[mgwashburn]

Please, i am in need of some advice.

I have a pristine 2017 Tiguan Limited L with 23,500 miles on it and a residual lease buyout of $11,300.

My ID4 1st has arrived and I know the dealer and VW Credit would like me to hand them the keys of my Tiguan and drive away with my new ID4 in a lease.

What is gnawing at me is the Kelley Blue Book value shows a trade of $15,424 and a trade-in-range of $14,441 - $16,406.

This same Tiguan is selling at CarMax, Carvana etc for between $16,500 - $18,500.

Can I buy out my Tiguan and then trade it in to the dealership and use the ~$4,000 to bring the price down on the ID4?

or is that to much paperwork and hassle?

Lastly, Edmunds is weird and shows a trade-in of only $11,520, I double checked with KBB and those numbers above were definitely trade-in value and not used car value.

advice?

marc

 

[Michael SD]

I got a bid from CarMax on my Honda Clarity that’s $1,800 more than my payoff amount. I’m planning to do that deal on Monday. I’ll report back after it’s done.

 

[mgwashburn]

I got a bid from CarMax on my Honda Clarity that’s $1,800 more than my payoff amount. I’m planning to do that deal on Monday. I’ll report back after it’s done.

AWESOME!!! hugely appreciate your time to let us know what happens

it prompted me to check my value on carmax - $14,800 and Vroom $13,340...there maybe hope here to get some value out of my lease yet

 

[AMobious]

I got a bid from CarMax on my Honda Clarity that’s $1,800 more than my payoff amount. I’m planning to do that deal on Monday. I’ll report back after it’s done.

Thanks, very interested in how that goes too 👍

 

[Michael SD]

Just signed the paperwork at CarMax. They honored the online instant quote, which was above the payoff amount. It’s the first time I’ve ever had positive equity at the end of a lease. (Thanks, Honda!)

 

[plh]

Looks like I'm a little late to the party, but depending on the dealership, they may actually do a buyout for you and apply the difference to your new vehicle.

 

[mgwashburn]

Thanks plh, i took your advice...see below

Three online offers for my 2017.5 Tiguan Limited L:

Vroom 13,340
CarMax 14.800
Carvana 16,100

I then texted my sales rep at VW and he said they would price match those offers and allow me to use the difference as the downpayment on the new id4.

btw, it just arrived today, he says will be prepped and ready for pickup tomorrow.

 

[AMobious]

Just signed the paperwork at CarMax. They honored the online instant quote, which was above the payoff amount. It’s the first time I’ve ever had positive equity at the end of a lease. (Thanks, Honda!)

Hi Micheal, thanks for sharing. Did you pay out the lease first and then sell to CarMax? Just wondering how this works as I have an e-Golf lease with a CarMax quote showing $3K of equity which I’d rather use as the down payment on the ID4 lease.

 

[Michael SD]

Good question. CarMax handles the payoff to the lessor. I think that if you pay it off first and then sell it, there might be a taxable event. I signed the papers, and then they handed me a check. They will pay off the lessor within 15 days. The whole thing was done in under 2 hours.

 

[AMobious]

Good question. CarMax handles the payoff to the lessor. I think that if you pay it off first and then sell it, there might be a taxable event. I signed the papers, and then they handed me a check. They will pay off the lessor within 15 days. The whole thing was done in under 2 hours.

Thanks again, Michael. So CarMax finalized your lease for you? Did you need to take any lease papers with you to show the Leasor on the vehicle title? I plan to take up this approach when my ID4 Pro arrives. I'm still at stage 4. Your input has been super helpful. Thanks 👍

 

[TT97]

I think that if you pay it off first and then sell it, there might be a taxable event.

In California, the sale of a vehicle to a lessee by a lessor may be considered a "nontaxable sale for resale" as long as you resale the car within 10 days from the date you acquire title. I have never tried it but it is a PITA (including having to convince the lessor not to collect sales tax).

https://www.cdtfa.ca.gov/formspubs/pub34.pdf

If CarMax handles the payoff, it is much cleaner, but there is a way to do it without incurring a taxable event (including if you plan on doing a private sale).

 

[Michael SD]

I knew there was some risk of a tax liability, but I wasn’t sure how that worked. CarMax just looks up your info through your lessor (with your account number and SSN) to get the official payoff amount. So all you need to bring is your registration and ID.

 

[AMobious]

I knew there was some risk of a tax liability, but I wasn’t sure how that worked. CarMax just looks up your info through your lessor (with your account number and SSN) to get the official payoff amount. So all you need to bring is your registration and ID.

Awesome, thank you 👍

 

[mgwashburn]

thanks for all the extra info...i will be at the VW dealership tomorrow and see if the sales rep & finance department will honor the highest quote offered by Carvana...if not, its good to know that the process is rather simple and that the commercial buyer will handle the lease payoff and simply pay you the difference without tax liability .
thank you again for your post

 

[mgwashburn]

okay here is what I learned...and it was a painful lesson...but hope it helps others.
I had a 2017.5 Tiguan Limited L model which is leased for 3 years and only put on 23,780 k miles.
My buyout was $11,472.20 and I was offered $13,340 from Vroom, $14,800 by CarMax and $16098 by Carvana.

The VW dealer told me they could probably match the offer from Carvana and that they would be able to do the transaction by rolling in the equity into the new ID4 lease for me without it creating any tax liability.

Of course this did not work out...they initially offered only $14,000 for the Tiguan which after much complaining they raised to ~$14,500. I though to myself ... okay at least i don't have the tax liability...BUT

what i didn't know is that they charged me a $899 predelivery service charge and they told me the payoff was actually $11,652...so I only received ~$2000 for the trade-in and not the expected $4,620 I would have gotten from Carvana.

another lesson learned...I hope this helps others that have a lease trade in...I hear Carvana simply hands you the check with no monkey business....nice. That is what i will do next time.

 

[markos8]

Wow, this is so helpful! I tried all three- KBB, carvana and vroom and Vroom was $2k more and $2k more than my lease payoff so hopefully this will work out as my ID.4 hopefully will be here one day this week. Thanks so much!