OT: Getting Out Of A Car Lease

[T-Bone]

I inquired about this a while back, but now we're finally doing it

http://forums.melodicrock.com/phpBB/vie ... hp?t=31411

My wife ended up driving ALOT more than she thought she would since we had switched Daycare providers a while back, She's now within 1000 miles of her lease agreement on her Pontiac G6, but still has 17 months to go. At $327.XX a month, that's appx $5565. She looked into it and GMAC wants 25 cents a mile OVER on her lease agreement, so she didn't want to do that either. We decided to ditch the G6 and after the last time trying to deal with our dealership here in town, we just called GMAC instead.

The first girl she talked to started off nice, but got rather demanding as the conversation progressed about Lisa turning in the car. Lisa explained to her that she was trying to be responsible by calling and making a financial decision. By turning in the car early, they'd get more money for it rather than waiting another 1.5 years and letting it depreciate and the mileage increase. She also knew she'd be responsible for the remainder of the balance, which she was fine with.

The girl was trying every conceivable way of getting Lisa to keep the car. Everything from adding mileage, redoing the contract and a shitload of other options. The girl went into C**t mode after Lisa cut her off and said "I'm turning in the car... What are you NOT understanding here?" She got snotty and Lisa hung up on her. We called back to GMAC about 15 minutes later, and got a different guy who was rather nice and informative. He mentioned turning it in the dealership and them auctioning it and paying the difference, which the first girl never even mentioned. We're meeting with a DIFFERENT lease guy at the local dealership tomorrow to see what our options are. He's a friend of mine, so I'll get much better results than the last guy we tried to deal with.




Last weekend, I spotted 3-4 nice used cars in the $3000 range. and ended up grabbing a very CLEAN 2002 Impala for $3000. It's a nice car and very well taken care of. Runs great, rides great and has all the power options. All I had to do was replace the front rotors and put 2 new back tires on it. Insurance on this is only $46 a month for full and $25 a month liability. Lisa is paying $67 a month on the G6.

We're just not sure what to do now...

The Impala is paid for already, SO...

1. We can either keep paying the lease on the G6, and just let it sit in the driveway with COMP insurance on it and use it as a backup only (Her credit won't take a hit this way)

2. Turn it in to the dealership, and her credit will take a hit. They'll sell it on a dealers auction and she'll be responsible for the difference, which would possibly be LESS $$$ a month than she's paying now, until the lease term is up.

3. Look into buying a block of miles for the G6 so she stays within the agreement and keep it until the lease is up, and her credit won't take a hit. I'll either resell the Impala, or possibly keep it as a backup and only put liability on it.

4. Take Deano's suggestion and find the nearest train tracks


With the financial crunch hitting like it is, you'd think they'd be a little more understanding that some people just can't afford to keep their leased cars. Luckily, we actually CAN afford to keep it, but we want to save extra money each month for other things and the new car is just not needed, especially now that our new daycare is only 3 blocks away from the house, and lisa's total mileage between work and home with the daycare is about 4-5 miles. The Impala will work fine for that. I'd sell my Trailblazer, but I'd lose my ass on it, so that's not an option. Decisions, Decisions, Decisions........

[stevew2]

Total it, try to let somebody rearend your ass, and take the insurance money,or swreave to hit a deer, and file a Comp. claim

[T-Bone]

On the down side, many cars need to be over 70% damaged to be considered totaled these days... With my luck, I'd get 69% and have to pay the $500 deductable and also be stuck with higher insurance because of it...

[Rick]

On the down side, many cars need to be over 70% damaged to be considered totaled these days... With my luck, I'd get 69% and have to pay the $500 deductable and also be stuck with higher insurance because of it...

Stevew2's a great guy, but DO NOT listen to him for God sake.

[stevew2]

On the down side, many cars need to be over 70% damaged to be considered totaled these days... With my luck, I'd get 69% and have to pay the $500 deductable and also be stuck with higher insurance because of it...

