# 67 days into XChange Lease, how it really is



## occupant (Jul 7, 2015)

On 7/7 I dropped the hammer on a new Toyota Corolla LE from Germain Toyota in Columbus, OH. Black on black, carpet mats, no other options. The payment is $155.52 a week for 156 weeks, or three years. I paid a $250 deposit in cash. The residual amount should I choose to buy the car at the end of the three years is $4480. The payment is deducted from my Uber earnings. I no longer have access to Instant Pay on the Uber platform. I have added the vehicle to my Lyft account and no problems there. Express Pay works as designed. I also use the vehicle for DoorDash (primarily food delivery) and DeliverThat (catering) and am able to get paid as usual with those platforms.

Total of payments $28991 including the deposit and residual payment to own at the end. Sounds very high for a $17000 car, and I agree. However, I did run the numbers on a conventional purchase for the same vehicle. With my 572 credit score, at the discounted price of $16820 after rebates, including the new at the time $750 Toyota rebate for Uber partners, to get my payment below the $350 a month threshold for my current income, I would have had to buy the car on a SIX year loan at about 12.5% interest. That would cost me a grand total of $25,947 and I would have had to put $750 down instead of $250. But hold on a second...

Oil changes and tire rotations (every 5000 miles) and cabin air filters (every 25000 miles) are included for the life of the lease. This reduces maintenance costs significantly and I will be responsible for anything that breaks (it's a Corolla, not too worried here) along with other maintenance items like tires, brakes, coolant flushes, wiper blades, battery replacements. I can go pretty much anywhere for service but making appointments online through the Toyota dealer's website has been convenient enough. The oil changes with tire rotation retail for $71 (they DO use synthetic and Toyota branded filters) and the cabin air filter with installation is $48. I've been driving about 5000 miles each month. So 36 oil changes and 7 cabin filter changes, at no cost to me, is a value of $2892 in free maintenance. Take that off the payment total and the difference between my bad credit purchasing power and the XChange lease is a whopping $152.

That $152 price difference is also shadowed by TWO major facts:

1) I can walk away from this lease at any time, for any reason, with a two week notice and the forfeit of my deposit. That means if the vehicle has a major issue, or I lose my ability to drive, or get injured, or the market collapses, I can only be out that $250 and two weeks of payments. So $560 or so all together. A very cheap out compared to owing money on a conventional bank note, in which I would be significantly upside down until the last year or so due to the high miles put on the car. (edit: yes, I know I could make double payments and a bank note would be paid off in three years, I'm already doing this for the Malibu, trying to compare apples to apples)

2) This lease will be paid for in three years, not six. Given the same miles driven for the loan and lease, I will get three years of operation out of that $4480 residual without car payments. It also means if I put away the money that WOULD go to those weekly payments for years 4 to 6, I'll have $25K in cash on hand when the bank note would have been finally paid off in July 2023. (Of course this means nothing with extra payments on the bank note, covered in the parenthesis above, but still)

It is possible at the end of this lease that I may turn the car in and get another. Or I might buy it and turn around and sell for $6000-$7000 for a profit and buy something else with lower miles. As of now I intend to have about 180,000 miles at that point. Looking on AutoTrader, there is only one 2014 Corolla for sale with high miles, and the dealer seems to want $8495 for a 157,000 mile car. That's high to me. The Edmunds TMV for a 180,000 mile 2014 Corolla, private party, clean condition, is $6184, outstanding condition, is $6865. I feel that is accurate for a high mileage well kept car.

My insurance is through Erie here in Ohio and has full rideshare coverage. My insurance is costing me $188 per month for full coverage on this Corolla, my wife's 2010 Malibu 2LT (also used for rideshare and deliveries by her), and liability only on our older (2000 model) Suburban. Without the rideshare coverage we would be paying $156 per month. So that cost is minimal.

I have a car wash pass sticker on each of the two cars. $29 per month for unlimited washes on both vehicles so that's 50 cents a day per car.

I'm averaging right around 30mpg. It has gone higher in recent tanks as I'm trying to reduce unneeded idle time. The dash says 32.5 but I know it is optimistic. Hand calculation over 10135 miles so far shows 30.18mpg.

Things I absolutely love about the car:

1) Drives smoothly and comfortably, actually has a smooth ride for such a light car with a small wheelbase, but I can definitely tell the difference in wheelbase and weight versus the Malibu and Altima I've used before.

