petepete99

Hi all,

Will be moving to US in the coming months, likely will be L1B as it's an intra-company transfer.

I have been in touch with International Autosource regarding the lease of a car during the term of my visa (prob 3 years?). However, I am being advised to secure the car before I land in the US, as they can get the best pricing that way. I believe it's the 'Preferred' program.

I was wondering if anybody has used the 'Advantage' program after they landed in the US? What kind of deals/prices did you receive (feel free to PM if uncomfortable sharing details).

I understand that the c.$400 fee is part of the lease price, judging by some of the quotes they've sent to me. I have seen that AIG's expat assistance product is $440 and also includes things such as car finance/lease assistance, as well as many other benefits like bank account/credit card/phone assistance.

Am I better off going for AIG's service?

Jack8602

They're telling you to secure a car prior to arriving because it stops you looking around locally and secures their contract with you. It's well documented on various posts on this forum that you can obtain car leases/finance directly from dealers. They also tried pressuring me into a deal, i instead got a car directly on a foreign expat program from a dealer.

I took out the AIG's assistance program and they put me in touch with Advancial, i had a credit card with a $7.5k limit within 20 days of arriving. I know they offer insurance assistance too, but their quotes were higher than me going directly to an insurance provider, so i didn't use that part. They also may or may not have forgot to charge me their fee

petepete99

Thanks for sharing! I think I might go down the AIG route. I want to be able to test drive some cars before I go over there, especially as I'm a bit of a petrolhead in the UK. It simply doesn't make sense to commit three years to a car I've never driven. I guess I just like the idea that it's almost 'guaranteed' to be approved.

On the Advancial credit card, how did they determine that you were eligible? Did they verify employment letters/salary or was it more a case of using your UK-based credit history?

Did you use any other services of AIG's program?

Good result with the fee! Hope they don't start chasing

Jack8602

Yeah i know what you mean about test driving, it's an important factor to me. VW/Audi/Mazda, Ford i think too - have a scheme for expats. I didn't use anything else on the AIG program.

If you can pay for a rental car for upto 4-6 weeks, then there's no reason for you to restrict yourself to having to buy from IAS. I say 4-6 weeks as a high estimate of how long you may need a rental, i had my rental for exactly 3 weeks, the time in which it took me to get all the below:

I'd suggest doing the following as soon as you arrive, i did this:

Take your driving test and get a license ASAP. Not sure what it's like in states outside of Texas, but as soon as you pass here - they give you a temporary license at the DMV so you can use that for test driving cars and getting leases etc.

Get your SSN as soon as possible. I attended the social security office on day 3 of being here, it arrived in the mail 7 days later - you'll need that for financing/leasing.

Once i had both of the above, i went to a VW dealer and drove away with a brand new car within 3 hours. VW needed a copy of my visa. An offer letter from my employer, 2 references from people i know, my salary information. They called my office to verify i was who i said i was etc.

Advancial just asked for an offer letter and my salary - no credit check was possible because i had zero history - From what i can gather they base the risk on your employer and salary and determine what limit to give you. They also offered me 35k car loan if i wanted it.

petepete99

Wow, that all sounds almost too good to be true. Yep, I was definitely thinking of the car rental route to begin with. Actually, I've been renting cars on a monthly basis here in the UK because it's so cheap (long story, my BMW blew up and I was waiting on this offer to come through, which has been a 5 month process!).

What kind of downpayment did VW ask for? And was this fairly recently?

Jack8602

As long as you get your ducks all in a row early on - it's fairly simple to get a car.

I took out a 2016 model Golf in January 2016. VW offered me $0 down - but i chose to put down $1,500 and i took out $4.5k worth of enhanced warranty & coverage for when i return the car.

I pay $485 a month. If i left the warranty and enhanced coverage i could have knocked $120 a month off that, but i value the importance of them (Just as well too because i had the whole AC system replaced due to a fault!)

I'm also on an L1B visa - so know the pain of the process of the offer coming through

petepete99

Wow, that sounds not bad at all. The fact that they were willing to accept a $0 downpayment is impressive.

So, are you saying that you would have been liable for the AC system if you didn't take out the coverage? There's no standard warranty with a new car?

Jack8602

Standard manufacturer warranty is included for 3 years - but it doesn't cover everything - some other manufacturers may be different i guess.

Enhanced warranty coverage saved my ass on the A/C being refitted because some of the parts weren't under that standard manufacturer warranty. I would've been liable for a $3.5k bill on parts not covered + labor.

the power train, for example is covered by standard. The specific parts i had to get replaced for my A/C weren't. I do think I've been incredibly unlucky on this car though, and it's probably a one off. That said, I'll be looking to another brand once my lease is up as I've now got a credit rating and can shop around more freely.

petepete99

Sounds like you've been unlucky. Was it a GTI? Or just a standard Golf? I will definitely consider VW to get me started, though I do have my heart set on something American and brash because "when in Rome".

Jack8602

Standard SE model.

I'd have purchased American if i could. I even work for one of the big manufacturers here, but they're not particularly versed in L1 visas - me being the first one ever, so they couldn't sort me a car due to my credit being that of a 16 year old.

VW were good for me starting out in the US. Bear in mind that this offer is across the whole VW group so don't limit yourself to just them - and some other dealers do offer expat schemes.

Audi: https://www.audiusa.com/content/dam/...fessionals.pdf

VW: https://www.vw.com/content/dam/vwcom...fessionals.pdf

Got a shit ton of cash? Porsche will also take you on

Same brochure, just different pictures.

rbackhouse

Huh. Someone is yanking your chain if you think that your A/C would not be covered by the standard VW 3 year warranty.

petepete99

Cool. Which of the big ones do you work for? I was looking at the Dodge Challenger V8, they seem to be ridiculously cheap on lease deals, and they really do look the part.

Porsche would be pushing the boat out, just a tad!

petepete99

I did think that was a bit odd. I would have thought it would have been covered unless it was classed as either wear & tear or owner-fault?

rbackhouse

A standard bumper to bumper warranty would cover everything apart from wear & tear stuff like brake pads etc. A/C would definitely be included.

Apparently VW are now offering an "Enhanced" warranty of 6years/72k on their 2018 models in an attempt to woe back buyers but you don't pay more for this.

There are "Extended" warranties that dealers will attempt to sell you when buying the car but these don't kick in until after the standard one has run out, or claim to cover things the standard one doesn't but that is virtually nothing. In general they are a ripe off, the dealers put a big markup on them to add to their profit on the deal. You also have to go through the fine print because exclusions can be extensive.

MidAtlantic

In other words a complete an utter rip off.