Stevew2's a great guy, but DO NOT listen to him for God sake.

i know my shit when it comes to insurance, let somebody hit your ass, they try to do it evey day,that will pay off your car, and you can come to Maryland and take a vacation,and come by and get fucked up with me.

[The Sushi Hunter]

On the down side, many cars need to be over 70% damaged to be considered totaled these days... With my luck, I'd get 69% and have to pay the $500 deductable and also be stuck with higher insurance because of it...

70% shouldn't be hard to establish with the way the cars are made these days. Most times if the airbag is deployed, the car is totaled cause first off, that will most likely be a lot of damage to the front end, but also airbags tend to crack the windshield and mess up a bunch of other stuff inside the car like rear view mirror and dash board components where the airbags are installed when deployed. They build cars pretty much disposable these days. Only down side is it will mess up your insurance rates if it's totalled.

[T-Bone]

Bah.... We're looking into LEGAL and decent ways to get rid of this car, or stay within the mileage.

[SherriBerry]

With the economy the way it is, I would really be careful about doing anything that could negatively impact your credit. If you need to refinance a mortgage or take out a loan in the next few years, you may have a problem depending on how many points you lose on your credit rating for cancelling a lease. Have you spoken to a loan officer at your bank to get some professional advice?

[Ratgirl]

We leased a vehicle once and will never do it again.

We decided about 2 1/2 or so years into it (on a 5 yr lease) we wanted to get rid of it. We ended up turning it in to the dealership and let it go to auction.
We ended up paying approx. $5K out of pocket. IMO it was easier to just do that than to hold on to it and keep making payments and maintaining it.

Goodluck on your outcome, maybe you'll have better luck than we did. We were kinda young then and thought we would keep the car a long time.

[Behshad]

Do NOT let them talk you into taking it to auction and charging you for the difference, as they will screw you over BIG time. Trust me I work with auto leases and auctions every day.

If youre gonna pay the actual remainder of the payments and keep insurance on it, you might as well have her drive it and put less miles on the Impala that is you own.



Ratgirl,
I dont know what makes people to get into a FIVE year lease,,,, the whole point of leasing is to have a lower payment and newer vehicle more often.
If youre gonna have lease payments for FIVE full years you might as well BUY it.

Leasing isnt for everyone. Those of you who wanna keep a vehicle for 5-10 years, know that leasing is not an option!

I have been in the leasing market for 5 years now and it has worked out for me great. However with the current market, Chrysler and GM are completely out of leasing , and Ford/Lincoln/Mercury is slowly taking the leasing away.

The Best lease I ever had was on my 2006 Lincoln Mark LT Truck (sticker on it was $49.000) , I got to drive that nice truck for $300/m for 2 years and turned it in 2 years later when it had depreciated to about $19000! Thats one of the reasons auto makers starting to get out of leasing .....

[Behshad]

Leasing is fleecing...Never..repeat..NEVER lease a car or truck. NEVER!

A fleece is like buying a Fivebucks coffee....you've been ripped off.

Never buy a car with more than a 3 year note. If you can't afford a 3 year term you cannot afford the car.

The Impala was your best move so far.

I dont think you paid attention to what I said.

#1. 90% of the people who purchase a vehicle finance it for AT LEAST 5 years. These days 6 year loans are becoming more common and there are some lenders that go up to NINE years for a loan. Thats sick.

#2 Not all people buy and keep a vehicle and keep it till the wheels fall of. If someone even BUYS a vehicle on a 6 year loan. when 3 years down the road they want something new, they take a HUGE hit when they trade that vehicle in. When and leasing was an option, that wouldve been prevented.

