Lease Termination Fees and other costs

saablcp

WHOOSH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The sound of the point I was making going completely over your head!

qbrozen

Didn't your mamma ever tell you to respect your elders?
Or how to express yourself in a clear and concise manner?
If you'd like to try again, I am listening. I am always willing to help someone who at least attempts to help him or herself.

If your "point" was to express that terminating a lease early when you are under miles is financially imprudent, its not much of a point at all.

saablcp

First off I have no idea what age you are,nor do you have any idea of my age, so please ..."can" the respect your elders angle! After re-reading my posts I find nothing disrespectful about them.Sorry if I offended you by expressing sarcastically that you did not see the point I was making.Perhaps the respect that is not being shown is toward the person who has been doing Auto leasing professionally for 24 years. End of discussion,please!

tidester

End of discussion,please!

Hear, hear!

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

qbrozen

WHAT discussion??

I'd still like to know what the "pro's" point was supposed to be. How can one end a discussion that never started?

Ok. Wait. Let me try to back up here and possibly answer any unanswered questions because I hate having an unresolved conversation.

Worth less because they made an improper market projection....no,thats why they buy residual value insurance. I don't understand your point.

Yes, it was worth less because they made an improper market projection. The residual value insurance protects them, not me. And that's fine. However, when terminating early, it is worth what it is worth.

What was your need or reasons for doing this apparently on both a Chrysler and a Honda lease?

On the Chrysler, as I believe I stated, we were at the mileage limit. We were going to pay the per mile fee, but happened upon a great deal on a replacement vehicle, so that was that.

As for the Honda, I had my own reasons for terminating early. None of which were financial or rational in any way. So, again, it has no bearing on the topic.

tidester

WHAT discussion??

That would be the discussion questioning age and respect neither of which have much to do with lease termination fees.

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

jazo82

Hi Everyone-

I have a questions about a leased vehicle I purchased in November of 2007 from Nissan Dealership. In my contract it states that I can end early termination after 12 payments (which is 1 year) I am just wondering if i would choose to do this would be a smart move. The car has only 7700 miles on it right now and there are no body damage or accident or anything else. And also, how much would i owe to pay after returning the vehicle? Please let me know.

Kirstie_H

Since we have no way of knowing the MSRP for this vehicle, the price you negotiated, your payments, or any other detail of the contract, the only way to get an accurate answer to your question is to call the finance company and ask. All we'd be doing is guessing.

jazo82

The MSRP on the Murano was $34,750 - 1500 cash back (special) =$33250 then negotiated below that price which turned out to be $28500 + tax = Final Price $31,700

The payments are $494.73 a months for 36 months and I had the vehicle for almost a year.

Right now I owe about $26,752 and the wholesale/market value of the vehicle is about $24,000. So I would assume to take the difference between wholesal/market value and deduct what I owe and this would be the difference to get out of the lease, in this case $$2752. I guess the smartest way to go is to keep the vehicle until the lease ends and then return or either buy depending how much it would be selling during that time on the market. Please advise.

knorgaard

Hi. We turned in our Honda Pilotlast month after a 36 month lease. We leased it form US Bank. They had Datascan come out to provide an inspection to note any excessive wear and tear the day before I turned it in. After the inspection we were informed that there was no excessive wear and tear (I have the report to confirm it). Yesterday I got a bill in the mail for $800.00 for excessive wear and tear. They do not list what the charges are for. Do we have to pay this????

volvomax

Did anything happen to the car after the inspection?
Is the $800 bill just excess wear, or does it include the disposition fee?

I would certainly call USB and ask for an explanation.

knorgaard

Nothing happened to the car. I talked to someone at US Bank and they charged us for the windshield (which we replaced) and they want a receipt for the repair. They also said some interior motor cover was missing but when I asked for more detail they didn't know what it was. DataScan never caught it and I never noticed any cover missing. I asked for a detailed list of charges. I have a feeling I'm in for a long battle with hem.

volvomax

Well, hopefully you have the reciept for the windshield.
Hang in there!

oliver15

I returned my leased Honda Odyssey in June 2007, and bought a new Odyssey.
Since I terminated the lease and did not have the leased vehicle on July 1, 2007, I do not owe property tax on the vehicle (WV tax code) this year.

