Hi all,

I have a 13 GS350 that I love, but I may need to move to a very snowy climate. I am only about three months and 1200 miles into my lease but this car is rear wheel drive. I called Lexus and they said they would just treat it as a trade in and go from there. Has anyone done something like this? Should I prepare to get raked? Their finance manager said if I stay with them I shouldn't run into any extra fees, terminations, etc. What do you all think?

 

I would just keep the car and buy a 2nd set of wheels wrapped in winter tires.

 

I've thought about that, but I would be living in the mountains. I'm not sure how good of a job snow tires will do vs. and AWD.

 

Go ahead and try it but I think you will get raked. Leases are never easy to get out of.

 

I'll trade ya for my 2011 AWD with less than 5K miles. :P

 

have someone private try to take over the lease

should be a better deal than working with the dealer.

 

Where exactly are you moving to? AWD is over-rated (although I did get an AWD). Winter tires make a much bigger difference than AWD. And even if you have a hummer, you shouldn't drive in a blizzard.

 

I'm looking at Park City/Deer Valley, Utah. Lexus says they would treat it as a trade in and I would either get + or - based on my payoff amount. I could trade it in somewhere else and the only extra would be a $350 fee for the early termination. They wave that if you buy a Lexus/Toyota/Scion. So overall not too bad. I think my payoff is around 45000. I would think they would give me that on a premium GS with 1200 mi. on it.

 

or, you can try Swap A Lease. I know of a number of people that have used the service with good results.

 

Read your lease agreement carefully before considering transferring the lease to another person. Some automaker lease agreements stipulate that the original lessee remains responsible for excess wear-and-tear and mileage even if the lease is transferred to another person.

Winter tires can make a world of difference, but winter tires & AWD are an even better combination. You may also consider getting a winter beater SUV to avoid the mess of salt & messy boots in the nice car. There are winter days when I work from home and use the old LX to plow around town if needed.

 

FWIW, almost four months ago I sold back a newly leased 2013 GS350 F Sport with 220 miles after just three weeks of ownership. Although it was costly I wouldn't necessarily say I got raked. Of course that will vary from person to person. It really depends on how bad you want to get out of the vehicle and how much you are willing to spend. I just checked and the 4G I sold back is still on the dealer's lot even after several price reductions. BTW, I wasn't charged the $350 Early Termination fee.

 

I'm in the same situation and your only hope will be swapalease or leasetrader but you will have to buy membership for $100 bux and then list your car with incentives to attract buyers. Even if you end up finding someone interested. The Lexus lease transfer process uses snail mail and takes up to 2 months because everything is done by mail not online. By then most of the people interested have run into other deals and you will be back to square one.

 

Yeah just like a trade in. If you're just three months in, you however may be deep in the hole as they say. I tried mine early and the up side down was too much. I waited until a few months from mature date they gave me a deal I couldn't resist.

 

Hmmmm??

 

Trading in this early? Oh u will get hosed really clean, up to the point where leasing a second vehicle would make more sense cause u will be paying almost double. The negative equity on these cars, especially this early will be massive, the resale value is the worse it's ever been. I've done it but back when the resale value was pretty good.