#3 some people say , leasing is like renting a house versus buying a house. Not completely true. if you lease a $30000 vehicle,,,after 3 years lease, you can basically buy that vehicle for about $15000 , half the value of the car. Now show me where you can rent a house and then after 5 years tell the land lord "OK, now that Ive paid you X amount of $ for the rent, here is the 2nd half so I can buy the house from you".... With leasing a car, all your payments COUNT towards the buy out of the vehicle, BUT should the need arise at end of the lease to go to another vehicle, you dont have to worry about a huge depreciation hit

# A car is NOT an investment . Its depreciates , so even if you OWN the car, its going down in value daily.... leasing(when it was good), would take that away from you and let the auto maker take the big hit at the end of the lease...... As an example,,, back in 05, Chryslyer was leasing out their $32000 Pacifica's for $99/ month, with $2000 down, for $24 months,,, you do the math and Chrysler would get around $5000 from the customer on that lease,,, when they would take that same car to the auction 2 years later and it brought $15000, this means a $12000 loss for the automaker,,, hence the situation theyre in now and why they dont lease anymore.... thats just ONE example....


So once again, Leasing isnt for everyone... but it has worked great for me and my wife,,, as we get in a new car every 2-3 years and we always have a lower payment than buying it and we have no worries about negative equity.

Face it, most people dont keep their vehicle till its paid off. and out of those who DO keep them till its fully paid of, about 1/2 of them go right to the dealership the day they make the final payment, to look for a new car..... its safe to say that 75% of the drivers in this country always have a car payment.

[stevew2]

Leasing is fleecing...Never..repeat..NEVER lease a car or truck. NEVER!

A fleece is like buying a Fivebucks coffee....you've been ripped off.

Never buy a car with more than a 3 year note. If you can't afford a 3 year term you cannot afford the car.

The Impala was your best move so far.

Just stay away from one of these

[The Sushi Hunter]

A friend of mine was explaining to me why leasing a car was supposed to be so good vs outright buying it. Mentioned was the "getting a new car every two or so years, depending on the lease period" argument. But what my friend also mentioned was how you can lease a new car, take great care of it as if it's your own, so basically your the original "owner" and then when the time comes to give it back, the dealership will actually sell it to you very cheap, so you basically save maybe between 1/3 and 1/4 the amount you would have vs if you just purchased it outright from the start.

Also it's true that the vast majority of autos will only go down in value. But there are also instances of cars actually going up in value, as the example in the late 60's, early 70's, dealerships were basically giving away Dodge Daytonas and Plymouth Roadrunners cause those cars just weren't selling. At that time you could actually pick one of those cars up new off the dealership lot for around $1,500.00. These same cars are now being sold for unbelievable prices. Depending on originality and condition, these cars sell for anywhere between $50K to over $100K.

[Behshad]

A friend of mine was explaining to me why leasing a car was supposed to be so good vs outright buying it. Mentioned was the "getting a new car every two or so years, depending on the lease period" argument. But what my friend also mentioned was how you can lease a new car, take great care of it as if it's your own, so basically your the original "owner" and then when the time comes to give it back, the dealership will actually sell it to you very cheap, so you basically save maybe between 1/3 and 1/4 the amount you would have vs if you just purchased it outright from the start.

Also it's true that the vast majority of autos will only go down in value. But there are also instances of cars actually going up in value, as the example in the late 60's, early 70's, dealerships were basically giving away Dodge Daytonas and Plymouth Roadrunners cause those cars just weren't selling. At that time you could actually pick one of those cars up new off the dealership lot for around $1,500.00. These same cars are now being sold for unbelievable prices. Depending on originality and condition, these cars sell for anywhere between $50K to over $100K.

That was then.... $1500 back then WAS like $50K is today ,,,
Also, I can guarantee you that if you'd buy a corvette or shelby for $60.000 today and dont even touch it for the next 30 years, no way in hell you'd get $500.000 for it then,,,,,,and EVEN if you would get that much, 30 years from now $500.000 is like $60K is today ..... so not much of an investment

[T-Bone]

Well..................


Lisa called the dealership lease guy today..............

For the last 4-5 months, she's been bugging me about getting close on her mileage allowance in the lease... So I "assumed" she had done her homework and looked everything up. After talking to Jeff today, she finds out that she isn't within 1000 miles of the agreement at all. The lease agreement was for 39 months and she still has appx 16,000 miles to work with...

