General leasing question (get out of lease early)

spartan85

Is it ever a smart idea to get out of a lease early to take advantage of holiday or special pricing or incentives if you still owe a couple of thousand on your lease? I am looking at a GS now and am coming out of an IS 350 lease. No pull ahead was offered yet and not sure if it will be.

Michaell

spartan85 said:

Is it ever a smart idea to get out of a lease early to take advantage of holiday or special pricing or incentives if you still owe a couple of thousand on your lease? I am looking at a GS now and am coming out of an IS 350 lease. No pull ahead was offered yet and not sure if it will be.

You can exit a lease early just like you would with traditional financing.

Get the payoff value of your IS from Lexus Financial (or whatever bank you are using). Then, determine the trade in value of your car using various websites or going to the "Real World Trade in Values" discussion here on the Edmunds forums.

You can determine if you have positive or negative equity, which will give you the knowledge to strike your best deal.

How many months are left?

You want to be careful when the dealer says "we'll take care of your remaining payments" - often that means that they'll roll them over into your new lease, costing you lots of money.

Deal with your existing lease like a trade, and you shouldn't be surprised.

isellhondas

You are responsible for the remaining five payments and unless you have WAY low miles, it's pretty doubtful you'll have any positive equity.

spartan85

Thank you, I have 5 remaining payments of $495 each. No, I don't want any negative equity rolled into a new lease. I'll check the value to payoff as you suggested.

spartan85

I do have low miles, not way low, but you are right I do not have any equity. The question is if someone is offering holiday lease cash that would absorb or more than absorb what I owe, at what point is it worth considering?

kyfdx

spartan85 said:

I do have low miles, not way low, but you are right I do not have any equity. The question is if someone is offering holiday lease cash that would absorb or more than absorb what I owe, at what point is it worth considering?

That's cash you would get anyway.... so, your loss on your current car is still the same.

spartan85

True. So you are saying better to ride out my lease and start with a clean slate even if no extra cash or not as high an amount is being offered by manufacturers down the road?

kyfdx

spartan85 said:

True. So you are saying better to ride out my lease and start with a clean slate even if no extra cash or not as high an amount is being offered by manufacturers down the road?

Exactly..