early.” Any way you go here this is going to cost you. (selling now, trading in now, early lease termination, keeping car to lease end…all = $$$)
What’s your plan to avoid this happening again on your next car?
Do you know if that’s with tax included or not?
I’m glad you asked. That brings me to my next question. Since I do drive quite a bit, is it better to go ahead and get the highest mileage lease (prob 12k/year) OR is it better to go with the low mileage and turn the car in early once I have reached the limit? I would have always thought the former and we have always leased (25+ years) and I have never gone over bc I get the higher mileage - but recently a dealer told me that he always gets the lowest miles and just hands it in when he reaches the limit.
In the case with the MB, I just lost track of it and although I had 10k/year, I went over before I realized bc I never took the time to even understand where the odometer reading was on the display. This was my first luxury car and I think I was intimidated by the whole thing. That’s why I think I’m ready to go back to a VW or a Ford. Probably more my speed.
How’s that strategy working out for you right now? Your personal experience should tell you his words are worthless
Those are some of the worst brands to lease.
Plan to keep the lease to term, ideally under warranty, even with whatever miles you put on it.
Lease the number of miles you drive every year or be prepared to write a check.
What do you consider the better brands to lease?
I don’t know about that actually
If an EV works for you, Chevy, Hyundai, Kia. For EVs from luxury brands, BMW, MB.
For immediate buyout of a PHEV, Toyota or Lexus (mainly b/c Toyotas and Lexuses retain such high real world resale value).
Just to make sure: you did deduct loaner miles from the odo miles to get your actual miles? Or you can just look at your contract to see the total miles at lease end.
What do you mean by immediate buyout of a PHEV?