2) Radar-assisted cruise control. Someone cuts me off, it hits the brakes for me. They get out of the way, it speeds up back to the set speed. It also has automatic emergency braking and the chick in the black Beetle convertible who pulled out from a parking lot just over a hill crest from me and STOPPED in the middle of the road to let a goose cross is now fully aware this feature works as intended.

3) First brand new car I've ever had.

4) Lane change with steering assist. When I'm nodding off on my way home, this thing keeps me in my lane and if I'm about to go way out of line it'll beep at me loudly to wake me up. Long shifts mean running until I can't anymore. This has saved my butt at least twice so far.

5) The back seat actually fits three adults without complaint and I've noticed parties of three just sit in the back and no one sits up front.

6) Stereo system works flawlessly with Bluetooth and the backup camera works nice. I do intend to replace reverse lights with LEDs to improve night vision of this backup camera.

7) Air conditioning is awesome and it'll be even better after window tinting. I think I'll wait for spring to do it, but it'll look better too.

Things I have to complain about:

1) If I rest my arm on the passenger seat and use it to hold myself up during a spirited right hand turn, the pressure on the seat makes the airbag/seatbelt light and beeping happen. That's annoying.

2) There is a buzzing sound on the left side of the dash cluster. If I put my finger on it, it shuts up. If I drive over cobblestone or badly paved roads, I can see the trim piece actually move. Maybe something needs tightened up in there.

3) The car has only one 12V outlet for charging cords, dash cam, vacuum, etc. Really wish it had a second one inside the console or for rear seat use.

4) The trunk hinges really cut into the usable space on the sides of the trunk. Should use a shock absorber setup like most modern vehicles.

5) ABS with rear drum brakes, need I say more?

6) The base model hubcaps looks cheap and cheesy. I found a nice black and chrome set on Amazon for $65 to fix that problem. I may consider buying a set of wheels if I can find a nice used set of takeoffs from the 2014-2016 LE Plus model. Those look nice and my tires will transfer over easily, so I can use the steel wheels for winter tires if I don't feel confident enough on the Michelin Primacy all seasons here in the snow months.

So there you have it. If you have terrible credit and know how to hustle, maybe an XChange Lease would have been for you. But now all you can get are previously Ubered cars. So best of luck!


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

Sounds like you're happy.

We will send people in shortly to deal with THAT .


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## BostonTaxiDriver (Nov 23, 2014)

occupant said:


> On 7/7 I dropped the hammer on a new Toyota Corolla LE from Germain Toyota in Columbus, OH. Black on black, carpet mats, no other options. The payment is $155.52 a week for 156 weeks, or three years. I paid a $250 deposit in cash. The residual amount should I choose to buy the car at the end of the three years is $4480. The payment is deducted from my Uber earnings. I no longer have access to Instant Pay on the Uber platform. I have added the vehicle to my Lyft account and no problems there. Express Pay works as designed. I also use the vehicle for DoorDash (primarily food delivery) and DeliverThat (catering) and am able to get paid as usual with those platforms.
> 
> Total of payments $28991 including the deposit and residual payment to own at the end. Sounds very high for a $17000 car, and I agree. However, I did run the numbers on a conventional purchase for the same vehicle. With my 572 credit score, at the discounted price of $16820 after rebates, including the new at the time $750 Toyota rebate for Uber partners, to get my payment below the $350 a month threshold for my current income, I would have had to buy the car on a SIX year loan at about 12.5% interest. That would cost me a grand total of $25,947 and I would have had to put $750 down instead of $250. But hold on a second...
> 
> ...


I've gone in person locally to inquire, but I don't like that I cannot move out of state and Uber. Meaning, in many states, rideshare requires you to have local plates/registration.

It seems this leasing arrangement works if you plan on NOT moving during those three years to a different Uber market.

How much of a down payment did the insurance require?


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## Eesoso (Jan 16, 2017)

Uber is shutting down Xchange Leasing.



> Uber executives decided to wind down Xchange, a wholly owned subisdiary, after realizing that the average loss per vehicle was 18 times what they had thought.


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## WeDreams (Sep 14, 2017)

Yea you better enjoy it because it's coming to a end. I wonder if your contract will be void.


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## BostonTaxiDriver (Nov 23, 2014)

WettDreams said:


> Yea you better enjoy it because it's coming to a end. I wonder if your contract will be void.


Supposedly, it was announced back then that another company may buy it...so not necessarily ending.

But, of course, why would another company think it can make it work?


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## Mars Troll Number 4 (Oct 30, 2015)

BostonTaxiDriver said:


> Supposedly, it was snnounced back then that another company may buy it...so not necessarily ending.
> 
> But, of course, why would another company think it can make it work?


