Lease Termination Fees and other costs

ctroxtell21

I have a 2004 Nissan Frontier which I leased for 4 years, did it to get my mom's name off the other loan incase anything happened. Well I've had it over 12 months and told Nissan I wanted to cancel and they sent me a letter saying I would owe them $2,462.92. It states Adjusted Lease Balance is $20,562.92 then says Less: Wholesale Market Value $18,100.00. Then they said they wanted the amount all up front which I cannot due and I'm going to have to turn the truck back into them before or on the 8th of this coming month since I no longer have the funds to pay it. Anyone have any recommendations? A friend at work said he worked at a dealership before and told me to tell them all I could do is make payments on the $2462.92 or tell them everytime they try to take me to court to just delay it, not sure how I do that.

kyfdx

Disposition fees aren't rare.. Most leases have them..

There is nothing you can do about it.. My guess is that they are standard on every Chrysler lease.

Live and learn.

regards,
kyfdx

kyfdx

You have a contract.. you want to break the contract.. If you can't afford to pay what you owe, then don't break the contract..

If you don't pay the money, you will basically have a repossession on your record..

If that happens, your credit rating is headed south in a hurry.

Delaying tactics will just brand you as a deadbeat debtor..

The good news? If you can get out of this lease by only paying $2500, you are in better shape than most.. Maybe ask your mother for a loan?

regards,
kyfdx

ctroxtell21

Unfortunantly I can't, I borrowed $3000 from my bank to buy a motorcycle. So a bike was my best option on saving money to get back in college. $379 a month for a truck payment and $200 a month insurance along with all my other bills is getting me no where and I have to get back into college..What will happen if I can't pay this pocket change as Nissan would call it to them? My friend said they would probably opt to let me pay it out in payments rather then to not get any money but if need be how would I keep delaying it as my friend speaks of. Because I would like to keep my nice 700+ credit score that I last seen, but my education is more important then working just to pay my truck payment. So if they won't allow me to make payments then I'll have to wave bye bye to my credit score.

rroyce10

... ** My friend said they would probably opt to let me pay it out in payments rather then to not get any money**..

Aaah, nothing like a good friend telling you how it's done when his credit is not in danger ..

They "might" do it that way .. if so, it will show as a "charge-off" and repo .. and it will show it that way until it's paid off - and then it will show as: "charge-off paid", maybe .... I certainly understand the education thing, but you might have thought about that before the $379 car payment .... I know I know, the dealer held you down and pushed M&M's into your nose until you signed ...........



Sincerely, I hope things work out and good luck at school ..



Terry

danf1

First of all, I recommend leasing when you are upside down. If you can keep the lease for the term your inequity will be gone and you start over at 0. That is exactly why you don't put down large sums of money on a lease.

A good trick to keep your miles low is to not drive too much. Get a $500 beater car and use it sometimes maybe.

It sounds like you would have to pay for the dent, but some small scratches normally won't hurt you too badly. Of course, what a lender will look at in three years is questionable so be careful.

As far as adding equipment, make sure you don't damage the vehicle doing it and when you turn it in put the factory stuff back in. I'd avoid the diamond plate, but the stereo is an easy swap.

theotherbear

Thanks, danf1. Fortunately, I have two other vehicles I can drive around town, both paid for. One needs a little work, but not much.

I guess I just have to accustom myself to the concept of spending good money on a truck that I'm simultaneously trying NOT to drive.

rroyce10

.. **Get a $500 beater car and use it sometimes maybe** ....

The problem is trying to find a $500 beater that won't cost you $2,000 ............

Terry.

jb_turner

To look at this simply:

1. Pay the 2462.92.
2. Let it get repod and take a BIG hit on your credit.
3. If you delay you will need to hire an attorney (more money).
4. Borrow money from Mother.
5. Sell your bike and get a scooter!
6. I am glad I am not you!

ctroxtell21

Well I don't have $2,462.92, my mom don't have that kind of money either. Selling the bike is not an option for I am not going to ride a scooter everywhere. Damned stealerships.

Kirstie_H

OK, before this gets into a flame war, I'm going to address your comment from a neutral standpoint:
Stealerships???

I'm afraid that none of this is the dealership's fault, and they haven't done anything to you. YOU signed a contract, and now you would like to breach that contract. Thus, you must pay the penalties associated with said breach, penalties to which you agreed when signing the contract.

