Fizzboy7

My IS lease is about up and I'm facing some options. Mainly, I don't want to give up the car, since I like it much and have it fixed up the way I like (f-sport stuff). Also, the car only has 16k miles, which is virtually nothing for a 2008. I'm looking into buying it out, but from what I've investigated, my payments are going to jump to a level I am not comfortable with. So one option is to extend the lease and another is to re-lease it again- if they allow such a thing. I would be happy having the car for another 2-3 years and then be in a better position to purchase it.

Anyone have any experience with this? TIA

bagwell

is it possible, yes. is it worth it? probably not.

leasecompare.com does it....their rates USED to be really good....not so sure anymore.

they will allow you to buy out and re-lease you car during or when your lease is over.....but it seems as tho their rates are sky-high now...so just buying it out would probably be better...they also do financing.

MadMax96

Well your first prob is that you put some aftermarket mods on a leased car. If you didn't have an intention to buy it - why would you sink more money into it?

Second - you'd rather pay on it for another 3 or so years and still not actually own it??

If you want to continue to lease a car, you might as well pay into a new car IMHO.

By putting so little miles on the car, you didn't do yourself any favors. The benefit of the higher resale value of the car due to it's low miles only helps the owner of the car (i.e. not you).

<VENOM>

When you release your car, or buy it out, Lexus is gonna figure out your payments based on a used car value of a 3 year old IS with 36k on the clock.

To give you an idea of what that is like, I leased my 06 Maxima and after the lease was done I decided to buy it out, I bought it out and thats when I realized I was committing to paying $33000 for an 06 Maxima with 65k (obviously I went way over the allowed mileage) the residual value of my 06 was 17k, sadly I could have bought the 06 for like 35 otd when it was new, but instead cause I did not understand how things really worked and I had a good job and I was just looking at monthly payments, the 06 cost me significantly more, not including what I did to it, lost more with all the mods I left on it.

I traded the 06 in for an 09 Maxima and financially the 09 will cost me the same thing the bought out 06 would have cost me, but I essentially lost 20k+ on the 06 cause I leased it instead of financing it.

Next, check your trade in value, you might be able to trade the car in and make money, your residual is based on 3 years old and 36k, you might actually profit, just like Lexus is gonna turn around and sell your IS for more cause it only has 16k, you will make more on trading or selling it cause of the low mileage

ABC

Have you thought about leasing a new IS and swapping over as many F-sport parts as you can?

IS-SV

You can extend the lease, but only for a few months but that doesn't solve the problem long term.

My suggestion is to shop the bigger credit unions for used car rates. Low monthly payments can be achieved by low interest rates (well under 5% is easy for those with excellent credit) and number of years (5/6/7).

Fizzboy7

The mods I have are all Lexus (F-sport) products, which does not ruin the warranty or make my car unattractive to the dealer. In fact, my dealer has many used IS's on their lot with the same mods. I researched this area well before I started enhancing my car.

Yes, I have "equity" in the car because of the low miles. I know I could make money off of it if I sold it privately. But as I mentioned, like the car a lot and don't want to let it go after only three years. A new one would be no different and the new car buying experience would not live up to what it should (to me).

Someone mentioned trading it in for a new one... I have thought about that. But the dealer, like all, will give me low book on it. I am not willing to let him get my car for $20k (the residual) and have him sell it on his lot for $27k and make $7k off of the deal. No way. That's my equity I want to capitalize on that at a future date.

I have some doubts the dealer would "credit" me on a new one (does the ever/often happen?). If he did, he'd have to pay me to get into a new one, since the average down payment is around $3-4k and I have that $7k "credit." Even if he waived all down payments, he'd still be able to sell my car on his lot for $27k and still make several thousands out of the transaction. I could discuss this with him, but I still rather keep my current car instead of get a new one. They just haven't changed enough to make it worth while.

I have looked at some local credit unions, and their rates are slightly lower than what Lexus is offering. I am going to see if the dealer will match or beat the rate and see how much that helps lower my monthly payments. I thought about the re-leasing thing, since leasing traditionally comes with lower monthly payments. But it sounds rare and like the rates are pretty high.

Thanks for the responses. This has been quite helpful.