They can jack up the price to what it actually costs to run a vehicle for that many miles and make a killing...

There's a reason people pay $400+ to rent a taxi for a week... because they can end up driving over 1,500 miles..

That's what it's going to take..


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## WeDreams (Sep 14, 2017)

I would think another company would jack up the price and add more rules to it. Don’t they limit your miles a week?


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## azndriver87 (Mar 23, 2015)

i'll rent you a hybrid for $150 a week. all insurance and maintenance covered. and since it's a hybrid, you save a lot more on gas than what you're paying right now.


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## tohunt4me (Nov 23, 2015)

azndriver87 said:


> i'll rent you a hybrid for $150 a week. all insurance and maintenance covered. and since it's a hybrid, you save a lot more on gas than what you're paying right now.


A hybrid pedi cab.


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## KUBriguy (Aug 26, 2017)

occupant said:


> On 7/7 I dropped the hammer on a new Toyota Corolla LE from Germain Toyota in Columbus, OH. Black on black, carpet mats, no other options. The payment is $155.52 a week for 156 weeks, or three years. I paid a $250 deposit in cash. The residual amount should I choose to buy the car at the end of the three years is $4480. The payment is deducted from my Uber earnings. I no longer have access to Instant Pay on the Uber platform. I have added the vehicle to my Lyft account and no problems there. Express Pay works as designed. I also use the vehicle for DoorDash (primarily food delivery) and DeliverThat (catering) and am able to get paid as usual with those platforms.
> 
> Total of payments $28991 including the deposit and residual payment to own at the end. Sounds very high for a $17000 car, and I agree. However, I did run the numbers on a conventional purchase for the same vehicle. With my 572 credit score, at the discounted price of $16820 after rebates, including the new at the time $750 Toyota rebate for Uber partners, to get my payment below the $350 a month threshold for my current income, I would have had to buy the car on a SIX year loan at about 12.5% interest. That would cost me a grand total of $25,947 and I would have had to put $750 down instead of $250. But hold on a second...
> 
> ...


Looks like you did your homework!


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## Fauxknight (Aug 12, 2014)

Props job on getting the car from Steve rather than Tansky.


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## occupant (Jul 7, 2015)

21K miles now, still making enough money, still happy with the car and the situation.

For those asking, my contract is valid as long as I make the payments and don't choose to turn it in early. The only way they can make a change to the unlimited mileage, included oil changes, payment amount, or anything, is to have me sign a new contract.

I've heard of other XCL drivers being offered buyouts. I'd like to have $8K-$10K saved up so if they make me an offer, I can buy it out. Right now all I'm getting are, turn it in early we'll give you a $500 VISA gift card BS offers. If they wanted to offer me about $2500 I'd consider turning it in, but otherwise it's ability to make me solid income driving for about six different services and turning it in would be like selling my laptop so I could afford a new desk to set it on.


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## Bubsie (Oct 19, 2017)

Drive that thing until its a shriveled up husk. If Uber were losing $9000 on each lease them thats money in your pocket.


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## Taxi818 (Jan 31, 2017)

I did the Math as well. I don’t have bad credit. Abd have another new car. But at 5k mikes per month. Best to use Xchange. So far. 58k miles in a year. Still strong car. I don’t want to buy it after 3 years. Too many miles then.


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## streetkings01 (Sep 28, 2017)

Only negative I see is your basically Uber's slave for the life of the loan.


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## Taxi818 (Jan 31, 2017)

Not true. You can turn it in anytime you feel like. No hassle.


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## streetkings01 (Sep 28, 2017)

Taxi818 said:


> Not true. You can turn it in anytime you feel like. No hassle.


Doesn't matter........he's basically working to pay for the car. Uber takes his earnings and automatically applies it toward the balance........he doesn't see a profit until he's met his weekly quota.

Me personally..........I would've tried to finance the cheapest car possible that qualifies for Uber. Maybe even get a credit card with balance transfer checks and write myself a check for $3k-$5k and purchase 2 $2500 cars(1 for Uber & 1 to commute) and been good to go.

You can find 2005 vans with decent mileage and in good shape to Uber in for under $3k


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## Taxi818 (Jan 31, 2017)

Pretty sure the interest on those checks would be high. Even if zero you would be paying never the less.


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## streetkings01 (Sep 28, 2017)

Taxi818 said:


> Pretty sure the interest on those checks would be high. Even if zero you would be paying never the less.


Most are interest free for a period of time.......just keep doing balance transfers. I've purchased many cars doing it that way and paid off the transfer by the expiring date or just transfer it to another card.


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