Alphabet- ending a lease earlier than planned

[Hugo Stiglitz]

My circumstances mean I dont need a lease car anymore so I contacted the leaser for a early termination cost


an early termination payment to compensate us for this agreement ending early, which we will determine
by (a) recalculating the rentals in the same way that we calculated the Rentals at the start of this agreement, except that
we shall use the actual mileage at termination, the market value of the Vehicle at termination and the reduced term of
the agreement, and (b) then deducting the Rentals you have paid or which were payable prior to termination.

Basically 100% of rental payments left to pay.

Has anyone had experience of dealing with hardback early?

I can't claim hardship. It looks pretty much nailed on that I signed for doesn't it?


In the hardback calculation there's a paragraph-


ow has my Early Termination quote been calculated?
"Our early termination quotes are worked out on a ‘true cost’ basis . This re-calculates the rentals based on the shortened term of the
agreement as well as the current market value of the vehicle and the driven mileage. The purpose of this method is not to penalize
customers for ending their agreements early. The termination figure is then calculated by offsetting the rentals you have paid against
the new rental amounts."

Theres no mention of true cost basis on the original contract but its semantics I guess.

Edited by Hugo Stiglitz on Tuesday 14th October 08:56

[Racing Newt]

Hmm, do you not remember sitting by your Grannies knee and her passing on that essential ancestral knowledge base, which included " never sign a contract that you do not understand" ??

[Ry.Clarke]

My knowledge on the subject is you will owe the remaining rental. It’s this way on most things even down to the broadband contract.

I got stung the same way for the gym contract I haven’t used since April last month.

I’m not sure what you expected?

[Racing Newt]

So you have two contracts that you have not understood? i am not tying to demean you but if you understand them why ask for advice on the meaning of them?. I must say that the statements in the contract arre quite/very convoluted, and thus seem to be deliberately misleading particularly when it comes to calculating/determining compensations or obligations.

[Hugo Stiglitz]

Racing Newt said:

So you have two contracts that you have not understood? i am not tying to demean you but if you understand them why ask for advice on the meaning of them?. I must say that the statements in the contract arre quite/very convoluted, and thus seem to be deliberately misleading particularly when it comes to calculating/determining compensations or obligations.

Quite. Me more fool for not reading before I accepted. Its my second lease car and I'll admit I possibly assumed I'd keep to term and/or similar terms to the first..

[ThingsBehindTheSun]

Am I imagining things or do I recall that some lease contracts allow you to hand the car back early if you pay 50% of the remaining payments?

I guess that is the problem with a lease, if life happens and you need to get out of the car, or have no use for it you are a little bit stuffed.

[Ry.Clarke]

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

Am I imagining things or do I recall that some lease contracts allow you to hand the car back early if you pay 50% of the remaining payments?

I guess that is the problem with a lease, if life happens and you need to get out of the car, or have no use for it you are a little bit stuffed.

Thats PCP isnt it?

[paul_c123]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

Quite. Me more fool for not reading before I accepted. Its my second lease car and I'll admit I possibly assumed I'd keep to term and/or similar terms to the first..

It seems a fair enough way to calculate what you owe. Of course, with the shape of a depreciation curve, you're going to be paying a higher monthly amount if you leased a car for 6 months, than 3 years.

[RayDonovan]

I paid £180 to hand back a Tiguan 17 months early with Alphabet

It was all about luck with the timing.

[V8 Stang]

Ive just enquired about returning my lease van 3 months early, which i no longer require.

Ive been told i have to pay 55% of the remaining 3 payments, which seems fair enough.

[Wills2]

I ended an Alphabet lease early by selling the car to a trader, it wasn't straight forward as BMW do not depose to car traders and wouldn't sell it to me so he had to buy it privately (payment not from his business account) BCA handled it, it was the only way to get out without paying anything.

It was a 48 month lease and I'll never do one of those again as you end up running a leased car without a warranty, 24 month leases are probably the best length having a much shorter horizon and less commitment should the need to get out arrive.

Edited by Wills2 on Thursday 16th October 15:30

[Mark V GTD]

ThingsBehindTheSun said:

Am I imagining things or do I recall that some lease contracts allow you to hand the car back early if you pay 50% of the remaining payments?

I guess that is the problem with a lease, if life happens and you need to get out of the car, or have no use for it you are a little bit stuffed.

Yes I was able to do that with an Audi lease via VWFS in 2020. Also saved me having to pay for a service!

OP - have they actually given you a figure yet?

[samoht]

Hugo Stiglitz said:

an early termination payment to compensate us for this agreement ending early, which we will determine
by (a) recalculating the rentals in the same way that we calculated the Rentals at the start of this agreement, except that
we shall use the actual mileage at termination, the market value of the Vehicle at termination and the reduced term of
the agreement, and (b) then deducting the Rentals you have paid or which were payable prior to termination.

Basically 100% of rental payments left to pay.

The part in bold doesn't mean you will have to pay 100% of the outstanding. It implies they'll recalculate their costs based on the car being returned newer and lower mileage than planned, and charge you on that basis.

So if the car depreciated by £10k in year 1 and £5k in year 2, total depreciation is £15k in two years, monthly payment £15k/24 = £625
If you return it after one year, total paid to date would be £7500, total owing £10000, so they might charge another £2500 to end the lease halfway through.


However, what I don't know is whether they would recalculate based on current market value, so if the used value is now lower than anticipated if you have to pay for that as well.


Have they given you a termination cost, and if so how does it actually compare to the sum of remaining monthlies?

[Hugo Stiglitz]

Exactly the same left

[Familymad]

Reading this with interest. My father’s lease ends in March and he is on end of life care which happened suddenly. Do they normally make allowance for this as the leaseholder isn’t alive anymore? I assume the insurance will also be invalid etc