Comments on: Fleased a car – Ask the M-Network

By: Spencer

Spencer — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:42:56 +0000

Make lowball offer on buying out the lease. The last thing car dealerships want right now is more cars on the lot. You may be able to get a surprising deal.

By: Monroe on a Budget

Monroe on a Budget — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 18:08:50 +0000

The next question is: will you be approved for the loan for the buyout?

By: Kristen

Kristen — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:50:16 +0000

Wow, I could have written this question myself a few years ago. At 22 (it must be the magic age) I did the exact same thing. I did need the car, so I had to buy out the lease. The whole thing was a disaster. I think in some situations leasing can be good, but not if you’re someone who drives a lot.

By: The Weakonomist

The Weakonomist — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:31:12 +0000

I second doing the math and the money grubbing lawyer has an excellent point on the deferred payment. Sounds like he’s had a finance class or
two in his day.

$6500 is a ton of fees, I’m not envious of his position and glad I paid my car off last year.

By: MoneyGrubbingLawyer

MoneyGrubbingLawyer — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 12:44:03 +0000

A couple of small points first: the problem here isn’t with leasing, it’s with the lessee. GLBL, hating leases because people make bad and/or inappropriate choices is like hating spoons because they make people fat.

As for Patrick’s comment that “I would hate to throw $6,500 at something and not have anything to show for it”, Jason does have something to show for it- namely, 43,000 miles that he drove but hasn’t yet paid for. It’s kind of like a deferred payment…

With that said, Jason made a mistake in choosing to lease, or perhaps choosing the lease that he did. It’s unfortunate, but it’s not the end of the world. We all mess up! One option that he may want to consider at this point is listing the vehicle for private sale to see what kind of price he can get. Some leases have notoriously high residuals, others have fairly pessimistic values. If he can get more on the market than the residual plus fees, he’ll save some money. It costs nothing to place an ad in free classifieds or Craigslist, and he might just get lucky.

By: DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad.com

DDFD at DivorcedDadFrugalDad.com — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 11:15:36 +0000

Rock and a hard place, this one.

Some info to make this decision is missing:
-Book value of the car
-Buyout price

My gut tells me when the numbers are run, it may be better to pay the mileage penalty and take your “medicine”, but be done with it. An unfortunate and expensive lesson learned . . .