I'm a little ticked right now The money we spent on the Impala could have EASILY been used to pay off some bills rather than buy another car. She knows I'm a little pissed... I knew I should have looked into it to make sure, but I "assumed" she had already done that...

Looking into a Lease trade type website now...

http://www.swapalease.com/

http://www.leasetrader.com/

http://www.leasetrade.com/

[Behshad]

Well..................


Lisa called the dealership lease guy today..............

For the last 4-5 months, she's been bugging me about getting close on her mileage allowance in the lease... So I "assumed" she had done her homework and looked everything up. After talking to Jeff today, she finds out that she isn't within 1000 miles of the agreement at all. The lease agreement was for 39 months and she still has appx 16,000 miles to work with...

I'm a little ticked right now The money we spent on the Impala could have EASILY been used to pay off some bills rather than buy another car. She knows I'm a little pissed... I knew I should have looked into it to make sure, but I "assumed" she had already done that...

Looking into a Lease trade type website now...

http://www.swapalease.com/

http://www.leasetrader.com/

http://www.leasetrade.com/

Just be very very careful dealing with any of those sites and read the fine prints carefully and pay attention more than Lisa.

Also, who is Lisa!???

[S2M]

Well..................


Lisa called the dealership lease guy today..............

For the last 4-5 months, she's been bugging me about getting close on her mileage allowance in the lease... So I "assumed" she had done her homework and looked everything up. After talking to Jeff today, she finds out that she isn't within 1000 miles of the agreement at all. The lease agreement was for 39 months and she still has appx 16,000 miles to work with...

I'm a little ticked right now The money we spent on the Impala could have EASILY been used to pay off some bills rather than buy another car. She knows I'm a little pissed... I knew I should have looked into it to make sure, but I "assumed" she had already done that...

Looking into a Lease trade type website now...

http://www.swapalease.com/

http://www.leasetrader.com/

http://www.leasetrade.com/

Just be very very careful dealing with any of those sites and read the fine prints carefully and pay attention more than Lisa.

Also, who is Lisa!???

Dude, you change your avatar more often than Madsplash changes the batteries in his gaydar....

[T-Bone]

Lisa is my wife...

[Behshad]

Well..................


Lisa called the dealership lease guy today..............

For the last 4-5 months, she's been bugging me about getting close on her mileage allowance in the lease... So I "assumed" she had done her homework and looked everything up. After talking to Jeff today, she finds out that she isn't within 1000 miles of the agreement at all. The lease agreement was for 39 months and she still has appx 16,000 miles to work with...

I'm a little ticked right now The money we spent on the Impala could have EASILY been used to pay off some bills rather than buy another car. She knows I'm a little pissed... I knew I should have looked into it to make sure, but I "assumed" she had already done that...

Looking into a Lease trade type website now...

http://www.swapalease.com/

http://www.leasetrader.com/

http://www.leasetrade.com/

Just be very very careful dealing with any of those sites and read the fine prints carefully and pay attention more than Lisa.

Also, who is Lisa!???

Dude, you change your avatar more often than Madsplash changes the batteries in his gaydar....

I had to change my last one,,,,,

[Behshad]

Lisa is my wife...

I know, dude ,,,,, I figured youd know Im just messin with ya,,,,, Now, lock this thread

[The Sushi Hunter]

A friend of mine was explaining to me why leasing a car was supposed to be so good vs outright buying it. Mentioned was the "getting a new car every two or so years, depending on the lease period" argument. But what my friend also mentioned was how you can lease a new car, take great care of it as if it's your own, so basically your the original "owner" and then when the time comes to give it back, the dealership will actually sell it to you very cheap, so you basically save maybe between 1/3 and 1/4 the amount you would have vs if you just purchased it outright from the start.

