Nolesam

Hey guys..I'm breaking a lease very early on my vehicle and trading it in for a 2014 GS350 FSport. MSRP was 58k talked them down to 50k and 30k on my trade. Long story short I was having a very difficult time getting to my desired monthly payment w a 15k mile lease. The sales manager came in and highly recommend I do a 7500k mile per year lease. He said if I would not be charged anything for over mileage as long as I turned it in before lease expiration. He said he doesn't know why everyone doesn't do this? What are the pros and cons? Thanks in advance!

FlashF14

I also have a 2014 GS F Sport with 7500 miles per year. But the dealer never mentioned that to me. I guess you're allowed to do it but they're reluctant to tell you so you don't go crazy and put alot of miles on it.

Nolesam

I typically drive between 15-20k miles per year...I told him I would have 7500 miles within 3 months lol. The difference in monthly payment was about $300... Told him I needed to sleep on it as that made me nervous

DnJ90

Never heard of going over mileage in a lease and they don't charge you.Even if you turn it in and get something else it will more than likely be rolled into the new car.Be very cautious and have him put it in writing.

Nolesam

Agree.... He basically explained that if I did a 3 year lease w 7500 miles per year that the value would be roughly 40k if I drove 30,000 miles ...turn the car in a year early, pay no fees (said he would put in writing). He said the only time you would pay excess mileage is if you turned the vehicle in at lease end and didn't get another vehicle (whether it's a Lexus, BMW, etc)..

DaSyce

iTrader: (3)

I'm not calling BS, I'm telling you its BS.

You will get banged out in the end, as I have been when trading my ES350 for my GS350. ( I was only 3K over).

They'll tell you what you want to hear to get you to sign on the dotted line, good luck fighting this at lease end. Odds are the salesman will not still be l working at that dealership.

amendoza26

so from working at a Toyota dealer for about 6 years, we did leases all the time.
the only thing i really need to warn you about with leasing is make sure you would not go over the 7500k mile point. If you think you are, you should be able to talk to them about buying miles up front. I believe they come in packages and usually run about .10 cents a mile up front, vs. .25 cents after the fact.

one thing you could do to lower your payment, and i know this is going to sound crazy, but look at a package with more stuff in it. It will have a higher residual factor (essentailly be more attractive to sell after your lease) and that will actually be a lower payment.
Also take a look at how many months the lease is for. typically with a 7.5k lease it's usually 24 months, and would normally be a higher payment. but look into a 36 month, 39 month. just ask to see different options, and don't fall into the first thing they throw at you.

one other thing you can look at as well is you can put money down on a lease. wasn't sure if you were looking to do that or just use your car. becareful though, because if your current car is financed traditionally and if there is any negative equity that money has to go somewhere.

but when in doubt, tell them to show you the back screen (or finance sheet) to see how the deal is structured. they will show you or at least here in TX we did.

i hope this helps a little.

minty99z

Yeah, you won't have to pay for milage over the lease per year....but heres the kicker he isn't telling you. When you give it in early, you will have to get another car or you WILL pay for the overage in miles...nice half story huh?

JDR76

Seems like he did tell him that:

I have leased and traded in several cars and never paid for mileage overages. If the trade in value of the car, at the time of the trade (whether at lease end or early) is higher than the payoff, I just trade it in and avoid the fees. It doesn't matter if it's at another Lexus dealer or BMW or whatever.

Now, if the trade in value is less than the payoff, then you'll need to evaluate which will cost you less - to trade it in at less than payoff and pay the difference out of pocket, or just turn it in and pay mileage overage fees.

ItzFilyO

Sometimes u can get away with over mileage on leasing. I did, I went 5K miles over when I traded in my leased Camry for the GS and didn't have to pay for it. They just look at the current market value and the total pay off at the time and rolled it into my GS payments. They were able to match the market value with KBB price so I'm ok with that. But if they charge for the mileage, that would be almost 1K extra but they didn't.

Just don't get 7500 miles a year when u know ur going to do 7500 in 3 months, that's just too much. Maybe go for 10-12K miles a year.

SW17LS

The short answer is he's potentially right, but its risky.

What he's talking about is trading the car in instead of turning the car in. If you turn the car in LFS WILL charge you for the mileage overage...even if its 1 mile or 3 miles, whatever. Doesn't matter if you lease another car or not. Its up to LFS and the dealer has no control over it.

BUT...you can trade in or sell the car and as long as you are able to get enough to pay off the residual at the end then it doesnt matter how many miles were on the car.

Thats the risk...if the car is not worth the residual amount or more at the end, you will be stuck with the decision of whether to trade it in and pay off or roll forward the negative equity, or to turn it in and pay the excess mileage fees.

On the GS people are having trouble getting residual figures on trade already, the leases are so good because the residuals are high. His line of thinking works on an ES, but not a GS IMHO.

I know you want this car, but you need to put your grownup hat on here and make a smart business decision here. If the only way to get a payment where you want it is to get a lease way below the mileage you need, you need to look at a cheaper car. You say you're getting out of another lease way early, why? Is negative equity being rolled into the GS lease? Thats just silly. Keep the car you have until you can get out of it whole and then get a GS when you can get one for a payment you are comfortable with.

Low mileage leases have high per mileage charges, at least 25 cents a mile. If you take a 7,500 mile lease and drive 15k miles a year, in 3 years you owe $5,625 in excess mileage charges. Low mileage leases have really high residuals too making it even riskier.

Don't do this.

Oy vey. This is exactly what dealerships love to hear

You certainly DID have to pay for it...you are paying for it now..with interest. They rolled the negative equity into your new lease.

Some leasing companies will forgive mileage if you lease another vehicle. LFS/TFS is NOT one of those companies. Unless you can trade it for your residual or more, which worked on my 2010 ES with a 50% residual but won't on my GS with a 60% residual, you WILL pay, one way or the other.

ItzFilyO

It'll cost me more in mileage fee if I keep driving the Camry until the end and trading it in early. Now the GS to GS deal wasn't so good but I knew that was coming.

FastTags

EXACTLY, the only thing I can think of is if you buy another car from them, they MAY (Big maybe), let you slide on the overage. This is a big MAYBE depends on how much are you really over the limit.

If that is not the case than SW is spot on, he is talking about trading the vehicle in which case you wont have to pay for the overage but you maybe upside down on the trade.

SW17LS

The issue is that the dealer can't control whether or not LFS will charge for the mileage. That bill comes later, sometimes as much as a month or more later. LFS WILL charge the mileage overage if the car is turned in at the end of the lease, nothing the dealer can do about it.

We have members here who have gotten bills for 3 miles. Not kidding!

Nolesam

I very much appreciate everyone that took the time to give me some advice. Everyone of you helped me realize if I'm not paying for it on the front end I will on the back end... If it sounds to good to be true it probably is.

I received an email from my sales guy this morning and he asked if I have given the deal more thought... I stuck to my guns and my original terms...he responded that they were "all in" and that's the best they could do. I told him I was going to continue looking....I'm hoping to get that call soon, "if you can come in today we can do the deal".

We shall see....thanks again guys!