SW17LS

Like I said, national average is 14,000 miles a year. 15,000 mile yearly leases are typical and commonplace. If the average is 14,000, lots of people can stay within the mileage requirements of a lease.

And even if you don't, you just have to pay. Like I said, you can always trade out of the car, or sell the car, and if you can get the residual value then you're out whether you're over the lease or not. No different than owning a car, if you drive more it will be worth less than if you drive less.

Brn2fish

Did anyone mentioned a disposition fee?
That a charge that dealer will collect if you are not leasing another Lexus

Dave Mac

The lease end or disposition fee is something relatively new with LFS and is even more irritating than the lease acquisition charge (as well as doc charges) - both seem a little like taking advantage of a customer who is not likely to walk away for the deal at that point.

Dave Mac

vesnyder

I've turned in cars with Honda Financing and they overlook any "excess" wear and tear when you lease another car. When I decided to just end the lease without leasing another car they were much more detailed in evaluating the car.

bc6152

The more posts I read about the additional charges that the dealer and LFS attaches to a lease, the more discouraging it gets. Seems one should bring a large jar of Vaseline with them when signing a lease...

TechNut

I have only leased one car in my life and that was 25 years ago, so I am mostly speaking from an old understanding of leases, but I thought they always favored the manufacturer. This just seems like a continuation of that philosophy, passing more of the processing costs back to the consumer. When I work the numbers on leases I have been offered, they always seem like highway robbery anyway. I know leases are good options for many people so I'm not trying to denigrate anyone's choice here, but it just doesn't surprise me that they are finding new ways to squeeze the consumer more.

SW17LS

As I've suggested many times, at the end of your lease you should have it appraised to trade in in rather than turn it in. If you can get the residual value as a trade in, trading it in does away with any lease end costs, any mileage costs and any excess wear and tear costs.

All the cars I've ever leased I've only turned one in at the end of the lease.

gmanusmc

+1

Something I've observed through the years is that, for the most part, people who speak badly about vehicle leasing have little to no knowledge about how a lease works. Sure, leasing is probably not a good idea for folks who drive much more than 15k miles a year or those who tend to hold on to vehicles for a long time. There are folks who drive an average amount of miles, take great care of their vehicles, and like a new vehicle every few years. Nothing wrong with that if they can afford it. As long as you stick with vehicles that have great resale, can negotiate well enough to achieve the lowest sale price, and have decent enough credit to get the lowest money factor, leasing is just another form of paying for the vehicle. We have leased many vehicles and never paid a disposition fee at lease end. Heck, on a few occasions we had equity and the dealers cut us a check for the amount over and above the due at signing amount.

Arty101

+ 1. My thoughts exactly. I do like Steve's strategy to trade in vs turn in, if I were leasing a car.

SW17LS

It's all about understanding how it all works, and how best to work the system.