NorCal e-Golf SEL Lease, should I do it?

when I got my lease at sunnyvale, the initial offer for wear and tear was $1495 if I remember correctly and after multiple declines on my part, they offered $1100. I counter offered $900 which they declined.

tom said:

SaintTiki said:

I ended up getting an SEL for $2500 drive off, $250/mo, $270/mo taxed (7.875% where I live). Cap cost was $30450. Got suckered into excessive wear and tear plan as well (price on that is negotiable too, FYI) mostly because of the flexibility to extend the lease at the end which I may need and the amount of door dings on our previous vehicles. Loving the car! Still working around the lack of home charging currently.

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Did you go to Sunnyvale to do this? BTW, how many miles per year? (I assume 3 year lease) Can you explain roughly what you get for wear and tear, and how much did it cost you?

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Yes, Sunnyvale. 3 year, 10k miles. Wear and tear starting price was like $1550 or something. I said no way. They came back with like $1300 and I agreed. Probably shoulda negotiated a bit harder on that. I was on the fence at $1300 but $1100 sounds much juicier. I've heard these plans only cost the dealer like $500-700 so.

Without the wear and tear plan, you are responsible at the end of the lease to fix anything that costs more than $50 to fix. I guess that is how they define normal wear and tear these days (no more credit card test). You are also responsible to fix or replace the windshield if it has any cracks or bad chips (the windshield is electrical heated so probably pretty expensive). Lastly, you are responsible for having 4 matching original tires with at least X amount of tread (can't remember exact number). They said a month or two before the end of the lease an independent leasing company would come to my convenient location to inspect the car to determine what had to be fixed or paid for.

The Wear and Tear coverage gives you $1,000 per item, $10,000 total worth the coverage if stuff is broken, and tires don't matter anymore. Also if you need to extend the lease at the end, you can do that with the Wear and Tear plan. Not sure what the terms would be exactly but I know it's not possible to extend without the plan. Due to my circumstances out here I wanted to have the flexibility to extend if need be instead of having to find another ride for 6 months. In the end it was $39/month and I'll save $15/month by changing my insurance deductible from $500 to $1000 so they convinced me--plus I have a baby and my wife wants more. This is my first lease so, ask me again in three years if it was worth it.

Thank you for the thorough explanation. That's really nice to know. I think you did ok with the wear and tear plan. My 3 year lease of a LEAF will end soon and now I am curious what they will charge me when I turn it in.

Yeah I think it all depends on the terms. I've heard some places use the credit card test: if the scratch or ding can be covered up by a credit card then it is considered normal wear and tear. Our '06 GLI looks like it's been parked at a golf course driving range with the tons of door dings it has.

Well I've had the car for a couple days now. Still can't charge at "home" (hotel) but have been getting on just fine. Yesterday I charged for an hour at Panera Bread for lunch, 45 minutes on L1 at Home Depot, and another 45 at Target ending up back home with more range then when I started, all for FREE! Such a good feeling. Plus there's the local DC charger I can pay for in a pinch. It'll be really nice when I can charge from my garage.

I just took my new White/Beige SEL home an hour or two ago.
I did the trade-in, arranged the lease, and drove home in one sitting.

My 10K lease deal was
$3000 drive-off
$225/mo plus tax

I opted not to get the wear and tear coverage.

I got them to throw in a VW coffee mug. That's some tough negotiating right there!
(Actually, Sunnyvale VW is a pretty low-key dealer. This is my 4th VW from there.)

BTW, they gave me the HOV stickers right there. No waiting from CA!

Yes, I was also pleasantly surprised that Sunnyvale VW had ordered the HOV stickers. We got them in the mail about a week before we got the plates. Good thing the stickers came in the mail from the dealership before the plates because I would have ordered them myself as soon as the plates came.

In my case, they handed them to me with the rest of the paperwork in the finance mgr's office when I leased it earlier today.

I didn't even have to wait a week.

Wish I was so lucky with Boardwalk VW. Since they are like 3 miles from me, I opted to go to them rather than Sunnyvale. Maybe I should have.

But, they sent me my plates in about 2 weeks. Now I am first week waiting for the HOV stickers. Hopefully in about 2 weeks (3 weeks from mailing seems to be the norm) and I should be carpooling. Good thing too since school is starting and my trip to campbell will be much easier riding the carpool lane.

