Let me chime in on my Lease to Purchase experience and the reasons why I did so.
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In this long post I'll talk about why I chose the lease option.
Why it's not a bad option for many.
And my concerns with cars sitting for long periods and how Vw addessed them.
If this is what you want to know, keep reading. If not, hopefully my summary helped you save a few minutes.
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First, I used to sell VW's. I worked at 3 dealerships over an 8 year course. I learned a few things, and dont mind sharing them here.
I recently picked up 3 2015 "NEW" "Fixed" Tdi's Beetle Convertible, Passat and Golf Sportwagen.
I asked questions about sitting long term, flat spots on tires, fluids, water in the diesel fuel, etc.
They SHOWED me the 30 day checks they had to do. Each of the cars had at least 120 miles on them indicating they'd been driven.
This dealership drove all their TDI's monthly so they'd not just sit. They got up to operating temperature, and drove 8 miles down and 8 miles back once a month to get the condensation out of the oil (by getting the engine to normal operating temp), Upon the Phase 1 fix, they also changed the tires, fluids, (including brake), wipers, battery, including key fobs. So when I drove off the lot the car was in the same condition that all the 2017 cars were in on their lot.
When I sold cars for VW, I remember the "aged" cars (over 60 days on the lot) having to be serviced every 30 days. They'd be driven, the battery would be charged via external charger, and a series of checks had to be done). Every service will appear on the car's service history by its VIN. These cars were rare, but ocassionally we'd have an unusual configuration that would be slow to sell. (Base White Rabbit with manual transmission, Gasser of course).
I purchased mine for Sticker price, minus the $8500 Lease incentive.
There was a comment earlier about someone not wanting to do a lease. In my case, it was better to lease, (and take the $8500 discouint) AND THEN buy your own car off lease, than it is to take the $5000 discount and purchase option.
WHY?
When I buy my car off lease, my sales tax (which I'll be charged for the purchase (residual) price of my car will be added in again. In Alabama, unlike some other states, it's pretty low. I'm looking about 3.8%. For state, city and county taxes. This isn't the case everywhere. Before you do this lease to purchase, check what your automobile sales tax is, and if it applies to purchasing your own car off lease. Remember, you'll only have to pay sales tax on the residual value of the car when you buy your own car off lease.
Lease 101:
For those who don't know, if you purchase your car after the lease is over, you buy it for a pre-determined residual price. The leases VW has are Closed-End lease, meaning the residual is a set percentage of the MSRP. This is determined AT THE TIME of the lease inception. So there are no surprises.
Normally when you turn in a leased car, you are responsible for damage and any mileage overage from what you agreed for/paid for in your lease.
BUT- when you purchase YOUR OWN car off lease, miles and condition don't matter.
Meaning You can take the $8500 discount. Do VW's 24 month short term lease. (which is all they offer on the TDI's to get the $8500), Pay down the car to it's residual (about $13-14k), then either refinance the residual amount or pay for it outright and own the car. If you've driven the car 50,000 miles in that 2 year period, as long as youre buying it, it doesnt matter that you went over on your miles. YOUR RESIDUAL VALUE is all VW wants you to pay in order to own the car.
The 72 months at 0% with a 5k discount leaves $3500 on the table as far as discounts are concerned.
What I did:
On one of the cars, we put down enough to cover the entire lease. It's a ONE-pay lease. It cut the amount by a few hundred dollars over what it would have been for 24 monthly payments. So, effectively, we have 2 years of driving with no car payment.
BEFORE YOU DO THIS OPTION, should you want to buy it, check with your local dealer to see what taxes they charge. Again, when you purchase your own leased car, you may have to pay sales tax on that purchase, plus any dealer fees like doc fees. (It pays to shop around to see if a dealership near you is in a lower tax area than another dealer).
On the other two cars I put down $5000. Short term leases have higher payments than long term leases and I wanted to have 2 cars for the payment of one. Because you're taking most of the depreciation (which is what you're paying for on a lease), in the first 2 years.
My payments on the other two are in the low $200's for 23 months. (First month is taken from the upfront downpayment.)
Essentially all I'll have to do to own these cars, during the next 20 months (I want to own before the 90 day to turn in date), is pay off the 4500-5000 I owe on the lease obligation on those 2 cars. Then I'll be able to purchase them for their 12k-14k residual.
If I finance a 14k car, my monthly payments at 60 months will be about $250 including tax. At 36 months about $400.
Lease taxes will vary by where you live. Even within the same city the difference between townships or zipcodes may be quite a bit.
If I can help, shoot me a pm. I dont have up to date current residual values, because I dont have access any more, but maybe I can give some advice.
Thanks.