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The days of negotiation at lease end are almost over. I remember a time when you could buy your car from the leasing company for below wholesale at the end of the lease. However, today, most leasing companies and probably Volvo too purchases a leasing stop loss type of insurance on your lease...meaning that if your contract says that at the end of the lease, the car's worth "X" amount of dollars, that's what they're going to get from you if you want to buy it plus any charge for over mileage, excess wear and tear and all the other BS. If they don't get that price from you, then the insurance kicks in and pays the leasing company for the difference of what you actually paid for the car to purchase it from the leasing company and the end of lease purchase price that was on written on your contract. Naturally, the more they use the insurance by selling their cars at discounts, the higher their premiums will be, so most leasing companies just will stick it to you at the end of the lease instead of being stuck by the insurance company for more premiums. This protects the leasing company from "losing" money on your deal at the end of the lease and gives them maximum return on their investment.
Regarding the headlamps.....I had the same problem with my car on both the H7 headlight bulbs and the H1 foglamp bulbs. They just kept burning out. I finally was told to buy better lamps for my car from a buddy I have in Europe, so I did. I got the Philips Vision Plus lamps from http://www.powerbulbs.com/. They're in the UK, but deliver via international mail express....they're very good, very reliable. The Osram Silver Star bulbs are also great and available there too. Anyway, the bulbs have lasted me for over 2 years not and I have not had a burn-out. Just remember, that when you do replace them, NEVER, EVER touch the glass area on the bulb as you're handling the bulb, because the heat in combination with your hand's fingerprint will cause the bulb to burst. Not a good thing. Anyway, if you keep the car, get the better bulbs. You'll need 4 H7 bulbs for the headlights and 2 H1 bulbs for the fogs if you've got fog lamps. What Volvo sells an what you get at auto parts stores are crappy bulbs and they don't last long. Get the good stuff and you're problems will be resolved. As a bonus, these bulbs give you 50% more light that the regular H7 and H1 bulbs....it's nice white light...not that blue tinged bulb you see around town on the ricer's cars...these are good lamps.
Anyway, I've been long-winded...but that's my 50 cents.
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