Schnei67

There are 3 wagons (2018 i think) on swaplease at the moment. What are the things to watch out for when taking over someone else’s lease? Would you do it?

thanks in advance

MuffinFlavored

I've swapped 3 leases and can not recommend it enough.

1. It is all through Mercedes Benz Financial (aka it is official + legitimate)
2. You get the warranty
3. Typically, you gain some extra miles (meaning, if the person leased it at 10k/yr but drove it less than 833/mo, you come out ahead)
4. Typically, you can get them to give you a payment or two to sweeten the deal

Where it falls apart is:

1. credit (if your credit score isn't 740+, maybe don't bother? I've read that you need to have equal or greater credit than the person you are taking the lease from because it doesn't make sense for the bank otherwise to move the car form a highly rated customer to a less highly rated customer)
2. fees (I think it's like $500 + the cost of FedEx Express-ing paperwork + notary back and forth. About $550 all in)
3. time (it's a 3 week process at best and you constantly have to be following up with Mercedes/the person you are swapping with)
4. transport (if it is out of state, you either gotta get your *** on a plane or pray to god the transport company doesn't deliver your car look like a bumper cart )
5. risk (I trusted random strangers to deliver me a car that wasn't ****ed up. Tires, door ding, paints, misaligned wheels, curb rash, all problems you have to worry about. You're trusting a random stranger to certify legally the mileage is right, no check engine lights, etc.)

I would highly recommend asking for service records, potentially not from the person but the dealer? Just to get a trusted entity involved?

However, in my experience, when you are dealing with me who lease $120k cars, you get (typically) respectable, affluent business men who are all about being reasonable and making a deal.

Let me know if you have any questions. I negotiated $1.8k on my F10 M5, $5k on my F13 M6 (outlier in my opinion), and $1.8k on my E63 S AMG. I did my research and wasn't afraid to fly and pick up the car in person.

I can't stress enough that there is a weird trust factor of signing paperwork on a vehicle you've never seen before from a random stranger online. The only guarantee you have is that it is a lease and the VIN matches because Mercedes wouldn't be processing the paperwork either. You can schedule a third party inspection, but I've personally never done it. My philosophy has always been "if it has a warranty and if it needs some tender love and care when it arrives, I'll figure it out. How bad could it be?"

Haven't been burned yet.

Also, when doing the deal, check if the car has a warranty. I haven't done it but... I've wondered if I could put my E 63 S on Swapalease now that my warranty is flagged/voided. I wonder if Mercedes Benz Financial would disclose it to the customer (I don't think so since MB USA + MBFS seem to be pretty separate). aka I could be a dick and offload my tuned+beaten problem-mobile to somebody unbeknownstly.

Schnei67

Thanks for details! Super super helpful and good to know you haven't been burned yet.
Do you have any tips to spot the tuning cases?

MuffinFlavored

get a service advisor friend to run the VIN at a dealer

however

i would bet i am 1 in 10,000 for having a tune and a status R flagged car

b0rderman

Schnei...I bought a swapalease membership to try to swap into an Alpina B7 while waiting for facelifts and audis to come out. I got pretty far down the line with an out of state car. I talked extensively with BMWFS, had an inspection lined up (Lemon Busters) and transport quoted and ready to go. Then it started to be come very clear that the car would be my responsibility but not in my possession for a few more days than I would like...and there is no way around this time when you are "in the dark" for an out-of-state car. As Muffin says, it's pretty damn systematic and the manufacturer financial companies are very accommodating with facilitation...but there is nothing you can do about those days where you are exposed without any control. Like he said, it works out...probably almost every damn time, but I just chickened out...I wish I had more faith or found a suitable car locally. I would love to be bombing around in a B7 for a year or so!

Is that wagon somehow in a dealer's possession? That could have made the difference with me.

v8plus4

Slightly off-topic, but what happens at lease turn in with a flagged vehicle? Will they ding you like they do for physical damage/wear & tear? If so, how much?

executiV

Communication is everything in a take-over. When I took over the lease on my previous E400C the original lessee and I spoke about it for a while before signing any documents. You get a feel for the person just like in any other situation. I found the owner to be open to sending me plenty of pictures of the car and I picked it up in person as well. MBFS is a bit of a hassle though. You have to stay on top of them. They initially sent me the package for another person's lease, with all of their information. I sent it back asap but you have to keep on top of them. It is also a somewhat long process. I do feel it is worth it though to get the car you want for a good deal. Many of the owners offer incentives to get out of the lease and as previously stated you can find a car with a LOT of miles remaining. Take the time to research the vehicle and establish consistent contact with the current owner.

MileHighMB

Are you looking at this one ? Seller is offering a generous $12K in Incentives to take over the lease, only 25 months and $42.5K in payments and then will have a Residual value probably less than market value in 2021.

2018 e63 SwapALease

MuffinFlavored

$12k in incentive sounds highly suspicious

i’ve seen people say “oh, i put $12k down when i signed, that was the incentive” before

Schnei67

That s the one that had me consider it more seriously.
Would not be surprised that the incentive is fictitious.

jvmax

Actually that is my wagon on swapalease, it's legit. I am offering a $12k incentive, but no one has qualified yet out of 5 applications. Please PM with any questions.

V70cat

A really nice looking wagon, what were the terms of the original lease?

jvmax

36 months, 30k miles, $2179 per month including sales tax of 7%, $67,505 lease buyout at end.

Schnei67

Why did the 5 applicants not make it? Credit score required by MBFS?

Can you debadge a leased car?

jvmax

you need a combination of high credit score (high 700 low 800) and six figure income. Most have one or the other.

V70cat

What is the capitalized cost and money factor?

jvmax

cap cost is $119,071.17, I dont have money factor but shouldnt matter as my $12k incentive takes payments from $2179 to $1699 including tax for the remaining 24 months. Did I mention there is only 6,000 miles on the car currently

MuffinFlavored

why are you offering $12k?

V70cat

So you finance/leased full sticker plus sales tax? No money down?

jvmax

leased at full sticker, no money down (actually $5k down but only $1600 came off sticker)

jvmax

trying to give someone a deal, otherwise I'd be paying MB close to $20k by giving the car back to them. I am considering this as no one seems to qualify for this lease transfer during the past 3 months I have had it on swapalease.

Schnei67

Good luck with transfer. I just got a new house so i’ll wait for a bit longer on this type of vehicle change.

fascinated that folks with less than 6 figure income would want to put $1,000+ on a lease payment

jvmax

4 out of 5 were from South Florida

b0rderman

Sounds about right...

jvmax

LAST CALL!! Just traded my other daily (jeep wrangler) for a 2018 Winnebago ERA so I can travel the state of Florida each weekend with my 7 year old for soccer. BTW USA Womens Soccer World Cup final this Sunday at 11am. Go USA!!!