Hi,
I'm thinking of trading in my lexus for a slightly used 2010 GS lease. But I drive about 25K a year and the salesperson said that the vehicle is usually worth more and it'll be a wash even if I trade it in early. Basically, even if I drive more than the 10K lease agreement, I won't end up paying $0.18/mi if i trade it in for a new lease. Is this complete BS?

 

I have ZERO experience with leasing cars. But, I do know one thing 100% true about them, if it sounds too good to be true odds are it is.

 

Sounds like BS to me. Normally with a lease early termination you wind up paying the lease amount times the number of months remaining. Sometimes it works out better but rarely. And if you're leasing the new vehicle you should be able to "buy" more mileage up front at the same rate as if you exceed your mileage cap. To be honest, if you're routinely driving 25k per year leasing may not make a great deal of sense except that you can possibly trade out more often if you're lucky enough to find the few cars where early termination isn't as severely penalized.

 

I almost fell for this years back (1985) lease a Mercedes Benz for a cheap price just which was the payment on our Suzuki SA310 I thought great let me do it. First I said stop by the MB dealer and get a price there then questioned why he was so high above the other. At the end of the lease I would turn in the car and be liable for the difference of payments and vehicle value in other words pay to turn the car in and walk at the dealer I could drop the car off with the keys and pay nothing. I could not afford the rate so I left.

 

It's complete and utter BS! Leasing is NOT for you. Ever.

 

i don't really see how it works. if you return your car early, basically you are asking the dealership to buy out the lease (you absolutely don't want to terminate the lease), and the dealership trade in price, most of the time they aren't in favor of you. not to mention you are 10k over miles, you will likely be upside down

 

It def is BS, especially since you'll be driving 25k miles a year and if you are leasing it for 3 years (typical lease period), it'll be a 3 year old car with 75k miles on it. The dealership will have a harder time selling it for the residual price.

I've heard and experienced being able to turn in a lease early, anywhere between 3-6 months if you decided to lease the same brand again and if it's a new body style and/or if you are upgrading to a more expensive model.

 

You forgot to add: "...and if you're letting the dealer take advantage of you by paying MSRP or close to it."

 

They might not charge for a small mileage overage if you are buying a new car at full price. But the difference between a car with 30k miles and 75k miles on it is several thousand dollars. This is not something they can afford to let go.

 

Everyone here who is saying that is it BS is full of S. With these Jap cars having such high resale values it is entirely possible.

I just traded a 2009 Toyota Tacoma that had 28000 miles and it was only 18 months old. I was able to walk away from it for no charge because the dealership gave me the amount I needed to pay it off. When I leased my Tacoma I put no money down and paid $380 per month for 18 months. 380x18=$6800. The truck capped out at $26,500 when I bought it and I sold it for $21,xxx. I made out pretty well if you ask me.

 

^^^As I said, sometimes it works out but rarely. Almost never on a luxury car.

 

I agree with others here. If it's in the contract, believe it. If not, don't count on it. Lexus Financial usually charges .25 a mile for miles over the lease agreement. I did mine for .20 over, but they *****ed and moaned about it (and I really don't want to go over even for .20).

Getting out of a lease early with the dealers help almost always means they are rolling the difference into your next car - unless Lexus is subsidizing an early trade/termination at the factory level.

[EDIT] I guess we can't say the word that rhymes with "witch" on this forum

 

maybe you can find an actual luxury car for comparison? you do realize luxury cars depreciate a lot faster during the first 3 years making it a lot more making very unfavorable.

and for the record, here are information on 3 cars i have leased

2005 sc430, residual 39k (pretty high residual), returned the car with UNDER mileage by 5000 miles. checked market price, 37 private and 35 trade in

2007 ls460l, residual 43k (about right), it's still 2 months before lease end, but today's market price (dealership price), 43k for similar lease mileage. imagine trade in price

2008 gs350, residual 26k (about right), still 3 months till lease ends, market price right now, about 27k, imagine trade in

like MichaelPea said, yeah maybe rare case, but on luxury vehicle? very hardly, especially when you are at 10k over mileage so early on in the lease already

 

I've had 1 lease in my life. Was supposed to be a 63 month lease...got out of it after 18 months because I saw that my mileage was going to go way over the "agreement". Maybe I had some sort of weird lease, but it ended up being that I traded the car in for what the dealership would give me and they rolled what I owed into the new car that I bought. There was no early termination fee or over mileage fee. NADA/Blue Book/Black Book pretty much takes care of the mileage fee based on how many miles are on it and the year of the vehicle.

 

theres this guy i know with a friend and this friends brothers best friends sisters uncle can roll the speedo back.....for 300 bucks...but thats just what i heard