diablo1

Hi all,

Well, my 36-month lease is finally almost up... Less than 3 months away! It has been an awesome car, basically flawless as far as reliability/quality, fun to drive, comfortable, nice looking, fast... You all know what makes this car special. However, I have decided that I am not going to keep it at the end of the lease - gonna go Euro this time and try out the 2009 Audi S5.

This is my first car lease, so I'd love to hear any advice from members about how to handle it. A few data points:

-I am WAY below mileage. Paid for 36k and I will probably only have around 25k at lease end
-Added all-season tires, 54% tint (above state legal level), and illuminated front scuff plates (still have the old non-illuminated ones too)
-A few minor scratches on the rear bumper, some very small green-colored paint scratches on passenger front door, and a small circular dent in rear passenger-side door (only noticeable if you look very closely)
-Had a small accident where I hit a rock or something in the road. Replaced driver side front and rear wheels and tires. Had wheels re-aligned. Absolutely no other damage from that accident.
-Serviced every 5k miles at authorized dealership; have records

So my options are:
-Return it to Lexus of Manhattan, allow them to appraise it, and pay any damages above "normal wear and tear" that they assess
-Shop it around to other Lexus dealers. I suspect that it may be worth more than the residual because the mileage is so low, so someone may accept it with no damage penalty or (maybe...?) even pay me to take it
-Try to do a trade-in at the Audi dealership. However this is less attractive since I will likely be leasing the new car.
-Buy the lease out and sell the car myself

Any thoughts you guys have would be helpful! Past experiences, general advice, moral support. Thanks!

CAIFAN_64

iTrader: (1)

how much is the lease buy-out??

albert_23

iTrader: (2)

i'll just return it to the Lexus of Manhattan. save too much trouble since u're still gonna lose money by trading it in at Audi and trying to sell it is not going to be easy either. just my .02

diablo1

Orig MSRP was around $43k, and residual is 0.62, so it is around $26k, plus I would have to pay tax on that amount, so all-in would be around $28-29k.

huddleston

iTrader: (3)

keep it!!!!

LIS350A

Are you sure these are real options?

You don't own the car. You can extend the lease, buy it out or you have to return it to the leasing company.

How can you shop it around or even be slightly hopeful to get money for it when you don't own it?

Again, how can you trade it in? It belongs to the leasing company, not you.

slee18

iTrader: (1)

Only way you can take it to a different dealer is if you "trade-in" your for another lexus.

You can "trade-in" to the audi and see what they would offer you. might not be too much more the residual value of it.

You can try to sell it to a private owner for more that the residual value. That might be an option.

I would go with the later if you can get more they 3K over the residual and tax.

Brian231

You may want to take advantage to the tax benefit by trading it in.

SGMIS3

I was under the impression that you are not able to trade in or sell a car to anyone other than the original leasing company. After all, the car is not owned by you.?

diablo1

This is definitely the easiest option. My only hesitation is that I have had some issues with service at this dealership in the past. If I don't get at least a second opinion from another dealership, I'm worried they will rip me off on end-of-lease charges.

diablo1

They are real options because I can buy it out and then immediately sell it or trade it in. So for example, if the Audi dealership would value the trade-in at $30k and I can buy it for $28k all-in, it would be worth it for me.

diablo1

Which tax benefit is this?

Joeb427

iTrader: (1)

Say you get $26K on a trade in which is what you actually may get or most likely less..
You don't pay tax on that $26K but it would about a wash because you'll have to pay tax on the buy out cost.
Buy the car to keep or just turn it in.

LIS350A

OK. The way you wrote the original post it looked like you were only considering buying it for the last option.

slee18

iTrader: (1)

take it to carmaxx and see what they will offer you if they bought it.

Gives you a baseline to see how much trade-in value you will get. plus it might tell you if you have negative equity. If that is the case you might as well turn it in.