RE: Experience turning in a Leaseed Vehicle?

["Matt Cleland" <cleland@stlnet.com>]

I turned in a leased vehicle when I got my 98 Jetta.  I had a 3 year lease
on a 95 Nissan Pathfinder.  The process was simple and painless.  About a
month before the lease was due, they sent a "independent" inspection company
to my workplace, to look over the car.  They started it, checked the lights,
signals, horn, radio, etc.  They gave the body and tires a once over.  They
are mostly interested in things that are not "normal" wear and tear.  For
example, small door dings that don't break the paint were OK, on a 3 yr old
car.  The tires have to have some minimum amount of tread left. All the
"stuff" needs to work (power windows, wipers, etc).  I was pretty surprised
that they didn't try to hit me up for a couple coffee stains on the
upholstery, but they didn't.

The actual turning in was very easy.  My dealer happened to be a Nissan and
VW dealer, so when I made the deal on the Jetta, I just handed him the keys
to the Pathfinder, signed an odometer statement, and drove off in the VW!
(Of course I leave out the painful part, that I was 15K miles over the lease
limit and had to write a check for $2K! Oh well...)

As far as turning it in early, you will most likely not be happy with the
answer to that one.  The way most leases are structured causes the payoff of
the lease to be significantly higher than the residual value of the vehicle,
until very near the end of the lease.  If you are within one or two months
of the lease term, you can probably swing it.  Otherwise, you'll have to
come up with some $cash to make up the difference.

Good luck, and let me know if you have any other questions.  This was my
second lease, and I learned something on each one.  Notice that I *bought*
my Jetta :-)!

- --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Matt Cleland					mcleland@stlnet.com
98 Jetta GLX
Black/Biber

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-jettaglx@igtc.COM [mailto:owner-jettaglx@igtc.COM]On Behalf
> Of Patrick Sherman
> Sent: Wednesday, May 13, 1998 2:42 AM
> To: Gti-Vr6; Jettaglx
> Subject: Experience turning in a Leaseed Vehicle?
>
>
> DOes anyone have any experience turning in a leased vehicle? Like what is
> the process? What do they charge you for? I am also wondering if after a
> year if there is some sort of re-financing type plan where you can lower
> your lease payment? Any ideas?
>
>
> Patrick Sherman
> 97 VENTO VR6 / Tornado Red
> Mods-Mods-Mods-More-Mods
> patrick@volkswagen.org
>
>