I was driving in the carpool lane today, only two days after leasing the car!

The funny thing is I almost forgot I could do it. I drove almost a mile on 101 before I remembered!

Driving the e-Golf is so much like driving a regular car, it's easy to forget it isn't just a regular car.
(Albeit, an exceptionally quiet one with incredible pickup off the line when the lights turn green.)

Congrats on the purchase. I've had my eGolf 3 weeks now (as of today) and still no license plates. The dealer didn't pre-apply for stickers so I gotta wait for the plates before I can apply for the stickers. I even had to call VW Credit because my first payment is due next week and I never received anything from them; I don't want to ding my good credit for missing that payment.

That's a big contrast from getting my Leaf. I got plates and notification of my next payment due within 2 weeks of getting my car. At least I was able to get my CVRP rebate approved the following business day on the eGolf.

My lease was on my VW Credit account the next business day. It took them a few days longer to pay off the balance on my trade-in, though.

garypen said:

My lease was on my VW Credit account the next business day.

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I don't think it was a problem at VW Credit. I think the dealership took their sweet time getting the paperwork to them (and the DMV). The CSR at VW Credit said that my account was only created last week :roll:

I called the dealership today (and they referred me to VW Credit) who claimed that the paperwork was sent in, but that my temp tags "are good for 6 months." Umm, no they're not good for 6 months, only 90 days (for California).

You're probably right. My experience with VW credit has always been pretty positive.
As long as the dealer gets the info and payment into them quickly, they'll have up.

I already had an account for the car I traded in. So, I already had a log in, and saw as soon as they added the lease, and when they closed the loan from the trade-in.

If you haven't done so already, you should set up an automatic bill payment from your online banking. It's set it and forget it for the next three years.

Buy it. I just bought a SEL for $32K and 0% APR (plus did well on my trade). Between the tax and rebate I get another $10K back. Not too shabby and I own it now as opposed to later.

MostlyMoto said:

Buy it. I just bought a SEL for $32K and 0% APR (plus did well on my trade). Between the tax and rebate I get another $10K back. Not too shabby and I own it now as opposed to later.

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OTOH, one may not want to own it later, with technology changing the way it does. That's why I chose to lease in the case of the e-Golf. (I normally would choose to buy, as I did with my last four vehicles.)

In three years, when battery, motor, and charging technology have improved, and newer EV's have hit the market, I can walk away from this most-likely obsolete vehicle, which may not have held its resale value well.

I paid $3000 drive-off, and $225/mo ($244.69 w/tax) x 35 months, for a total of $11,564. After the $2500 rebate, that's $9064, or approx $3000/yr.
I don't have to wait until I file my taxes for the tax credit. It's built into the lease.

I am assuming that $32K price doesn't include tax or DMV fees, which probably add up to at least $3200, it now brings the cost of the car to over $35000. Minus tax credit and rebate, and it's down to $25K. My lease shows the residual (resale) to be ~$13,000, after three years. That equals $12,000 for three years use with purchase vs. $9000 leased.

But, I think the resale/residual may be lower in the case of the e-Golf. These high-tech cars are just as much a high-tech device as they are an automobile. So, I think they will depreciate more than an ICE or Hybrid vehicle. And, their resale could very well be lower than $13,000, making a lease an even wiser financial choice.

It could be, but my pattern is to hold vehicles for a while and drive them into the ground. We will find out what the lifespan of this one is. Biggest issue will be in the battery life- and what portion of the charge it holds in five years vs cost of replacing with newer batteries.

Just adding to this thread the numbers that I posted on a different thread about the e-Golf lease we signed last weekend:

e-Golf LE, Reflex Silver, 3 yr/36000 mi
$2500 total out the door
$191 + tax

from Oakland VW. Dealt with Kaj Pedersen who was very honest and fun to work with. They are completely sold out of LEs but have many SELs in stock. They offered me $218 + tax on the SEL, but that was more than we were willing to spend.

I got an offer last night that I am thinking of jumping on for a 2015 SEL:
24 mo lease
$2999 down, about $4,500 out the door with all other charges
$79/mo +tax
15,500 residual

Eligible for the $2,500 CA rebate as well. Anything I'm missing here!?!

I think you need a minimum 30 mo lease for CA $2500 rebate.