Pointing fingers at others in this case won't help you. Some of our members who tried to help you by showing you all of the options are dealers and probably don't appreciate your negative comment.

trneal276

I have to say, I agree with kirstie. You can be upset and angry with the dealership and salesman and F&I manager, but at the end of the day, it is up to you to do your own homework. They are just doing their job, trying to make as much as they can. I recently signed a new lease which I now realize, I am overpaying about 60-75 per month. The money is not the issue. The issue is the fact that I did not do enough homework. Sure I was upset with the salesman, but life goes on. The most you can do is not go back to the same dealerhip. If you or I were a salesman, we would try to take advantage where we can. Salespeople do because they have to make quotas to keep a job. Attorneys have to get a certain # of billable hours per month inorder to keep their job. It is a fact of life. Good luck with school as well.

You could also try to put your car on swapalease.com

ctroxtell21

Well the stealership comment should of been noted I meant the Nissan dealership in my area. They are bad about lying about cars being not wrecked and more. I do appreciate all the information I've got from everyone. Just wish that Nissan didn't think I could pull $2462 out of my pocket all at once. I don't see why they think they need their money all at once, not like they are going to go broke, I'd be more then willing to pay the $2462 in payments but all at once is something I can't do.

comac12

Am going through the same problem with honda. I was trying to do an exchange for a VW Passat, when i thought i only had about 11 paymets due of 450 a month, that equals to about 5,000 something. Anyways the bank told that i still owed 14,500 for the car i mean its outrage's to know that your finish paying a 24K car plus a balloon payment at the end of 10K dollors. I dont know what to do. Honda never told me that i was going through a balloon payment option. Honda is very missleading. I need help. Should i keep the car and pay my car plus $10K.

ljwalters1

There's really no trick to avoid going overmileage. You eaither don't drive the car more than the miles allotted or you do. I've heard you can negotiate buying mor miles later, but don't know if that's true. I don't know if I'd trust a salesman giving me an answer to that onthe day of purchase. Maybe call the lease company beforehand?

Regarding gettting out of your lease, I don't think swapalease programs will work to get you out of a bad lease - remember, there needs to be a consumer willing to take that lease over. If you got a bad deal, there'd need to be a reason for someone else to take it on (great features included, undermileage, ignorant participant...).

jono2

Can anyone tell me the advantages/disadvantages between leasing through the dealer or from one of these leaseing companies? It seems like the leasing company is offering a much better deal. I'm looking at a 2005 lexus rx330 and the leaseoutlet.com is offering 36 month, 12k miles $0 down, $0 drive off for $389 a month. As the saying goes if it seems to good to be true it probably is, but I was just wondering if anyone has had experience with this type of lease company.

ljwalters1

I think at least part of the reason private lease companies offer you a better deal is that they have to. Otherwise, you'll go through the dealer b/c of the convenience factor.

jono2

Thanks for your response, but what's really the "convenience factor"? The company will fed ex me the docs to sign and deliver the car to my home or office. I'd still be going to the dealer for any maintanence or service, so what is the dealer really giving me?

rroyce10

........ Good question ...

97% of the time, dealers will have the better deal .... leasing companies purchase their vehicles from dealers and/or the local auctions .. most of the lease companies can't offer the lease support like rate and residual -- they kinda end up being the middleman ......

Terry.

jj23

I had an awful experience with my Audi A4 throughout the entire lease. It was at the dealer 10 times for problems and that didn't include regular maintenance. I now have settlement invoice for the mileage I was over - is there ANY chance that I can dispute the final bill and perhaps not have to pay the entire amount? Do they compensate you at all for a terrible experience? :mad:

crj1

Not a chance.. I work For VW credit/ Audi financial and they will not waive that fee.

jj23

I don't exepct them to waive it entirely, but do they not compensate in any way?

crj1

No they do not..Contact Audi of america 1-800-822-2834 they may help you.

crookster

I currently have a 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee Limited. I need to get out of it for a bigger car. I went to a Lincoln dealership for a Navigator (fully loaded) and with the numbers I would pay 800 a month but if I didnt have the jeep I would pay 300 a month. Would it be easier to transfer my lease to a durango? For my Jeep I pay 525(39 months 24 left). Thank You

fish8

I know it would be very expensive to get out of your Jeep Lease. But, a loaded Navigator would not cost $300 per month on a lease (unless you were putting down a substantial amount of money). I would guess a loaded Nav would go for over $500 per month.

crookster

i was going to put down 13000

fish8

You were putting down $13,000 on a lease? :surprise:

crookster

Yeah because I thought that I would buy this one.

ljwalters1

Did you look at whether you'd be better off financing a purchase now with $13k down, rather than after a lease?

crookster

i wanted to get the car paid off faster.

