VW Credit May Offer You Discounted Additional Miles

[RonDawg]

I just got a letter today (but dated December 19) from VW Credit stating the following:

Between now and April 22, 2017, you can buy additional miles for a reduced rate rather than paying a higher charge for those miles at the end of your lease.

I then tells you to call them at 800-521-0171 M-F 8 AM-8 PM Eastern time if you want to take advantage of this offer.

I've had my eGolf for 17 months and just barely broke 10k miles last week, so I'm not in danger of exceeding my allotted miles at lease end; in fact I'm regretting paying extra to go 10k/year rather than the standard 7.5k/year for eGolf leases. But I know a few of you are in danger of doing that, so perhaps you might get such an invitation as well. Interestingly, the letter doesn't state how much VW Credit is willing to sell those extra miles for.

More legalese from the back of the letter (my comments in italics):

• Offer expires on April 22, 2017.
• Account status must be current.
• A minimum of 1,000 additional miles must be purchased.
• Additional miles are limited to 20,000 miles multiplied by (lease term/12) less original contract miles. (in other words, you can prepay up to a maximum of a total of 20k miles for every year of your lease, including original allotment)
• Additional miles must be paid in full at time of purchase by check, credit, or debit card.
• Monthly payments cannot be adjusted to accommodate additional mileage request. (unless there's a significant discount, this could be a deal-breaker as it might be worth the risk of simply paying actual over-mileage vs. prepaying for what you might not use)
• Additional miles purchased are non-refundable and non-cancellable.
• Amount paid towards additional miles cannot be used to pay down lease, pay off fees, etc.
• The excess mileage charge stated on your lease agreement applies for any miles driven beyond your original contract miles plus the additional purchased miles.
• Refer to your extended service contracts. (for things like excess wear/tear coverage, there could be a separate mileage limit)
• Offer is non-transferable.
• Only current lease qualifies.
• As stated in the lease Agreement, the customer is responsible after lease termination for all wear and use as determined by our inspection company.
• All terms of the contract, except as specifically modified by this program, remain in full force and effect.

 

[bizzle]

That's really interesting. I also think I'd have been better off with 7500 instead of 10K miles, but I think the difference was around $400 dollars over the term of the lease.

What I really want to see is what VW is going to do for those of us who want to buy it at lease end in terms of reduced residual.

 

[RonDawg]

What I really want to see is what VW is going to do for those of us who want to buy it at lease end in terms of reduced residual.

I'm hoping for that, but looking around on Autotrader it seems like at least VW dealers are asking not much less than what a new one would be minus the various government incentives ($10k in the case of California). The cheapest I could find was a 2015 LE with 20k miles for $15k in Roseville, CA. Otherwise prices are generally $17-21k.

Perhaps in about a year we'll see a further drop as the earliest 2015's come off their 3 year leases and higher-range EVs become available.

 

[pheonix]

I just contacted VW Financial about this as I am about 14 months into my 36 months lease and will be about 4k-6k miles over when the lease is over (with the current driving situations).
They are basically send this letter out half way into your lease. They are offering pre-purchase price of $0.15/mile; increment of 1k miles (up to 20k mile/year minus your original allocation). The charge for overage at the end of the lease is $0.20/miles! So they are offering a $.05/mile discount. However, will forfeit any unused miles at the end of the lease so not sure if the discount is worth purchase upfront?

 

[forbin404]

I just contacted VW Financial about this as I am about 14 months into my 36 months lease and will be about 4k-6k miles over when the lease is over (with the current driving situations).
They are basically send this letter out half way into your lease. They are offering pre-purchase price of $0.15/mile; increment of 1k miles (up to 20k mile/year minus your original allocation). The charge for overage at the end of the lease is $0.20/miles! So they are offering a $.05/mile discount. However, will forfeit any unused miles at the end of the lease so not sure if the discount is worth purchase upfront?

Basically only do this if you are way over miles.