The top reasons people quit auto leases early are surprising

Swapalease is a company that helps people swap leases. They can help folks that have a lease on a vehicle get out of it early, and they also can help folks looking for a deal on a pre-leased vehicle. We love them because they are crazy about keeping track of data tidbits. This week it is a summary of 5,000 customer service log books. It turns out that when Swapalease talks to a customer who wants out of a lease early they as why. Here are the interesting answers.

What Swapalease did was tally up all the reasons and then sort by vehicle. As the company puts it “Among all vehicles on the road, these are the vehicles and issues that are mentioned most often by drivers as a reason for wanting another car or truck.” Atop the list are BMW 4-Series owners who say the lack of lumbar support of their BMW is hurting their back. If you have ever shopped for a BMW, you know that finding adjustable lumbar, a back-up camera, and many other things you would expect to find standard on a pricey vehicle are often optional. If you doubt the premise of our story try Googling "BMW Lumbar Support." BMW’s X-series vehicles made the list at number six as well. The complaint? The AWD system was bad in the snow.

Next up is Cadillac’s adaptive cruise control. Owners complain that it “has issues.” Perhaps, or perhaps the owners are not being shown how to operate it properly. Either way, it is driving away business.

The third and fourth top reasons folks try to get out of a lease early are related. Nissan Leaf owners are frustrated that they can’t find compatible chargers when out and about. Volt owners want more EV range. Interestingly, both companies have taken steps to eliminate those problems with their new 2016 models. It’s nice to know someone is listening!

The reason for trying to end a lease early according to Swapalease that surprised us the most was the 7th. It turns out that Ford Taurus owners aren’t able to make the driver assist parking work properly.

We’d like to know. Have you ever tried to get rid of a vehicle sooner than you wanted to because of some kind of single issue? If so, what was it?