gwillingham

My 3 year lease on a 2013 E350 runs out at the beginning of October 2015. The lease is for 45,000 miles and I'm currently only at 19,000 miles. The car is in perfect condition, fully loaded with all features including amg wheels, lane change assist, automatic closing trunk, wood steering wheel, dual color interior, navigation and voice control, etc. My dealer told me there is no such thing as lease equity and that I can't get any money for a down payment on a C450 (which I have also been asking him to order since June.. another topic though). I called a dealership in Atl, GA and they said they can take any equity that is in my car and use it as a downpayment for the C450. My question is, shouldn't there be some money in my car? Considering I am 25,000 miles under my lease terms. The residual on the car is $35,600 (monthly lease payments are a little over $1000). Any help is greatly appreciated!!

jenz

That's not how leases work - you ex is like if you rented an apartment for a year, only lived it in 1 month (so it was 11 months "under" your lease terms) and then ask the landlord for a credit at the end of the year since you didn't really "use" it all up ... not going to happen

Landlords like MB financial want $X for the rental period, whether that's you or someone else, and how you use or don't use it, they don't care, they just want $X

If you think the car is worth more than the buyout, ie there is equity "in" the car, then buy it and resell it yourself vs turning it into MB

Go check the classifieds to see what mint, low miles cars like yours are getting to see where you stand

kash2014

There is no equity in your car. Above average is worth 34000 grand wholesale, and those are rare examples. A few months down the line, with a new model coming out, and more 2013 lease returns your car will be worth even less, so you won't get any trade in value, however should you want to buy it, its price in October maybe better than what you can get retail and it might be worth while if you were keeping the car

since you are upgrading, enjoy the last few miles on your car

cheers

KEY08

Not sure why you are leasing when you drive so few miles a year. Seems like a poor economic scenario. In any event, everything else has been said and is exactly correct. You will get your damage deposit back.

kash2014

or OP could opt for a low mileage lease, 10K miles or 12K miles