Stellantis changes the terms on my 36mo Lease!!

[SPLYMYER]

Just recvd a letter from Stellantis financial stating the following: "As a result of a recent Stellantis Financial Services policy change, all lessees are now eligible to purchase their plug-in hybrid vehicle at the end of their lease term."
How can they do this? When I was informed the lease I would be signing was a closed end lease I did not bother to negotiate the residual knowing I'd be handing keys back after 36mo. I'm now told the residual on my 24 Sport S 4dr at the end of 36mo will be $36754.00!! After $7500 rebate and $5K down payment that "residual" seems damn close to what I just based my purchase on!? They expect $320 mo for 36mo AND then they get to set value at almost $37K for a 3yr old rig that had a MSRP sticker of $51K. Seems like they changed terms of deal without giving the buyer the chance to negotiate/challenge residual at end of lease. Anyone get this same letter? Wondering outloud if there is any recourse with dealership or Stellantis on this change?

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[JLeco2022]

if this is true it sucks, but i also would never lease

 

[BXFXJeep]

Seems all they are doing is now adding the option for you to purchase at the end of the lease. Which does not appear to make any difference if you just turn it back in at the end of the lease.

 

[morph860]

Doesn't say you have to purchase it. It's just an option. You can still turn it in when the lease is over if that's what you were planning to do. I didn't even know there were leases out there that didn't have an option to buy at the end. It does give you a 2nd "out" if you go way over the miles or if used car values jump again in the future. But sucks that you didn't get to agree on the residual value.

 

[Redcanyon77]

So now you have 2 options. Your first option didn’t change. Your complaint is that you don’t like the details of an additional option that you didn’t even have before. If they made it free after 3 years would you still be complaining about them changing the terms?

 

[NWJeepr]

Just recvd a letter from Stellantis financial stating the following: "As a result of a recent Stellantis Financial Services policy change, all lessees are now eligible to purchase their plug-in hybrid vehicle at the end of their lease term."
How can they do this? When I was informed the lease I would be signing was a closed end lease I did not bother to negotiate the residual knowing I'd be handing keys back after 36mo. I'm now told the residual on my 24 Sport S 4dr at the end of 36mo will be $36754.00!! After $7500 rebate and $5K down payment that "residual" seems damn close to what I just based my purchase on!? They expect $320 mo for 36mo AND then they get to set value at almost $37K for a 3yr old rig that had a MSRP sticker of $51K. Seems like they changed terms of deal without giving the buyer the chance to negotiate/challenge residual at end of lease. Anyone get this same letter? Wondering outloud if there is any recourse with dealership or Stellantis on this change?

You generally can't negotiate the residual value. It's a calculation and is generally usually set as part of the lease terms. At least that I'm aware of.

Your $320/month includes taxes and interest, "money factor", so you're contributing less to the principal than you might think. The money factor is much like an interest rate on a typical car loan: relatively high right now.

If the residual is higher than the market in 3 years, that's the beauty of a closed-end lease. Throw the keys at them and walk away, you win. If a 3 year old Sport S is still going for $40k when your lease is up, then you're buying it at a relative value.

Googling for a quick litmus on 3 year old 4xe's it seems their residual is definitely in the ballpark.

Do you have recourse? Well, Stellantis' lawyers certainly don't seem to think so. You know this was run by corporate legal before they sent out letters.

 

[Hpc3]

Just recvd a letter from Stellantis financial stating the following: "As a result of a recent Stellantis Financial Services policy change, all lessees are now eligible to purchase their plug-in hybrid vehicle at the end of their lease term."
How can they do this? When I was informed the lease I would be signing was a closed end lease I did not bother to negotiate the residual knowing I'd be handing keys back after 36mo. I'm now told the residual on my 24 Sport S 4dr at the end of 36mo will be $36754.00!! After $7500 rebate and $5K down payment that "residual" seems damn close to what I just based my purchase on!? They expect $320 mo for 36mo AND then they get to set value at almost $37K for a 3yr old rig that had a MSRP sticker of $51K. Seems like they changed terms of deal without giving the buyer the chance to negotiate/challenge residual at end of lease. Anyone get this same letter? Wondering outloud if there is any recourse with dealership or Stellantis on this change?

Turn it in and walk away? Its a lease... never ever lease if you intend to purchase it down the road. What am I missing?

 

[J.Ferreira]

Were...were you not going to be allowed to buy your lease after it was finished? I've never heard of such a thing.
It doesn't look or sound like they changed anything.

 

[J.Ferreira]

Turn it in and walk away? Its a lease... never ever lease if you intend to purchase it down the road. What am I missing?

?‍

 

[Overkill]

if this is true it sucks, but i also would never lease

Yep, I think that every time that I hear a car commercial and they talk about the lessee. Just that name sounds to me like someone that ends up with less in the deal.

 

[SPLYMYER]

Turn it in and walk away? Its a lease... never ever lease if you intend to purchase it down the road. What am I missing?

It is more about not having the option of negotiating residual when we did the deal since no sense as it's a turn in. BUT...if I want to modify and keep im screwed because that residual is a joke!

 

[autotragic]

Yep, I think that every time that I hear a car commercial and they talk about the lessee. Just that name sounds to me like someone that ends up with less in the deal.

That's because you do...

You pay out a boatload of money, so much in fact that if you made normal payments of the same amount for the same amount of time that you'd actually have equity in the vehicle if you had just bought it in the first place...except you don't get to keep the vehicle. As a bonus, you better not drive it to much or do anything to reduce it's value beyond "normal wear and tear" (whatever the hell "normal" is to them...) or you pay a penalty for that too when you turn it in and they get even more money from you. Manufactures don't offer leases because they want to help out the little guy. That's the one thing that people signing up for leases never seem to get through their thick skulls. If leases were really beneficial to regular people at the cost to the manufactures themselves do you think they would have leases? NO! Manufactures are literally getting people to pay depreciation on a vehicle so they can have nicer CPO cars for their dealers to sell later on at cost higher than a normal "used" car. People are just dumb enough to sign up for them because they are vain and have more money than sense.

And here comes the "but ackshully" crowd in 3...2...1...

/yawn

 

[Goesquik]

Not sure about your deal, but my buyout for a 4xe and the $11k in incentives on top of 8% under invoice is the reason I am leasing with intention of buying it out. The original 4xe I quoted was $61k sticker with a $37k buyout.

Makes it way less to lease now then buy later on the 4xe; especially when there’s also a chance rates will be lower upon buyout.

 

[Pingbling23]

I don’t think you can negotiate the residual.

 

[Hpc3]

It is more about not having the option of negotiating residual when we did the deal since no sense as it's a turn in. BUT...if I want to modify and keep im screwed because that residual is a joke!

So with quick math it looks like your residual would be $39K post lease based on paper signing terms and they're wanting $36K and change now? Again - don't lease if you intend to buy... you are throwing money away and they will still control the residual at the end of the rental. Not arguing, just stating rules of the terms.

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