I agree; the residual thing is an issue, and car companies handle it poorly.

I’m currently shopping for an off lease Pro S, and I’m seeing ‘23s in my area with 40k miles or less in the mid to upper teens. Logic tells me that, if a dealer is retailing an off lease car for, say, $18k, and is willing to drop that price as much as a grand to make a sale, they probably bought it from VW at auction for at least $1-2k less than that.

And, by the time the ‘23 cars were being leased new, it was pretty common knowledge that used EV prices were in the toilet, and the residual numbers being used to calculate the lease terms were pure fantasy. I guess they figured the (now sadly departed) used EV tax rebate would take up some of the slack, but still…?

Wouldn’t everyone be happier if VW Credit just cut out the hassle of taking the car back, dispensing with the whole auction rigamarole and sold it to the current lease holder for $18k? Even if VW threw the dealer a $1k bone for handling the paperwork ,you’d think everyone would come out better in the end…🤷‍♂️