Honda Finance sends a list of leased vehicles to the State. which then sends them tax bills for each vehicle. My vehicle was reported as still being leased onJuly 1, 2007, so Honda got a tax bill and paid it. Now they are trying to make me pay the bill. I have proven I did not have the vehicle, but they keep on trying.

Any advice?

kyfdx

Go to your local county clerk (or whoever handles property tax), and ask them to refund the tax to Honda Finance, as you were no longer leasing the car as of July 1st. Be prepared with documentation. If they agree, ask for copies of their documentation, so you can prove to Honda Finance that their charges have been refunded by the state.

It really is your responsibility to get it done. When you lease, there are multiple paragraphs where you agree to cover any charges to Honda Finance for your car, just as if you owned it.

Good luck!
kyfdx

bcroghan

In February, my Toyota Tundra Lease Expires. It is a four door, V-8 with leather. I'll have 36,000 miles on it, around 3,000 less than allowance. Its condition is good to excellent.

I have really enjoyed this truck, and I would keep it for the right deal. The payoff price is thousands higher than the used prices listed in Edmonds, suggesting I turn it in and buy a used one. Sounds strange.

Does Toyota deal? Do they extend leases? Do they provide special financing for the purchase? The leasing rep says I have to talk to the dealer. I will, but I'd love to have some suggestions first. Thank you.

Bernie

sebring95

They wouldn't deal with me last January on my Tundra. The market wasn't nearly as bad then but the buy-out was still favorable to them. I've heard they're insured against their lease residuals so they don't negotiate. The dealer said they could try to buy it back from the auction for me, but no guarantees. I knew mine was a good truck, well cared for and exactly the way I would want a used one.....so I just paid the slight premium. I dunno about paying a several thousand dollar premium....though.

j_kotrba

Me and my wife have a leased 06 Subaru Legacy in which she was recently involved in an accident. The other party involved was at fault and I have been working with his insurance company for repairs.

The insurance company has specified that they will be using non OEM as well as "recycled" parts. We were planning on returning the vehicle at the end of the lease term in March 2010.

I am concerned that we may have additional wear and tear charges billed to us when we do this (The lease agreement seems rather vague as to their wear and tear definitions). Has anyone else had to deal with a similar situation?

volvomax

The lease co can come after you if the car is not returned to its pre-accident condition.
Now, this is a little vague in and of itself.
The source of the parts really isn't an issue, unless to fit/finish of the parts is obviuosly substandard. If the acutal repair work is sloppy, then you can be liable for charges.
Personally, I'd get your ins co involved, or maybe a lawyer and try to make sure that the proper parts and techniques are used to return the car to the proper condition.

alejandrom

I just called Honda back because my lease was due up in January and decided to extend it month to month for up to 24 months.

I work in the car business and I wasn't aware that you could extend the lease for up to 24 months.

1100 miles a month and the monthly payment is the same: $258.

I'm going to stick with this for awhile so I don't have to be bothered about buying a new car.

volvomax

Actually, that kind of term IS unusual.

tidester

Actually, that kind of term IS unusual.

Perhaps that's due to the new economic realities?

tidester, host
SUVs and Smart Shopper

alejandrom

Perhaps that's due to the new economic realities?

It might be....

Why would Honda want the car back now?

Why not keep making money on it?

kyfdx

Honda Finance has been pretty good about extending leases at the same payment for some time now..

In times past, I wondered about the financial wisdom of that, but as noted above, the drop in used car prices makes it a no-brainer for them now.

volvomax

In times past, I wondered about the financial wisdom of that, but as noted above, the drop in used car prices makes it a no-brainer for them now.