ljwalters1

usually you'll pay off a car quicker by financing immediately, rather than leasing and then purchasing. At the end of your lease, you'll own 0% of the car. Sure, the car will be worth less, but you'll have paid for that depreciation without developing any ownership of the vehicle. In other words, the car is worth the same at the end of year 3 regardless of whether it's a lease or fincanced, but you own some percentage of the vehicle if it's financed, as opposed to owning none of it at the end of a lease.

superman5

Hello all, i am leasing my car through Chase, my lease is about to end in 6 months. I was wondering , my car came with bridgestone tires but I replaced them w/ yokohamas, of course i dont have the bridgestones anymore because they were worn out (they were z rated and lasted only 14k)

Now the yokohamas are still in good condition , they have at least another 20,000 miles on them and nowhere near worn out condition, do i still have to return the car w/ thebridgestone tires, same make/model/type ?if not how will i be charged,full retail price. etc? pls help. thank you advance

p.s. My allowed mileage is 60k, i am estimating by the time for return, my mileage will be somewhere around 57k or 58k, will I be compensated for miles under allowed amount? what if i am at near 60k somehow, or over 60k, i know 60k major service is due, is that something i need to do before i return it? if i dont, will be charged for that also?

ljwalters1

I'll try to answer your questions, but know that your contract will ultimately control.

"do i still have to return the car w/ the bridgestone tires, same make/model/type"
No, but your 4 tires must match and be the same type, size wise, that the car came with. I leased a car that came with all-seasons & after they wore out, I replaced them with tires specifically for rain (i.e. you could rotate front-to-back, but not side-to-side). There was no problem or penalty assessed.

"will I be compensated for miles under allowed amount?" No.

" what if i am ... over 60k, i know 60k major service is due, is that something i need to do before i return it?" That's a great question, and I'm not positive of the answer, but I suspect you don't need to perform the service. The reason to perform the regular services (aside from keeping the car running) is to not void any warranties. If I were you, I probably wouldn't perform the service. Just thinking it through, I think you'd be OK if you never performed any service (even oil changes) on the car as long as it was returned in good condition. I've leased several times, and they never requested proof of services performed.

khanam

I leased a 2004 Acura TL in 1/04 for 367 a month for 3yrs/36k (using a trade). Job moved to further away from residence and I am already at 26k miles to date. If I run into the 36k limit say by Dec 05 and want to terminate the lease early, how much will I owe them? Will I get any break or will I have to fork over 367 times whatever no. of months remain? Should have bought the damn car but back then did not think i would need it for commuting so much.

ljwalters1

I'm pretty sure that terminating early will result in a charge of $367 x mos left. It may be different if you buy the car now. At worst, the sale price would be the purchase value at the end of the term + $367 x mos left. If you're confident that you'll go over mileage, I suggest trying to buy additional mileage from the lease company now. I don't know if they'll do it, but I heard some do - like they'll charge you $0.08/mi if you add 3k mi/yr now, as opposed to being charged $0.15/mi when you turn in the car.

superman5

thank you for your reply, greatly appreciated!!!

rroyce10

............. This is the part were most folks get a little confused ...

When you lease a vehicle, you lease the whole deal - meaning: your pay-off is going to be any remaining payments, minus any future interest **Plus"** the residual ...... it doesn't work much different than any other vehicle you might finance through your local lender .. depending on the lease co. you probably won't be getting any break, it's a contract and they would rather see you drive the remaining months ..............

Terry.

khanam

Thanks very much LJ for the feedback. Will try this route. Hopefully this will be better for me.

khanam

Terry,
Appreciate your feedback. I will also explore buying the car and selling it outright besides trying to get more miles for the car at a cheaper rate. Hopefully it will work out better for me in that way.

ethinker

I am currently considering buying a lease from someone and wondering what is the typical practice with that sort of transaction. Say if the car has 30 months at $400.00/month left on the lease, what should I offer to take over that lease. Should I say I would pay 300/month. This would mean that the previous lease would have to pay $3000 to get out of the lease.
Is this how it would work?
And
What would be a fair offer for something of this nature, is there a formula for this sort of thing?

Thanks for all of your input!

ljwalters1

I don't know that there's enough of a "market" to say what is common or not. Here's what I'd do:

1. Find out what lease deal you can get on a new version of the car (preferably a 30 month lease so you can compare apples to apples - you'll probably have to base it on a 24 or 36 mo lease);
2. Go to lease exchange sites like leasetrader.com to see what used leases are being offered;
3. Find out how much it would cost to buy the car you want to lease from a used car dealer and lease it through a private lease company.

