I was looking at the 2014 C250 deals that are currently out there. They are a bit better than the deal I got for my 2013, which makes sense. But I'm noticing the residual values of the 2014 are fairly low (between $24k and $26k) compared to my mine at $29k.

Obviously, the lease end price doesn't matter if you just turn in the car. But what happens to all the negative equity at lease end? Meaning, even if I LOVE my car, it's not worth $29k at 30 months old (especially with W205 sitting there). So, what, the dealer takes the car and gives it to MBFS to send to auction? Who "eats" those thousands in negative?

Can I say to the dealer at lease end: I want the car, but not at that price. Before you send it to auction, let's make a deal. Or no, because they don't own the car, MBFS does?

This is something that I've thought about as well. Its kinda crazy how our cars are worth more at the end than the 2014s but that's because of the W205 which comes out later this year. Unfortunately from what I've been told, generally the price at lease end is the price of the vehicle and sometimes there is no room for negotiation, hence why we sign the contract for the lease agreement. I'm hoping come 2016 when my lease ends something can be done but generally deals cannot be made once the lease is set and done.


From what I've been reading about, during a lease you actually own the car for the period that you "lease" it for. You own a "portion" of that car for the timeframe that you have it hence why you could do whatever you want with the car, so long as it returns to its stock condition prior to the lease ending. Of course the dealers and MB Financial do not want you to make these changes. , so that they can resell the car as a Certified Pre-Owned vehicle once the lease is up.

I understand that MB loves to get the lease returns back so they can sell them as CPO. I wonder if they are going to find themselves in a major inventory surplus in 12 months as the first cheap leases start coming to an end. Who is going to spend $29k on a used C250 when others are $24k?

I guess we will find out. Maybe I'll give mine back and re-buy it for cheap if they don't send it to Florida.

I've also read that it's a least worth 'trying' to negotiate a lease end deal. With the 205's being out at that point, it may be worth a shot. For the most part though, it's pretty firm.

I tried that before on S2000s I leased and it didn't work. Only thing that did work was the dealer buying the car for residual, so that at 'turn in' I didn't have to pay any turn in fee.