I will be returning my leased 07 Volvo S60 tomorrow ahead of schedule (due 8/24) and less than the aloted milage 34.4 K vs 36 K allowed. I will be so happy to finally get rid of that car so I can drive my MBs more. Also they required more insurance coverage for the lease, besides full coverage which I already had, I had to raise the upper limits raised as well. This cost me more to lease a car. Based on my experience I will not be releasing a car anytime soon. The car did not give me any trouble, it was just boring, like an appliance. Scheduled service at the dealership was steep ~ 300 everytime.

Wish me luck, hope they do not spring anything on me. The leasing bank was trying to unload it on me everytime I called to tell them that I am returning the car.

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2010 ML350 Bluetec
2012 Mustang Convertible

Knowing all this, how come you leased it in the first place?

You basically rented it, paid for the depreciation while you drove a new car.

Wash it and vacuum it at least before you turn it in. Compound any little scratches that they might ding you for.

Car like that will be a horror for them to resell, the economy is bad, nobody wants cars like this. It is no wonder they would love you to buy it.

Only upside for you is that if you do, actually buy it from them you will know EXACTLY who owned it and how well it was taken care of.

If you don't the records will disappear along the way as it goes through some car auctions and finally rises resplendent on some dealer's lot someplace -- bragged, barked at and blue booked to within an inch of its life.

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1991 560 SEC AMG, 199k <---- 300 hp 10:1 ECE euro HV ...

1995 E 420, 170k "The Red Plum" (sold)

2015 BMW 535i xdrive awd Stage 1 DINAN, 6k, <----364 hp

1967 Mercury Cougar, 49k

2013 Jaguar XF, 20k <----340 hp Supercharged, All Wheel Drive (sold)

At the time I needed a car (I had a rental). I could not find one that I would be happy with and I have never leased one. I thought I would try it out.

The car does not have a scratch on it. I would always park it away from the crowd. I also bought ding and wheel coverage at the time of the lease.

If it is so bad for the bank why did they lease it in the first place ? Its not that I sweet talked them into it.

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2010 ML350 Bluetec
2012 Mustang Convertible

Leases can be nice if you can write them off, but I don't understand the attraction.


I looked at a lease on a new 3 series BMW, and BMW pretty much gets $18k out of you over the 36 months. You can probably pay it anyway you like, I know MB did front loaded leases and I'm sure BMW would if asked.

Anyway that means if I used it for work which I would I could write off $18k over 3 years. I would be done and out of pocket for no more than $18k since BMW covers everything.

If I bought the car outright for $38k, and kept it for 3 years it would probably be worth $20kish. So I would lose at least $18k on depreciation. But I can write mileage off to the tune of $.505 cents a mile, or about $18k for 36k miles.

Either way they get you, but with renting it they can put the screws on harder if you ding it up. If you own it you only have to answer to yourself.

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1999 SL500
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

I never understood the attraction either. People use "tax benefit" as an excuse to lease expensive cars, as if the lease payment is magically refunded to them in cold hard cash!

Here's something else to add to what Hatterasguy said...

What about if you drive 18k miles? What about 72k miles?

If you own it, you pay for each mile in eventual depreciation, but also write off each mile. If you lease it, you either pay too much for the car (by driving too little) or get nailed with an over-mileage penalty at the end.

I know so many people who "think" they are going to drive a certain amount, then circumstances change and they are in trouble with their lease (in either direction). I know someone who leased a 7-series BMW for 3 years and was asked for a $10k cheque when he returned it. He had to lease an X5 to get them to reduce the penalty (I'm sure they applied some of the penalty to the X5 monthly payment...). I don't know the terms of his lease, but he had 60,000 miles on the car and I am pretty sure the lease was for 30 or 36k.

Also know someone who had a 4yr lease on a Corolla and put 10-12k on it over the entire 4yr period! They had to buy it out and sell privately just to recoup some of the "overpayments" they had been making on the lease over the years.

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'83 300SD 335,000km (207k) mi SOLD
'87 560SL 163,000km (101k mi) SOLD
'86 300SDL 356,000km (220k mi) SOLD
'92 500SEL 250,000km (155k mi) SOLD
'90 300SL 140,000km (87k mi) SOLD
'01 S430 260,000km (161k mi) SOLD
'03 SL500 167,000km (104k mi) SOLD
'07 S550 4MATIC 235,000km (146k mi) SOLD
'07 GL320 CDI 4MATIC 348,000km (215k mi)
'13 GL350 BlueTec 4MATIC 170,000km (105k mi)
'14 SL550 72,000km (43k mi)

Ego is the attraction. Let's say you have $350 a month for a car payment. If you go with the bank loan that gets you into a Ford Focus or a Honda Civic on a 60 month stretch. If you lease instead you're rolling in that 3 series BMW. You don't think about things like agreed end value and mileage limitations. You think about how much you want the BMW, or how you want other people to be jealous of you in your BMW and you lease the car. When the lease ends in 36 months you can either finance the car for that same $350 a month for the next 5 years and wind up with an 8 year old BMW, or you can flip it into a brand new lease with no money out of pocket. So you stay on the treadmill because it is the path of least resistance, and you enjoy the fact that you look like you're living larger than you really are.

And then people like me buy those 3 year old cars that have taken the massive depreciation hit that the lessee has been kind enough to absorb for me, I pay cash and drive the car into the ground.

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Jonathan

2011 Mazda2
2000 E320 4Matic Wagon
1994 C280 (retired)

Times have changed, leasing is no longer attractive to many banks because they have become risk adverse. In leasing, they are betting on the resale value...and resales tanked since then. They all got killed, that's why Ford doesn't even do it anymore.

Of everything all over the car...
AND keep them for a minimum of 10 years!

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'84 300SD sold
124.128

Exactly. Perfectly said.

I will always buy a car where the first owner(s) took the depreciation hit.

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-diesel is not just a fuel, its a way of life-
'15 GLK250 Bluetec 118k - mine - (OC-123,800)
'17 Metris(VITO!) - 37k - wifes (OC-41k)
'09 Sprinter 3500 Winnebago View - 62k (OC - 67k)
'13 ML350 Bluetec - 95k - dad's (OC-98k)
'01 SL500 - 103k(km) - dad's (OC-110,000km)
'16 E400 4matic Sedan - 148k - Brothers (OC-155k)

When I bought my '83 300D, I stopped using my pickup on a daily basis for going back and forth to work. I was frequently questioned, "where's your truck, Bob?" "I leased a Mercedes," was the reply. "2500 down, no monthly payments, no mileage charge, and I never have to turn it in."