modthispny

i know with mercedes if you go from one lease to another, they usually forgive you on any mile overages, excessive wear and tear, etc. Is lexus the same?

ItzFilyO

Usually if u get another car they don't care about over mileage and wear and tear, unless the car is badly damaged.

From my experience, I've traded in leased cars with aftermarket exhaust, springs, wheels, and way over my mileage limit and they don't make a big deal out of it cause I walked out with another car from them. It wasn't worth it to put all the stock stuff back cause the labor fees will be more than the used parts price, so I just let them go and sell the OEM parts.

If u turn it in just like that then they'll start charging for the little things.

SlangBlade

I'd tend to agree, they'll be more forgiving if you get another car from and you can probably negotiate if need be to get out of it without charges. You could also turn the car into another company (BMW, Audi, etc.) and they'll just pay it off. My friends and I have never paid on mile overage.

I turned a 3/36k lease in at 2/40k scotch free once.

SW17LS

The question is did you TRADE it in or TURN it in?

If you TRADE it in then they actually bought you out of the lease and paid it off and that was that...in that case no excess mileage or wear and tear or aftermarket stuff etc matters because all of that was already figured into the value they paid you for the car. If thats equal to or greater than the buyout price at the time, then that works great and you actually can make some money and perhaps save some money on some sales tax on the new one.

If you TURN it in, then you absolutely will get charged for everything regardless of whether or not you lease another Lexus, turn it into another dealer, etc. Those charges come from LFS, and the dealer has no control over them. I've heard of LFS sending bills for overage of like 3 miles (as in 60 cents). They WILL charge you, and the bill comes later after your new deal is done.

Trade them in if you can. I have a feeling though with these high residual leases Lexus is doing now that won't be as easy as it has been in the past unfortunately.

modthispny

good point, i guess you trade it in? the purpose of this is to give the car back and not have to pay money, either by being upside down, or having to pay for excess miles or wear & tear.

GBFSport

I have traded in my last two GS's, both were in good condition but way over the mileage. In both cases I did not have to pay the excess but the trade in was calculated in my overall lease price. Meaning that some money was added in the calculation that results in increasing my monthly lease price, there really is no such thing as a free lunch.

However in both cases it did work out for the best as I have well over $6,000 to pay in excess mileage and only about half of that amount was added to my total lease price.

ItzFilyO

Yea the high residual value will be a problem. The difference in market value and the residual will be added to the new lease/purchase price. Well u gotta pay to play.

SW17LS

No, you just need to turn it in instead of trade it in. You can't continually be adding negative equity from one lease to another...theres "paying to play" and then theres making unsound financial decisions. If you turn it in you are simply liable for any excess mileage which may be less than the negative equity of trading it...my point is you need to make a value judgement looking at all your options.

In general I've been able to trade out of my Lexus leases about 6 months early. The buyout at any point is the residual plus the remaining payments. Does the high residual mean I have to wait until the lease is up to trade out, or that I cannot trade out at all? We'll have to wait and see. My residual is around $34,700. So if I can get $34,700 on trade at the end then I will be able to get out and enjoy the sales tax savings. If I can get $32,600 then I get out at zero and miss out on the sales tax savings, which is also preferable to paying excess mileage charges.

ItzFilyO

I have a feeling my mileage fees will be a lot more than the residual difference cause I can't stop driving it.

This is one car that I like to drive, then get out and look at it, then get back in and drive it again.

SW17LS

I can understand that LOL.

SlangBlade

I'm not sure leasing anything qualifies as a sound financial decision, but agreed on taking the path of least resistance.

This.

SW17LS

I don't want to turn this into a leasing vs buying debate, but to me its all about mitigating costs. I am setting out to purchase and drive a new Lexus for 3 years or so. In what way can I accomplish that with as little expense as possible? For me the answer to that is to lease.

Its like you said, taking the path of least resistance. If one keeps trading out of a leased Lexus early and keeps tacking on negative equity into the new leases, it can get out of control quick. If you're going to do that...choose shorter term leases. If you're going to drive a lot of miles...get the appropriate number of miles so you don't have a big negative balance to roll into the new car over and over again.

At some point one has to exercise some self control. If I get to 6 months before the end of my lease, and I want to trade (I typically do, although I enjoy the GS a lot still) and I find that I'm going to have a big negative balance to roll forward or pay out of pocket...I'm going to keep the GS until the end of the lease and reevaluate then. Paying a ton of money to get out of the lease negates the whole reason for leasing vs buying in the first place...to mitigate cost.

Using ItzFilyO as an example, I'm glad you're happy with your trade but I would never have done that swap at that stage in your lease. Its cost you a LOT.

ItzFilyO

Yes it did cost me a lot and that's something I would never do again. Get it right the first time and no changing minds later.