End of Lease Strategies?

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LTLFTcomposite said:
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Perhaps NMAC is starting to sweat having a huge inventory of three year old Leafs they can't sell.
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There isn't any difficulty selling them.
Almost all lease vehicles get sold at auction.
Someone will buy them, the issue is how low the selling price will be.
Several have speculated that a lot of the LEAFs being auctioned are being exported.
Aren't many used LEAFs on dealer lots. They don't want them as they won't make much on them.

Interesting that NMAC may finally be wanting to reduce their end of lease auction losses by selling to leasor at something bit better than auction prices but a lot less than the original end of lease buyout.
 
You can sell a pair of dirty socks at auction. The question is at what price.
If the number of Leafs coming off lease far exceeds the number of used car buyers interested in rolling the dice on to what most is still little more than a curiousity, in a period of declining gas prices no less, NMAC stands to take a huge bath on these.
What are we talking, like 20,000+ cars coming off lease over the next year? I can see an easy $5k per car loss, maybe more, against the residuals. Tell me I'm wrong.
 
LTLFTcomposite said:
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What are we talking, like 20,000+ cars coming off lease over the next year? I can see an easy $5k per car loss, maybe more, against the residuals. Tell me I'm wrong.
I think you are correct.
Residuals were too high on the early leases and may still be too high for what the auction market will support.
NMAC may well have been losing $5K per vehicle so far.
Better to cut the residual for the leasor and only lose $3K.

A few were already buying them, but most were not.
A tricky choice for NMAC on how much to cut to minimize their losses.
 
LTLFTcomposite said:
Oh I heard the export talk from a sales guy, that they were all going to be sent to the islands. Like they're paying top dollar?
Prices in many non-US markets for new LEAFs are ridiculously high.
As are the prices for replacement parts (See thread on UK LEAF owner that saved huge £ by purchasing emergency brake component from US.)
Don't think they are going to the islands, but quite a few are going to Norway and other European countries.

You do not find used LEAFs on car dealer lots in the Southeast US.
There is no demand for them so they are not there.

It may be different in CA and WA and OR.
 
There's a used car lot here that is importing them from CA, typically asking $15k or so for a 2011.

One Nissan sales guy told me they ship some to Turkey.

The residual on my '12 is $21k and change.
 
If used car lots are asking 15, they may be getting 13, which means they're paying at most 10. Or even less based on additional risk it will be hard to find that retail buyer and thing will collect dust on the lot.

This is all idle speculation, but before accepting $10k or less for a 3 year old Leaf that had a 17k residual, Nissan might look at that capacity warranty cloud hanging over the car and ask if it's better to just scrap the cars. Wouldn't that be ironic, shades of EV1.
 
If I were offered the chance to buy my 2013 at, say, $13k instead of the $18k residual, I'd think about it. It would be a little hard for me financially, but if I could finance it at what I'm paying for the lease now, instead of facing either another substantial down payment or a much larger monthly payment, who knows? I don't think I'll lose the dreaded Second Bar for a few years with what I now know, and my driving needs are more modest now that I'm retired. OTOH, if few Leafs are showing up used, my original plan to sell the buyout option might become realistic...
 
what is % of cars of any type converted to purchase from a lease?

guessing, its pretty low meaning Nissan already has relatively accurate expectations of returns. maybe that is why they are so willing to extend leases?
 
With my Leaf coming off lease soon, I'm trying to plan ahead for no surprises.

Any advice for the inspection? What sort of things are they looking for and what will they charge? E.g. our front has some kerb scrapes and there are some small side panel scrapes. I'm wondering if it's best to take it to a local smash repair/paint place and have them do touch up before I return it?

Any other suggestions for what is considered "normal wear and tear"?

Has anyone else had surprise costs when turning in their Leaf? Also, is this experience going to vary by dealer? (In which case, any suggestions for a good SF Bay area dealer to handle the return?)

Many thanks in advance!
 
TimLee said:
LTLFTcomposite said:
Oh I heard the export talk from a sales guy, that they were all going to be sent to the islands. Like they're paying top dollar?
Prices in many non-US markets for new LEAFs are ridiculously high.
As are the prices for replacement parts (See thread on UK LEAF owner that saved huge £ by purchasing emergency brake component from US.)
Don't think they are going to the islands, but quite a few are going to Norway and other European countries.

What "islands" are we talking about?
 
mm2001 said:
With my Leaf coming off lease soon, I'm trying to plan ahead for no surprises.