All you are doing is postponing the inevitiable. if the car isn't worth the residual today, it won't be worth the residual 2 yrs from now.

sebring95

All you are doing is postponing the inevitiable. if the car isn't worth the residual today, it won't be worth the residual 2 yrs from now.

I wonder if they adjust the residual/buy-out if you extend? I don't see these being beneficial to the consumer, but certainly the fiance company depending on how they do the math IF there is a residual adjustment. If you're extending a lease, it's most likely post-36 months and the depreciation will be less than the first 36 months. But you're still paying the same payment on the higher depreciation.

kyfdx

In all of the extensions that I've encountered, the depreciation continues at the same straight-line rate that it had under the original term..

So, if the original lease had a $300 payment with $240 of depreciation each month, the extension will have the same $240/mo. of depreciation. On a two-year extension, the vehicle's residual would then be $5760 lower than the original residual.

It's a good deal for the bank in this environment. They continue to earn the same finance charge each month in the meantime, on a lower CAP.

Considering the way some lease payments have skyrocketed on some makes,recently, it may be a decent deal for the lessee, assuming they negotiated a good lease payment, originally.

regards,
kyfdx
visiting host

bleacher1

What about tire wear at the end of a lease? Any charges for that?

volvomax

Yes. If the tires are below min tread depth, usually 4/32's the lease co will bill you for new OEM tires.
You can either go w/ an off brand new tires, or a good set of used tires will acceptable tread depth.

houston_man

Greetings all,

Just wondering which one of the "third" parties to swap or transfer the lease you would recommend? I am basing my choice on prior success, fees, ease, etc. Thanks for any input.....

sebring95

I've used Swapalease about three times to assume other leases. I've never used any of their ancillary services or tried to sell a lease through them. The folks I assumed the leases from seemed happy with the service. They really just take your money and list your vehicle. Subscribers can then access your personal contact information and after that, swapalease doesn't seem to do anything else. The seller/buyer do all the footwork from there, although they may offer additional services. I've never used them for anything but contact info. The three leases I have assumed took about a month to complete the paperwork and get the vehicle.

Assuming you have a reasonable lease and/or are willing to pony up cash to the buyer you shouldn't have any trouble. If you have a four year old vehicle over the mileage limit with 20 payments of $500/month remaining and aren't offering a cash incentive...you might as well save the $50 listing fee because nobody will assume that nasty paper. The folks looking to assume leases are typically bargain hunters (myself included) looking to make out on someone else's misfortune so there aren't many suckers looking to assume someone else's bad dealings. I would also assume in this economy there is an abundance of folks trying to get out of leases and an abundance of folks who can't get approved to assume the lease. I'd say you better have a pretty sweet deal or again, save the $50 listing fee.

houston_man

Seabring95,

Thanks for your thoughts on this. Actually, I have a Toyota Highlander LTD on lease with 18K miles/year with about 16 months remaining. Plan is to offer it up with about 12 months left and throw in some sort of cash incentive. We'll see how things look towards the summer.....

houston_man

OK, so to take the thread a bit further. Suppose my 08 HL Ltd will have less than the allotted 54K miles at the end of the 3 year lease. My 'average' so far has been about 1100 miles/month. Based on your replies regarding cash incentive, what would you (or anyone else) say would be a fair cash incentive to offer with 12-14 months remaining on the lease to sweeten the pot....

sebring95

Well being under the mileage is a big plus, because you've essentially overpaid all along for the lease. The residual is obviously less than if you'd bought a 36k mile lease. I can't say what everyone looks at when shopping these lease assumptions. in speaking with others that have done it, it appears we're all bargain hunters. The math I usually look for is to take the residual, plus remaining payments, less cash incentive = total purchase price. Then I compare that to what I can buy the same vehicle for today. If the lease is considerably less, I look closer. I've assumed three leases and my goal was to assume the lease, buy it out at the end, and turn around and sell it to regain some of my cash outlay. That worked pretty good on the first two, one of which I essential drove for 18 months for free. The last one wasn't as good of a deal but I was about $2,000 ahead when I bought it out and decided to keep it. So that's what's going on in my head with these.