Also it's true that the vast majority of autos will only go down in value. But there are also instances of cars actually going up in value, as the example in the late 60's, early 70's, dealerships were basically giving away Dodge Daytonas and Plymouth Roadrunners cause those cars just weren't selling. At that time you could actually pick one of those cars up new off the dealership lot for around $1,500.00. These same cars are now being sold for unbelievable prices. Depending on originality and condition, these cars sell for anywhere between $50K to over $100K.

That was then.... $1500 back then WAS like $50K is today ,,,
Also, I can guarantee you that if you'd buy a corvette or shelby for $60.000 today and dont even touch it for the next 30 years, no way in hell you'd get $500.000 for it then,,,,,,and EVEN if you would get that much, 30 years from now $500.000 is like $60K is today ..... so not much of an investment

Corvettes are never an investment, only pre-65's pretty much are. But like the 93' Corvette, I looked at one on the showroom floor at the dealership and it was fully loaded out the door sticker priced at $64K. However a number of years later.....right about ten to be exact, the same exact car with the same exact set of options was being sold at a used car lot for right about $8K. There could be many factors as to why this was, car could have been totalled and someone just fixed it and with a low price, they hope it will just get sold to a moron that doesn't know, or, the engine and tranny are on their way out, even could have been a thieft recovery. So to better understand, I contacted an old buddy of mine from years gone by who has a private corvette collection of his own. I asked him about it and he pretty much said that Corvettes don't hold their value simply because they make so many of them. He tells me that they mass produced hundreds of thousands of 93' Corvettes (my example). So the real issue with a car to be an investment is first, what the production numbers are for that specific vehicle and in some rare cases who owned the car. Example, John Lennon's Rolls Royce was sold for an ungodly amount of money after he was killed.

But for sure, it's really stupid to buy a car these days thinking it will be an investment, cause if it's not a low production model vehicle and/or owned by someone famous, it's not ever going to go up in value. For sure the new Mustang and Dodge products that are out now that look 60's and 70's retrofit won't be worth anything. First off, they are made cheap with shitty plastic parts and stuff, But more importantly these cars are mass produced big time, I'm talking 600,000 units in one precise model, color schemes being the only differences.

[Behshad]

If you were in sales you should know that a dealer doesn't make any more money on a leased vehicle vs one that a customer purchases.
They're both based on an agreed upon value.
The main source of profit is in used car department.
The main source of profit in F&I office these days is dealer reserve from banks.
Save your copy and paste crap.
It's very simple. Leasing was great while it lasted for those who want a brand new vehicle at a lower cost.

Since you were in sales. Tell me how someone would benefit from buying a new Lincoln Truck ($49k), for 3 or 5 years vs leasing it for 2 years for $300/m with ZERO down

[Ratgirl]

Ratgirl,
I dont know what makes people to get into a FIVE year lease,,,, the whole point of leasing is to have a lower payment and newer vehicle more often.
If youre gonna have lease payments for FIVE full years you might as well BUY it.
.....

HEY! I did say we were young then! We just wanted the car and with the lowest payments.

[The Sushi Hunter]

If you were in sales you should know that a dealer doesn't make any more money on a leased vehicle vs one that a customer purchases.
They're both based on an agreed upon value.
The main source of profit is in used car department.
The main source of profit in F&I office these days is dealer reserve from banks.
Save your copy and paste crap.
It's very simple. Leasing was great while it lasted for those who want a brand new vehicle at a lower cost.

Since you were in sales. Tell me how someone would benefit from buying a new Lincoln Truck ($49k), for 3 or 5 years vs leasing it for 2 years for $300/m with ZERO down

I'm not in sales and never was. But what I've heard is that the auto maker and dealer of those vehicles don't make any money selling new ones, they basically break even on that. Where they make their money is when the car breaks down and needs parts, maintenance, or if it gets into a crash and parts are needed to repair it, and from maintenance and repairs on cars that consumers bring back that are no longer under warrentee. Even though a car is under warrentee, the owner still has to pay for something right? Like the labor costs or something?