Any advice for the inspection? What sort of things are they looking for and what will they charge? E.g. our front has some kerb scrapes and there are some small side panel scrapes. I'm wondering if it's best to take it to a local smash repair/paint place and have them do touch up before I return it?

Any other suggestions for what is considered "normal wear and tear"?

Has anyone else had surprise costs when turning in their Leaf? Also, is this experience going to vary by dealer? (In which case, any suggestions for a good SF Bay area dealer to handle the return?)

Many thanks in advance!

Nissan has a guide to show you what they will 'ding' you for in the way of damage. It's much more strict (much worse) than most. That scrape will count, as will any other 'scratch deep enough to catch a fingernail'. Any holes in the fabric are counted. This may all be moot if you will be leasing or buying another Nissan, but if you aren't you will need to either do some repairs (touch up paint not allowed!) or pay for them.
 
I plan on leasing another LEAF. Should I talk to the salesman before I schedule the inspection? Or is it a matter of having the inspection in-hand and negotiating/waiving some items?
 
Nubo said:
I plan on leasing another LEAF. Should I talk to the salesman before I schedule the inspection? Or is it a matter of having the inspection in-hand and negotiating/waiving some items?
Here's how the nice lady at NMAC told me this would go down:

You can schedule your inspection up to 90 days prior to turning in the vehicle. At that point we should get a feel for how picky they will be. It wasn't clear how they account for additional wear or damage that might happen after the inspection; but there was some language about that, presumably if you try to turn in the car in noticeably worse shape than the inspection reflects the dealer will raise a red flag.

About 60 days after you turn in the car they will generate a "financial liability statement" to show what you owe to close out the account. Included in that statement is a form where you indicate if you bought or leased another new Nissan. If you did, the $399 lease termination fee and up to $500 of excess wear is subtracted from whatever you owe.

Now none of the above applies if the dealer is actually buying the car, ie taking it on a trade, in that case it's like any other car that has a loan against it, they can pay it off and it's up to the dealer to decide what condition it is in and if it's worth what they are allowing you for it. Be aware though, your Leaf is almost certainly not worth what is owed on the lease (the residual), so any dealer that tells you they are getting you out of it is just tacking the negative onto the next purchase or lease. This is not in your best interest; since the lease basically gives you the right to give it back to NMAC, the fact that it isn't worth the lease payoff amount is their loss. Don't let them try to put it back on you with higher payments on a new car.

Sooooo, if you can live without replacing the car right away you have a little time to decide on what to get next. I may take a few weeks to decide, that time frame should take me through NAIS in January.

If I said anything here that doesn't sound right please correct me.
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
LTLFTcomposite said:
Looks like there won't be a pullahead deal this fall. Of course a dealer can get me out of my current overpriced lease early but because the market value of the car is less than the residual all they would be doing is rolling the negative into the next lease or purchase.

I did confirm a couple of interesting things though talking to NMAC. if I purchase or lease another Nissan or infinity they will waive the termination fee and also allow me up to $500 of excess wear. We've kept the car in pristine condition but the tires are getting a little thin and that might be an issue so I'm hoping that $500 waiver would cover that.
But here's the interesting part: you don't need to buy or lease the new car at exactly the time you turn in the old one. You have about 60 days to buy or lease the new vehicle and still get those waivers credits. So we might try to limp along with one car for a few weeks until the North American Auto Show announcement where we see what the 2016 looks like, then decide where to go from there. Even though availability would still be several months away it would still be nice to make an informed decision.

they waived $843 on mine

What did you say to get them to waive more than $500 on excess wear? The dealers I'm talking to don't seem to be willing to "eat" the repair costs (I had the appraiser come out and said I needed $1000 of repairs - dent, scratches from kids bikes, crack in rear light panel). One salesman said they could "work it in" - thus less/no wiggle room on monthly payment. Thoughts?
 
LTLFTcomposite said:
Sooooo, if you can live without replacing the car right away you have a little time to decide on what to get next. I may take a few weeks to decide, that time frame should take me through NAIS in January.

If I said anything here that doesn't sound right please correct me.
One thing that may make the decision more urgent is if you have access to the $1,000 Owner Loyalty Cash as it is set to expire 01/02/2015 according to my records.
 
I plan on buying a used Leaf to replace my lease. Probably through the same dealer I got this lease from. Will that qualify me for waived fees and the like?
 
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