Lease-end restrictions

hellothere5 · January 2018

Others may already be aware of this, but I wanted to share my experience. My Lincoln lease recently ended. I had planned on trading it at another dealership where I was about to lease my next car, as I have always done at the end of my leases. When I went to do this, I found out that Ford and Lincoln both have a policy that if you are within 90 days of your lease ending, your only two options are to turn the car in or to buy the car yourself at the originating dealership. It created quite a headache for me (turning in the car was not a good option, as there would have been wear and tear fees and we actually had equity in the car by buying out the lease).

Having depended on these forums a lot (thank you!) I just wanted to pass this along in case it will help someone else down the road.

Mr_Shiftright · January 2018

Where did you hear about these restrictions? Did someone tell you this, or was it actually in print on the lease contract? Did you verify with Ford financial services or with the particular leasing institution/bank?

kyfdx · January 2018

Thanks for the info.

Actually, I think you could have traded it in, but Ford reserves the right to ask market price from a third party vs. lease payoff to the actual lessee.

In other words, they aren't going to let the lessee profit from an unexpectedly high value on a lease turn-in, other than what's provided for in the contract. They take the risk, they get the profit.

Not a good thing to find out later, though.

I think every bank's lease contract could be enforced this way, but most don't do it.

Mr_Shiftright · January 2018

That's what puzzled me. He should have been able to trade it in at another dealer, but within the terms of his contract.

kyfdx · January 2018

Mr_Shiftright said:
That's what puzzled me. He should have been able to trade it in at another dealer, but within the terms of his contract.

Yes.. but, the lease payoff and buyout terms are only for the lessee that is a party to the contract. When you trade in a leased vehicle before the term is up, the transaction is between the bank and the dealer you are trading it to.

Many captive banks have one price for the lessee, another for a captive dealer, and a 3rd for a non-captive dealer.
Not a contract lawyer, but it seems they could have been doing this all along.. just starting to tighten things up, now. Not all, but some of them.

hellothere5 · January 2018

We heard it on speakerphone when the dealer called Lincoln to get the payoff amount. Lincoln told them that once you are within 90 days you have to contact the originating dealership. They contacted the originating dealership (also on speakerphone) and the dealership said it is a Ford/Lincoln policy that those are the only two options so there was no payoff amount they could give a third party (not even a market-price payoff amount).

We searched the contract documents and could not find anything pertaining to this. Went to two different dealers and both were dumbfounded when told by Lincoln and the dealership that they could not purchase it (both were non-Ford/Lincoln dealerships). I saw that another person posted back in July about the same issue with only being allowed to go through the original dealership for a Ford, so I don't think this is just me. However, I had never heard of this.

kyfdx · January 2018

Thanks for the follow-up post.

I'm never fond of captive banks that make you involve the original dealership. Just one more party to the transaction to muck things up.

If you want a repeat customer, give good value and great service. Don't try to handcuff the customer. Just makes them angry.

destinym · February 2018

Another note on the Ford Early Bird lease return special:
We just found out the hard way that you have to turn in your vehicle before the last payment is due. We turned in our vehicle two days “late” and now we have to pay and don’t even have the vehicle anymore. Ford is not willing to help us at all and the dealer says they are already negative in the deal and can’t budge no more.
Of course they are pointing fingers at each other and we are sitting at the loosing end.
Lesson learned!

Mr_Shiftright · February 2018

Pay what? Another month, or a penalty?

destinym · February 2018

Another payment or to be more specific the last payment. Only because we went 2 days past the due date. Due date means the due date of the last payment, not the date you have to turn the vehicle in.
So frustrating!

kyfdx · February 2018

destinym said:
Another payment or to be more specific the last payment. Only because we went 2 days past the due date. Due date means the due date of the last payment, not the date you have to turn the vehicle in.
So frustrating!

So, the program lets you turn your car in early, and forego the payments, but they won't forgive the payment because it was past the due date? That does suck... at least it's just one payment.

Lease-end restrictions

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