The other option I had considered assuming a lease was for my travel vehicle back when I was piling on a lot of miles. The goal was to buy a lease that had a lot of miles remaining with a cheap payment and then turn it at the end. You're on the right track as it sounds like you'll have about 20,000 miles remaining with 12 months to go. Now if you can get the cash adjusted payment to something sweet, there should be plenty of interested parties.

Very hard to throw a number on something like that but the vehicles that seem to fly off swapalease quickly tend to have cash adjusted payments in the neighborhood of $300-$400. So if you have a $500/month lease a $1,200-$2,000 incentive should make for an easy deal. Just guessing though, again I'm not sure how bad the lease assumption market had been hit in this economy.

houston_man

Re: Post#957

Thanks for the well thought out reply...............exactly what I was looking for. Fortunately, leases are a writeoff for me, but I can tell you from this experience that Toyota Highlander's do not lease well. Lesson learned on my part.....

sebring95

I won't go into my long list of loathing leases for the general public. I'm a CPA and even if you can write-off the payment, it's still very hard to make a good financial case for it. Taking all factors into consideration...present value of cash, investing saved capital, tax deduction, etc. I've generally found you have to be buying a vehicle worth over $40,000 to even come close. But that's for another discussion. Nothing SUV/Truckish leases well at the moment. Most are currently underwater so the folks like me don't have any good deals to pick from on the lease assumption front. Future lease deals are going to be slim and none as captive financing and banks have taken a beating on the current stock. Many are getting out of it completely and the one's that aren't are making sure they're not going to lose money in the future.

musthavemy350z

Hello,
This is my first post and I hope it doesnt sound stupid..well maybe it kind of is but anyway here is my question. I just leased a 2009 accord LXP from a local honda about a week ago. It has maybe 150 miles on it right now. I do not want this car anymore I have a nissan 350z I have been trying to get for 6 months but could not get the payment I was looking for. So of course 2 days after I lease a new Honda the Nissan guy calls and is ready to deal. My bad for not waiting more than 6 months but any advice on how to get out of this lease would be helpful. Should I try and sell the car to a private owner? Beg the dealer to take it back LOL I must have this car it is a sweet 350z nismo jet black awesome car! I wish I knew how to attach pics I would show you what I mean, oh and for more information this accord is the 9th car in a row my wife and I have leased from the same Honda dealer.
Thank you

sebring95

No need for pics.....the emotional part will not change the facts of the situation. It certainly wouldn't hurt to beg and plead at the dealer, that would probably be my first shot. Did you put anything down on the Accord lease? The other option is to see if you can find someone to assume the lease. However, I have heard (never confirmed) that Honda does not allow for lease transfers. That leaves selling as the final option, but I imagine that will be quite expensive. Someone is going to want a good deal sweetner to pickup a "used" Accord.

qbrozen

what sebring has heard is correct. Honda does not allow lease transfers UNLESS under special circumstances, such as death. And it would need to be proven.

You are stuck unless you want to cough up a large amount of dough, which would be much more expensive than if you had just gone with the higher payment to begin with.

nicos

Hi all,
I am going to turn in my C-class (2006) after the 36 month lease is up. There are some scratches here and there. How is their policy with paying for damage when turning in the car? How do I find out I have to pay for some damage? I would like to get my costs to a minimum, so if I can have it fixed (paint job or whatever) and save some instead of paying a lot after turning in, I would do it.

Hope you can help me out with these questions!
Thanks a lot.

volvomax

most lenders have pre-term inspections.
I'd call your lease co and find out if they do.
That way, you would know what your liability is prior to returning the car.

nicos

Good point, I will do just that.

