Lazarus.Bird
Member
I reside in and leased a Stinger in PA
Dealer A = Dealership I leased from
Dealer B = Dealership closer to me
Leased my Stinger in January from Dealer A. PA is a dealer only lease buyout state. Dealer A told me to contact them once the state registration arrived in the mail.
Registration arrives so I contact Dealer A and tell them I'd prefer to do the in person stuff at Dealer B as they are much closer to my house. Dealer A sends me payoff quote along with a lease purchase option document sent to them by KMF HCA as well as an odometer disclosure statement. I can't get an appointment with Dealer B for like 10 days so I go through the process of obtaining financing through my credit union, and have my credit union send a check to KMF HCA as per the paperwork.
Show up to Dealer B and tell them I'm there to do the lease buyout and explain the check has already been mailed to KMF. They told me I should have never done that, as the payoff should go to the dealer and then the dealer pays KMF in PA. I show them the paperwork Dealer A gave me and they are beside themselves that Dealer A provided internal paperwork that I should have never been given. They tell me to contact my credit union and cancel the check immediately. They also give me a vehicle buyer's order that shows the actual buyout amount including title fees and what not.
This is mid February. KMF had already cashed the check, so I call KMF and ask them to issue a refund check back to my credit union, and then I will just start the process over again with Dealer B. They tell me it takes up to 15 business days to process the refund check, and then another 2-3 weeks to deliver via postal mail due to COVID. I call back in early March and am told the check was mailed to the credit union 2/27 and it will take 2-3 weeks to arrive. Starting mid March I start calling my credit union and they are doing their best to try to find the check and they have not come across yet nor processed. This goes on for several weeks so I call KMF back.
KMF states a check was never sent on 2/27, but a check was sent directly to me 3/3 with the wrong address which I never received. They can't confirm either were ever delivered. So either they sent 2 checks to 2 places, someone lied to me, or someone was completely wrong, and I've been sitting here for an entire month just waiting for this check to arrive at my credit union. They say they see notes about a check being sent Feb 27 but have no record of the check actually being sent. I ask them to process a request for a new check to be sent to my credit union immediately and overnight it. They tell me the best they can do is put me in the queue which could take 3 days to address, then 8 business days to process the refund check, then another 2-3 weeks for the check to arrive.
So now I've made 3 lease payments, 1 payment on a loan that isn't even against my car right now so I don't get a credit ding, and now have to wait another month and HOPEFULLY the check with no tracking or delivery confirmation will arrive. In hindsight, I should have recognized that I shouldn't have used that internal document to initiate a payoff with my credit union, but this was provided by the Finance Manager at Dealer A and I didn't really give it a second thought.
So yeah, this has been a freaking nightmare.
Is my understanding correct in that the early lease buyout amount is static and does not decrease as I continue to make lease payments, or is that not correct? I expected to make at most 2 lease payments and now I'll potentially be making 4-5 before this is all settled.
Dealer A = Dealership I leased from
Dealer B = Dealership closer to me
Leased my Stinger in January from Dealer A. PA is a dealer only lease buyout state. Dealer A told me to contact them once the state registration arrived in the mail.
Registration arrives so I contact Dealer A and tell them I'd prefer to do the in person stuff at Dealer B as they are much closer to my house. Dealer A sends me payoff quote along with a lease purchase option document sent to them by KMF HCA as well as an odometer disclosure statement. I can't get an appointment with Dealer B for like 10 days so I go through the process of obtaining financing through my credit union, and have my credit union send a check to KMF HCA as per the paperwork.
Show up to Dealer B and tell them I'm there to do the lease buyout and explain the check has already been mailed to KMF. They told me I should have never done that, as the payoff should go to the dealer and then the dealer pays KMF in PA. I show them the paperwork Dealer A gave me and they are beside themselves that Dealer A provided internal paperwork that I should have never been given. They tell me to contact my credit union and cancel the check immediately. They also give me a vehicle buyer's order that shows the actual buyout amount including title fees and what not.
This is mid February. KMF had already cashed the check, so I call KMF and ask them to issue a refund check back to my credit union, and then I will just start the process over again with Dealer B. They tell me it takes up to 15 business days to process the refund check, and then another 2-3 weeks to deliver via postal mail due to COVID. I call back in early March and am told the check was mailed to the credit union 2/27 and it will take 2-3 weeks to arrive. Starting mid March I start calling my credit union and they are doing their best to try to find the check and they have not come across yet nor processed. This goes on for several weeks so I call KMF back.
KMF states a check was never sent on 2/27, but a check was sent directly to me 3/3 with the wrong address which I never received. They can't confirm either were ever delivered. So either they sent 2 checks to 2 places, someone lied to me, or someone was completely wrong, and I've been sitting here for an entire month just waiting for this check to arrive at my credit union. They say they see notes about a check being sent Feb 27 but have no record of the check actually being sent. I ask them to process a request for a new check to be sent to my credit union immediately and overnight it. They tell me the best they can do is put me in the queue which could take 3 days to address, then 8 business days to process the refund check, then another 2-3 weeks for the check to arrive.
So now I've made 3 lease payments, 1 payment on a loan that isn't even against my car right now so I don't get a credit ding, and now have to wait another month and HOPEFULLY the check with no tracking or delivery confirmation will arrive. In hindsight, I should have recognized that I shouldn't have used that internal document to initiate a payoff with my credit union, but this was provided by the Finance Manager at Dealer A and I didn't really give it a second thought.
So yeah, this has been a freaking nightmare.
Is my understanding correct in that the early lease buyout amount is static and does not decrease as I continue to make lease payments, or is that not correct? I expected to make at most 2 lease payments and now I'll potentially be making 4-5 before this is all settled.
