Sel lease

[GlennD]

I leased an 2016 SEL on Sept 20. I was told that VW only subsidizes the ES.

In any event I can live with 1K down and 36 months of $499.

For me it is not about the lowest payment but what I can afford. I realize I may have left money on the table but I am satisfied.
I wrecked a Mercedes B but with the current promotion none are to be found. I think I will be happy with my SEL.

 

[JoulesThief]

GlennD is $499 a mo a typo? It has to be. $299 would be more like it. 36500- 7500 is 29000. Residual is 13 to 14k, depending on miles on the lease. Guess I won't be having my eye on your used white B class if it got totaled. How did you get hit twice in it so so short a period of time, once a rear end, now totaled?

Seriously, I bought my 2015 SEL brand new, Oct 6th 2014, with VW owner loyalty, for $25,200. Take off the 7500 federal tax credit and the $2500 clean air CA state rebate, and that was $15,200 BEFORE taxes and registration. Now I own it.

You are paying $19000 for leasing it for 3 years, and you'll still owe the residual on it in 3 years. I think you could have done a lot better.

I will be very interested in hearing your comparison between a B Class MB that's Tesla powered, and your 2016 or 2017 Golf SEL.

 

[rieuk]

Indeed, OP is a chump, got played and is locked into a contract losing a lot of money. No doubts.

However that is because discounts are so readily available.

GlennD is $499 a mo a typo? It has to be. $299 would be more like it. 36500- 7500 is 29000. Residual is 13 to 14k, depending on miles on the lease.

With these numbers, the payment is like almost $500/mo. Isn't it? Assuming money factor of say 0.0007. The reason the OP got played is because he/she didn't negotiate the selling price down from 36500. Or am I seeing it wrong?

 

[johnnylingo]

Jeez. Even at $299/month that's still high.

My formula: take the total due-at-signing amount combined with total lease payments (including tax) and divide by lease duration. A fair deal should come in at roughly $200/month for an SE and $300/month for an SEL. This is assuming 36 month lease, 7500 miles/year, and decent credit.

 

[GlennD]

It really depends on the down and the residual. My Mercedes B had an inflated residual of 27K. My SEL l has 13K. MFG support usually increases the residual to lower the payments. For example Mercedes recently had a good deal on the B. The up front cost was 4K and the payments were 329. I would guess the residual was still 27K. Even CarMax wants only 24K now for a 2014 so it will auction for a loss.

VW currently has deals on the ES but not the SEL. I wanted drive assist so I took the SEL with it.

 

[JoulesThief]

How did your B class MB get totaled or wrecked beyon repair?

 

[JoulesThief]

It really depends on the down and the residual. My Mercedes B had an inflated residual of 27K. My SEL l has 13K. MFG support usually increases the residual to lower the payments. For example Mercedes recently had a good deal on the B. The up front cost was 4K and the payments were 329. I would guess the residual was still 27K. Even CarMax wants only 24K now for a 2014 so it will auction for a loss.

VW currently has deals on the ES but not the SEL. I wanted drive assist so I took the SEL with it.

If Car-Max wants $24k for it, they only paid 18 to 19k for it at auction, or less. I have looked at and driven the B class, and other than the MB Logo, it's only sort of close to an E=Golf SEL. It doesn't have LED headlights. It doesn't have CCS quick charge either. It does have a bigger battery pack. It also has way more expensive maintenance fees. And it does eat electricity when driving at an alarming rate, compared to an i3 or an e-Golf. I have gotten 6.0 m/kwh average over the last 1500 miles this summer, in my e-Golf SEL. 3.5 to 4 miles per kwh is all the B class Benz gets. If I can pick one up with low mileage for $15000 or less some day, I might get one, but the interior on most of them is no better a build, dash wise, and interior wise, than an e-Golf SEL. They all use the same vendors for door cards, switches, instrument gauges, infotainment centers, etc, there in Germany, just the coach company is different.

 

[johnnylingo]

My Mercedes B had an inflated residual of 27K. My SEL l has 13K.

VW has dropped it significantly then. Residuals on a 36 month for an SEL used to be over $15k.

Given those numbers I would have bought. Negotiate sale price down to $30k, and after rebates you're down to $20k, then assume $3k / year in depreciation.

 

[GlennD]

I am retired and I drive less than 5K per year. I will consider buying my car at lease end. At 13K it is affordable. At that time it will have less than 20K.

When I was working I drove 19.6 miles each way. Thees days except for the TRW swap meet I drive close to home.

 

[RonDawg]

I am retired and I drive less than 5K per year. I will consider buying my car at lease end. At 13K it is affordable. At that time it will have less than 20K.

Unless something happens in the next 3 years to make BEVs and PHEVs highly desirable (like gas hitting $6/gallon overnight), your car is unlikely to be worth $13k even with low mileage. Not when we're on the verge of 200 mile $40k or less BEVs like the Chevy Bolt, and even VW is claiming that they will come out with an electric car with a 300 km (186 mile) range in that time frame for about the same money.

If you like your eGolf, you're better off handing it back at lease end and finding a low mileage used one for far less money. If you Google the VIN regularly, you could possibly buy back your original car. I could have bought back my Leaf from CarMax for almost $7k off official residual and over $2k off NMAC's discounted residual about a month after I gave it back.

 

[GlennD]

I know about the horrible depreciation. I tried to lease a last of RAV4 EV but the used car manager refused to take my Leaf. He said it would not sell and it would end up at auction. I think he was right. My 2012 sat at the Costa Mesa dealer for a year before disappearing. It likely went to auction.

With replacement batteries so expensive nobody wants a used BEV.

 

[miimura]

I know about the horrible depreciation. I tried to lease a last of RAV4 EV but the used car manager refused to take my Leaf. He said it would not sell and it would end up at auction. I think he was right. My 2012 sat at the Costa Mesa dealer for a year before disappearing. It likely went to auction.

With replacement batteries so expensive nobody wants a used BEV.

Let me fix that for you.... "Nobody wants a used Leaf". There is a significant amount of interest in used RAV4 EVs because their Tesla battery has held up very well. Mine shows less than 6% loss after 42 months and 37,000 miles.

 

[bizzle]

I've been tempted by a RAV4 EV multiple times but the no man's land it sits in (Toyota not caring, Tesla unable) that I read about pushes me away.

 

[miimura]

I've been tempted by a RAV4 EV multiple times but the no man's land it sits in (Toyota not caring, Tesla unable) that I read about pushes me away.

I'm really happy with mine, but it helps that I'm near one of the most experienced Toyota dealers for servicing them and I have the 8yr/100k mi extended warranty. I have not has a significant problem with it yet. At this point, it only makes sense to get one if you really need the cargo space and really want a BEV and it must be below $30k.