vdubturbo

I tend to disagree with the blanket "don't buy out a lease" statements.

It all depends on what the vehicle price the lease was based on, the mf, and the established residual.

For example... I leased my '08 which has a residual of $24k after 36 months. If the price of the car on the used market is >$24k, then I could buy the car from Lexus and flip it, so long as there was enough margin to cover taxes.

I'm not saying it works every time, but if you buy/lease smart you can make it work to your advantage.

As as a previous poster said, if the MF is low enough, the lease could be cheaper than the straight up finance when you compare the payment to leased value ratio to that of a purchase. It all depends on how good of a negotiator you are and what the incentives are at the time you buy.

Phil888

iTrader: (1)

Best thing to do, is wait for your lease to end and then finance a new x50. This is my 8th car already and i have never lease a car cause i didnt want to go through with this kind of hassle IMHO. GL and very glad you're sticking with LEXUS

15951

Phil,

Depending on how often you're trading in, you might be spending quite a bit more on buying than you would leasing. Buying is for people that intend to keep cars for awhile. Otherwise you're just paying for negative equity on the back end at trade-in, and probably getting hit harder than you would have if you chose to just pay for the depreciation over a lease term.

Just my opinion. Incidentally, my lease is up in a few months, and the car has been pretty good. It will have significantly less miles than the lease allowed (like 30k+ less!), so I'm probably going to buy it out and sell it for more than the residual. In this instance, leasing worked out for me just fine.

Zeus69

iTrader: (1)

I'd consider a buyout, but in Illinois it's punitive. Pay taxes on the full MSRP up front, then pay taxes on the RV at buyout time. Unfortunate state regulation. Maybe I'll be able to negotiate a lower buyout. I will probably extend my lease until the 3rd Gen IS becomes available since I'd really like to stay with Lexus. It's been a great car...

vdubturbo

That really sucks man... Its like Virginia's Personal Property Tax. I paid $800 this year alone on top of the sales tax. They seem to get you one way or another.

aliu603

iTrader: (18)

i always figured its better to buy a car rather than lease it...

Zeus69

iTrader: (1)

Not always... Depends on several variables

08IS350

Hi guys,

Can i trade in my leased car if I want to get a new car? or Can I sell it at Carmax like I financed if they appraise more than the buyout price? I am new to lease too.

thanks.

Zeus69

iTrader: (1)

Yes, you can trade your leased car. Just call the leasing company and ask for the "buyout amount" (usually good for 10 days). Then hope whoever you trade in to gives you at least that much, or you'll have to make up the difference (can also roll it into your new lease/purchase as "negative equity").

LexusRuss

Yes you can. I've done it twice. It's an easy way to go if you've keep your cars clean (no sensless dings, spills etc) and your miles are below average. Toyotas resale value is always very good too.

Good luck

fredw1

I agree. The lease vs. buy decision is affected by many things. There is no single right answer for everyone. I did the calculations on my last lease (an RX-8), and the difference between total out-of-pocket between financing five years and leasing for four years (resulting in monthly payments that were approximately the same) was $1000 more to lease. The situation was essentially this: finance by putting ~$15K up front and pay monthly for five years, or lease by paying monthly for four years and pay ~$16K at the end. Leasing didn't tie up my $15K for four years, I could have owned the car in four years rather than five, and leasing allowed me the flexibility to walk away very easily at the end if I decided not to keep the car (which was the case, and allowed me to move into my IS).

lji

Bump! Have had an IS in the past which was financed, but ended up selling it. Have an ES now and contemplating what to do. The car has less than half the allotted mileage with the lease up in 2 months. Thinking about the current used car prices, it might be wise to check what used cars go for. Inquired with LFS and what they stated was that they do max 6 month extensions, and it's a month-to-month extension - all options are on the table during the 6 months, month-to-month extension. Nothing changes as far as payment (money factor, etc) but residual would go down at the same rate as it's currently on file.

Does anyone have any other ideas other than extending the lease or selling it to the likes of Carmax, Carvana, etc? The car is in pristine condition and the only blemish is a wheel scratch less than the size of a credit card (so I think there would be no issues turning this in either - but in the current situation, makes zero sense since I have equity in the car).