After doing these things, I think you'll know what the "market value" is. Keep in mind that some car leases charge a transfer fee. You'd pay that unless you negotiate otherwise with the seller. Lastly, keep in mind that if the lease you take over is over-mileage or there's car damage, you'll be responsible at lease-end.

ethinker

Thank you for your input and letting me know where to start in this confusing world or car finance...

Thanks Again

jpotter1

My husband and I just leased an Xterra and I'm reviewing the lease closer and I noticed a rent charge of $3,294. Is this a common charge or did the dealership F&I guy slip one past us? He didn't explain the lease to us very well, kept my husband preoccupied with questions about his job.

If this is not a normal charge do we have any recoarse?

Thanks for your help.

kyfdx

Lease payment consists of three parts...

1) Depreciation

2) Finance Charge aka interest aka rent charge

3) Tax

jpotter1

Is there an easy way to determine what the interest charge is if it's not on the lease agreement? Depreciation was 10182 and total interest is 3294.

kyfdx

Not really... You need the money factor, which is probably not on your paper work..

The formula for total rent charge is:

(Cap cost + residual) X money factor = monthly rent charge

Monthly rent charge X term of lease = total rent charge

Your rent charge doesn't seem too far off of a normal lease... What kind of car was it, and what was the MSRP?

regards,
kyfdx

bronsonb

I am leasing a 2003 VW Passat GLS wagon and have been very happy with the car and the leasing experience overall. No complaints about payments at all, and so far I am running under the allotted miles per year. My question is for anyone who has experience with returning a VW at the end of the lease. Does VW do a "pre-lease return assessment" for you if you ask (so you can determine what they are going to ding you for in the way of dings, etc?).

As part of my lease deal, I got the dealer to throw in the wear & tear protection agreement at no additional charge. It covers up to $2500 for excessive wear and tear after a $100 deductible. I am hoping that the $2500 will cover the two dings I have on the car. Also, the windshield was chipped, and although it was "repaired", the chip can still be seen, so I assume that would be a ding as well.

Has anyone had experience with returning a lease to VW? If so, can you comment on the process?

I might consider buying the car at the end of the lease, but we might go the minivan route instead. And regarding buying at the end of the lease (ends next year), does VW offer buyouts below the residual value? My feeling is that the actual value of the car will likely be less than the residual value. The residual value is $12K. My feeling is that with the new 2006 Passat coming out this year, the "old style" ones will probably be worth less than the stated residual value. Just curious if VW might make me a deal to avoid taking the car back.

Thanks for whatever help you can provide.

michaellno

Yep, we leased a VW New Beetle back in '98 .. when the lease was up, we had it "inspected" by a 3rd party agency that VW Credit uses. They detail all the charges that you will have at the end of the lease. They are pretty thorough when they review the car, measuring dings and scratches, reviewing the service history paperwork, checking tire wear, etc. I don't think they missed anything, and, IIRC, there were a few things I didn't expect to see, but they pointed it all out so it wasn't a shock.

We ended up buying ours (as you are considering) --- VW Credit shaved just a bit off the residual value and threw in an extended warranty to sweeten the deal, plus got us a pretty decent finance rate to buy it.

jackstraw1

I'm due to turn in a '01 S40 in the next two weeks - A couple questions:

1. What constitutes regularly scheduled maintainance - the guide book or the dealer's recommendation? I'm at 63K but I haven't done the 60K service as of yet and would love to avoid it. My maintainence schedule got screwed up because I had to replace a oil seal at 58K which meant they changed the oil. Can I turn it in with all the receipts for previous service and say the service light hasn't come on yet for the 60K?

2. Anyone have any experience with Volvo's inspection company or ending a lease with them? I have a couple of paint chips and dings - Should I try touching them up on my own and hopefully they (independent reviewers) miss them or just wait and see what they say and deal with fixing it after inspection and prior to dealer dropoff?

Thanks for the help and sorry for the multiple questions.

ljwalters1

I returned my leased '01 Passat a few mos. ago. Like michaell, they sent an inspector out beforehand (I got a letter with a phone # to call and schedule it). This inspection is not an exclusive VW thing - all lease co.s do it. They looked at my car and noted scratches and stuff. These people are private contractors and can show you what damage they're writing up, but can't tell you what VW will charge for. Still, if there's something significant, you'll know in advance and can talk to VW about it.

I couldn't get any deal for my Passat. Nothing below residual, and not even a good finance rate! Your experience might be different with the new cars coming out...