I was sitting at my local Saab dealer this morning, signing paperwork and reviewing the lease contract on a 2010 9-3. The residual value of the car was $13,230.70, as I expected, and my lease payments were based on that residual. What I did not expect was that the price at which I could buy the car at lease end was listed as $15,730.70, or $2,500 more than the residual! I said that that made no sense, that the residual value is the projected market value, and that is what the buyout should be. I also said that I was not going to pay for the depreciation down to $13,230.70, and then turn around and buy the car for $2,500. That's insane. At first they played dumb, saying "That's the way all the ALLY (GM) leases are written and they have no control over it.

After I insisted on seeing some logical explanation for the charge, they showed my a list of frequently asked questions from ALLY to the dealers. It showed that the $2,500 is simply additional profit, that ALLY gets $2,000 of it, and the dealer gets $500.
I told them that I thought the whole thing was very disturbing and unethical, and that I wanted to research the issue further before doing any deal. I took the title to my 2001 9-3SE and left the dealership.

My questions are: 1: is this now a common practice in leasing, or is it just a GM thing? 2: The whole experience left a bad taste in my mouth, and makes me leery to enter into a GM lease. Now that GM really has no interest in promoting Saab customer loyalty, I could see them pushing me to the wall at lease end if I didn't buy the car, with all kinds of charges for wear and tear. It seems to me that if I am going to lease a car, I should do it with a car company that owns its own leasing business (like VW or Toyota) so that the leasing arm will be flexible at lease end in order to help get me into another car.


posted by 146.115.136...

• $2,500 added to residual at lease end???, Paul O'Malley, Mon, 13 Dec 2010 12:31:59 <-- Viewing This Message
  • I'm pissed at Ally..., Stan, Mon, 20 Dec 2010 09:05:05
  • Re: $2,500 added to residual at lease end???, simul8guy, Sun, 19 Dec 2010 18:48:16
  • Re: $2,500 added to residual at lease end???, MJ, Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:43:28
  • Re: $2,500 added to residual at lease end???, Ron, Mon, 13 Dec 2010 15:16:35

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