MikeyTown

Hi all,

I got a good lease on a 4GS F-Sport a couple years ago. I love the car, but I have 3 payments left, so the lease is coming to an end.

Leaving the sob story out of things, I'll just say that I had some unforeseen circumstances that resulted in a lot more driving than I anticipated over the last 15 months, so I'm 19,000 miles over on my lease. I'm currently at the point where I'm just going to make my last 3 payments in a lump sum, and turn the car in early, so I don't keep accruing miles.

Due to the unforeseen circumstances, I won't be getting a new car right now. I have an older, paid-off, car... so my transportation needs are fulfilled. I'm looking forward to my next Lexus, but it's going to have to wait a little while.

19K miles at $0.25/mile (plus tax) is a hefty check to write. Does anyone know if Lexus will negotiate the mileage overage fees at all? Anything helps, so if anyone has experience with this, your input would be much appreciated.


Cheers,

Mike

Boomin

A lot of that, maybe not all will be absorbed and forgiven when going right into a new lease. Sorry about your circumstances man I hope for a speedy turn around.

zer0cool

Wow that's over by a LOT... If you knew you were gona be over by that much, why didn't you just drive the older paid-off car?

Anyways, I generally lease BMWs and the only thing non-negotiable, even if you lease another BMW is if you are over mileage limit... Like they ll forgive tires, dings and scratches (which can be a LOT actually), but mile is one thing they can't forgive... it's like some sort of contractual issue. For BMW, one can pre-purchase more miles before the end of the lease for $0.16 per miles instead of paying the full penalty at lease-end. This is what a lot of people do if they are over miles. Call Lexus Financial and see if they have something similar. Even if Lexus has something similar, you are still due over 3000... at least better than 5k...

Davenlei

iTrader: (1)

I don't have much experience with leases and what the dealer or leaseholder is willing to forgive.

The one time I leased (BMW), I brought the car in for it's pre turn in inspection and and the inspector noted the bald tires and said I will be on the hook for two new tires. I told him I was turning in the car with 4K less miles than my mileage agreement and they should forgive the cost of the tires. When he said the contract is pretty clear, I told him having 4K less miles is worth more in resale than the cost of two tires so if they will not agree to forgive the tires I will put the car on blocks and run it in drive for 4K miles to give them a car with very close to 20K miles. They forgave the tires......

I know this is not your situation and is more like the opposite but it shows there is opportunity to bend the rules of the contract if you get a nicer person or present them with other options than 'please forgive it' or be forced into a new lease.

Have you determined if the street value of your car is more than your residual value? If so, buy the car and turn around and sell it on the market.

If you like the car, just turn it into a purchase and keep it. They will not make you pay for the extra lease miles if you buy the car at the end of the term.

namzug

From my lease experiences, dealerships are a bit flexible on mileage overages. And even more flexible if you were getting into a new lease. However, at 19K they may cut the mileage in half in the best case scenario. When I turned in my 2014 MBZ there was a guy doing the same but he was over about 4K miles. The person inspecting the car tried to charge him but after a heated negotiation the mileage charges were written off. I've heard a lot of stories of people going over their mileage allocation and some got charged while others didn't. Best bet is to contact Lexus/Toyota financial and work out a deal. If I were you I would include your story as why you went over (with a crackled voice).

islandbeef

Buy it out before the lease is up (to avoid mileage overage fees).
Then trade it in for another lease or just sell it.

/shrugs

DVADER

People need to listen more than they talk. I know you're not gonna buy or lease another car soon because of your unforseen situation so rolling in the excess mileage charges is out of the question.

From my experience ( leasing cars for over 15 years ) they will negotiate the .25 cents per mile charge down to atleast 15 cents.

You can then pay toyota/lexus back over a period of a few months, they won't send you to collections if you're sending in consistent payments regardless of what the reps tell you.

It may be wise to call LFS now and work something ( speak to a department supervisor) out so you don't have to worry about this at the last minute. Good luck

azngster35

If I were you i would call the Lease company to see what's the buyout amount is and try to sell it. Hopefully the blue book value is more then the pay off amount. GL buddy

Rudiculous

iTrader: (15)

There is no way that a car with 19k over the amount has a blue book value near the amount due. That's how they do a lease, based on the value used which can sometimes run pretty close with blue book value.

Stylnhonda

iTrader: (1)

If he buys the car outright, won't he have to pay sales tax for the buy out amount? Then try and sell it.

djrabbi

iTrader: (2)

I might be in the same boat in 2 years so I just bought a beater for my long drives... My dealer said they usually give a good break if you get another lease through them.

jonathanz

iTrader: (2)

you still have to pay tax for the outright price.

zer0cool

This is basically a ****ty situation for the OP... if you are 19k miles over, then almost certainly all your tires are below requirement as well (unless you replaced some of them)... four tires is like another 1200 expense. If you are not buying or leasing another Lexus, there's absolutely no reason for them to negotiate with you since you owe those items by contract and there's no incentive for them to just give up money you owe... without any benefit to them... Oh and there's 300 disposition fee as well.

I highly doubt buying the car and then selling it would be a good idea as well... Lease residuals are set pretty high and car depreciation in the first 2 to 3 years is pretty high... and there is a huge margin on trade-in... Moreover it's operationally very difficult unless you sell it to a dealer or CarMax, which will both totally screw you on a direct trade-in, probably well beyond the 4-6k or so you would lose by turning in the car. But I guess doesn't hurt to try... Take the car to your nearest CarMax and dealer and simply ask them what they would pay you and see if it may be a better deal to simply sell the car to them and pay the diff between their offer and your residual (if the diff is less than your total penalty).

dchar

I've taken my last GS350 to CarMax because I was 5-6K miles over my lease miles at the end, but they offered me something several thousands below the residual price...so selling to CarMax wasn't an option. Ended up leasing another one and they just forgave it.

OP, since you are a few months out from the end of your lease, I do remember being offered to buy the lease miles at a lower rate. Definitely call LFS to find out if it's too late or not. Definitely do not recommend buying the car and trying to sell it. You are likely to lose even more since the GS doesn't hold its value very well, like every other luxury car in this segment.

mcomer

You would pay tax if you buy it (so you can sell it outright or to CarMax).
You would not pay tax on the mileage charge or any damage assessed.

Many good points in this thread:
Take it to a CarMax and or your Lexus store and get their "buy figure"
Contact LFS direct and get high enough in the food chain to negotiate charges.

Only reason to turn it in early would be to stop paying for insurance, take your
time to do the things suggested by everyone here and please report back to us all!