[Behshad]

If you were in sales you should know that a dealer doesn't make any more money on a leased vehicle vs one that a customer purchases.
They're both based on an agreed upon value.
The main source of profit is in used car department.
The main source of profit in F&I office these days is dealer reserve from banks.
Save your copy and paste crap.
It's very simple. Leasing was great while it lasted for those who want a brand new vehicle at a lower cost.

Since you were in sales. Tell me how someone would benefit from buying a new Lincoln Truck ($49k), for 3 or 5 years vs leasing it for 2 years for $300/m with ZERO down

I'm not in sales and never was. But what I've heard is that the auto maker and dealer of those vehicles don't make any money selling new ones, they basically break even on that. Where they make their money is when the car breaks down and needs parts, maintenance, or if it gets into a crash and parts are needed to repair it, and from maintenance and repairs on cars that consumers bring back that are no longer under warrentee. Even though a car is under warrentee, the owner still has to pay for something right? Like the labor costs or something?

Not you bro.
That was to fact finder.

Sorry about the miscommunication.

[Behshad]

We weren't comparing financing vs paying cash.

We were comparing leasing vs buying.

In average we make about 400 on a new car, no matter if the customer buys or leases it.
On a used we make at least 1000 and sometimes up to 5000.

Regardless if new or used, if financed we get a kick back from the bank. When someone finances a 4000 car , they may end up paying 5000 total including the interest. Out of that 1000 we usually get about 150 from the bank.
So you're totally misinformed if you think the dealership keeps all the finance charges.
And honestly I don't think you worked in car sales cause your info is something you learned from the book not real sales that I deal with daily.

[The Sushi Hunter]

We weren't comparing financing vs paying cash. On a used we make at least 1000 and sometimes up to 5000.

I'm guessing cause when dealerships take in a trade-in, they basically give the owner a $500.00 credit or some stupid shit like that and then do some preventive maintenance to the car and then turn around and sell it for a whole lot more then the $500.00 credit they gave the owner.

The way the American auto industry is, today's economy is a wakeup call to them.....which is, make a better quality product that lasts longer.

I don't know about you, but after I've had my BMW for ten years and it's never failed me once, I will go back to BMW to get another oustanding quality vehicle like the first one that didn't nickel and dime the living dogpiss out of me for half the years I owned it like most American made cars do.

[Behshad]

Things have changed a lot the past 20 years , even in the car business.


As I explained above leading isn't for everyone

It's for people who want a NEW car OFTEN

Of course if u wanna buy something used , then you dont lease
Of course if u have the cash you don't finance.

And regardless of buying of leasing, new or used , you can't really write of your vehicle loan interest as a tax write off.

Bottom line is. If I wanna drive a 50k vehicle for 300/m I lease it rather than finance it for 900/m for five years and after paying 55000+ , the damn thing being worth 5000.

You're booksmart with your factfinding powers.
But in the real world , specially car business , street smart goes much further.
Live and learn indeed

[The Sushi Hunter]

I know of people who purchase a new car and the year they finally pay it off, it's a complete piece of shit ready for the junk yard. I never had a good feeling from seeing that. Maybe I had always felt that a car can't be fully appreciated unless it's completely paid for. But by the time these people have it paid off, it's now a heap of shit and can't be appreciated anymore.

My wife bought her first car brand new in 87' with $18K cash. Still has it to this day and it looks and rides like it's brand new. Though now it's strictly a car she only drives maybe three times a summer just to get it out of the garage. Bottom line is it's always been paid off, so she's appreciated it since it was new, and so have I.

[Arkansas]

... My wife bought her first car brand new in 87' with $18K cash. Still has it to this day and it looks and rides like it's brand new. Though now it's strictly a car she only drives maybe three times a summer just to get it out of the garage. Bottom line is it's always been paid off, so she's appreciated it since it was new, and so have I.

You're a lucky man.
Btw, I haven't had a car payment in years. I rather enjoy that.


later~