Thanks for your help!

nbennett88

Here's the situation: I have a leased truck that is 50% through its lease but only has 1500 miles left on the lease. I need to return it instead of it sitting around for a year and a half. The payoff is around $4000 if I return it before March 19th.

My question is this: If I return it, do I have to make the $4000 payment in one lump sum or can it be paid monthly? Anyone have any idea?

volvomax

Lump sum.

nrechtman

The lease on my 2006 Lexus RX 330 is ending in a few days, as we all know the prospect of leasing another vehicle without paying hundreds more a month is going to be slim, I am already 2000 miles over my limit but have been driving less each month since I changed jobs.

I've been trying to get into another similar vehicle but the dealers aren't dealing and I don't want to go into a 2009 when the 2010's are here now. So here are my choices, extend the lease for up to 6 months, I get 1250 miles per month since I had a 3 year, 15,000 miles per year lease and hope the dealers want to deal on the 2010 RX then, or buy the car now for $23,900, or even buy it in 6 months when my extension is up if nothing turns around in the leasing business for $21,000

volvomax

I think the days of cheap leases are pretty much over.
Dealers may not have the ability to "deal" on a new car.
Plus, Lexus dealers generally don't give away a new model anyhow.
They don't need to.
I'd look at other brands and see what's out there.
If you really must have a Lexus, it might not be a bad idea to extend your lease and see what happens in the future.

kyfdx

I agree with volvomax.. extending your lease for six months is a good option, especially if you have a low lease payment, and you may use less than the new allowance, saving on overage charges...

But, isn't your warranty over at 50K miles? You'll be driving without a warranty for the last 3 months.... Also, do you have tires that might wear out between now and then? An extra $800 for tires would make that extension pretty pricy..

If you take the extension, can you end it at any time? If so, you might find something else before you get out of warranty.

Take everything into account... you might find that getting something else will be better in the long run (though I can't think of any great lease deals on crossovers, right now).

regards,
kyfdx

greeneyespsu

Not sure if it's too late (i.e. your lease already ended) but a friend of mine was also leasing an RX330 and had a few months left on her lease. Lexus called her up and offered her a great deal on the 2009 RX350 since the 2010 is totally redone and out now. She had $0 and pays about $525 per month (incl. taxes) for 36 months and 15k miles, also including tire plan and 2 years of maintenance. Not sure what all options her RX350 has but I know it has Navi cause I drove it the other day. Good luck!

psumommyof2

Some quick background – my early years were spent making bad car decision after bad car decision. I would buy and then trade and be always upside down with payments, etc. Never a good thing and all this came to a screech, when I made another not so great deal back in October of 2006 when I leased a 2007 Honda Odyssey. I signed papers that I’m not even sure without pulling them out what the residual value is (heck, I had no idea what that even meant back then). I’ve got 7 payments remaining (at the tune of $528). Since this is my first lease, I have no idea what to with the end of lease approaching. I was thinking that I could just hand in the keys and buy something new (I’m not interested in leasing anymore, I want to buy a vehicle that will suit me and my 2 kids for many many years to come), but then I read posts and articles that more people seem to buy out their lease, but I’m so bad with negotiating and I feel car salespeople and others just talk circles around me and leave me more confused, I know numbers such as what my payoff amount and the residual value might help so that I can be helped, but I don’t have that information with me right now.

The van is in great condition, I will probably be a tad overmileage, but I’m wondering at what point can I start working to end this lease and get into something new, do I have to wait till October, can I start sooner.

qbrozen

You don't have to wait until October, but you shouldn't start now, given your history of trading too soon. You might get anxious and wind up rolling remaining payments into another vehicle.

As far as I am aware, Honda does not negotiate residuals. So if you are not happy buying the van for the residual found on your contract, you will have to turn it in and walk away after paying for the excess miles. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably start shopping for a replacement in August to give myself plenty of time to find the vehicle I really want before my current lease expires.