kvsm3

Hello all,
hope everyone is enjoying Memorial Day!
Has anyone here terminated their lease early and if so how much were the charges?
I am 10 months into a 2002 Lexus RX300 lease and either would like to sell the car or terminate the lease early. The reason is I am going back to school to get my doctorate and to have no payments would be great.
Hypothetically, if my payoff was $35K, and I was able to sell the car for $30K, I know I would owe Lexus $5K. Would other fees be involved as well?
Does anyone think an early lease termination would be more or less?
I did read the small print but ended up dozing off. If its not financially feasible, I will just end up keeping the car.
I also wrote Lexus Financial Services so I am waiting for their answer whenever that maybe.
So if anyone has any inputs or have gone through this, please let me know.
thanks
KRIS

eyebike

You might want to check to see if somebody can assume your lease. There are web sites that offer leases like that, so people can execute a match. Some leases are not assumable. Early termination usually means you are responsible for all the remaining payments, plus you still don't own the car. That's the lease buy-out. Somebody tell me if I'm wrong.

Johnny Mo

Your buyout/payoff doesn't matter right now. Your option to buy the car is technically "under water". You must first make all of your lease payments before you can buy-out the car. So assuming a 39 month lease, @$450 month you have 29 months remaining...you will pay $13,050 to terminate your lease and if you still want the car $35,000 more to own it. Terminating a lease early is a VERY costly decision even when you are trading in for a new car...they just add the remaining lease payments to your purchase price. Better off finding someone to take it over.

MellonC

check www.swapalease.com

AsianGirl007

iTrader: (1)

Actually what you can do is call the lender (Lexus Financial Services perhaps) and ask for a "10 day Payoff". This is the amount you pay to "buy out your lease". You have 10 days to get a check to them, after that the amount goes up or down according to interest and whether or not you have another payment coming due. You can find a "buyer" and if you get $30,000 for the car and you owe $35,000, then yes, you owe the remaining $5,000. This must be paid in full and is not financable. This "transaction" is called a "3rd party lease purchase". Lexus does not charge any extra fees for this. However, sales tax and any license renewal is applicable to the new buyer of your car. Another option is to find someone to "take over" your lease, but I personally do not recommend this. The new "leasee" has to fill out a credit ap and has to have as good as or better credit than you to qualify. Also, the money factor does not change according to their credit...what it is is what it is. And finally, if this "leasee" defaults on the payments, it still goes on your credit! If you must get rid of your car, then try to get a trusted family member to take over or just sell the whole thing outright. Good luck.

JRB

I have never leased a car, and after having read through this thread I'm not sure that I would ever want to. One thing for sure, when you lease you better be sure that you'll want to keep the car all the way through the lease period. Compared to buying, your options seem pretty limited. I think if I did lease I wouldn't want to go more than 3 years, just in case I were to grow tired of it and really wanted something else! At least with Lexus, you know that it probably won't be due to reliability problems.

eyebike

I lease my car through my business. Leasing a car, rather than buying a car is much more advantageous, tax-wise. This way, I get a nice new car every 3 years.

AsianGirl007

iTrader: (1)

I lease my car as well. I hate having to deal with the "trade in" and forget me trying to sell it on my own. I barely have time for anything with my crazy work schedule! And anyways, the last time I did that, there was a weirdo who decided he wanted to stalk me for awhile. I looove having that new car smell and all the new gadgets. I'd lease every 2 years if I could.

Jasper2k

Is there any way to "swap out" models on a lease then?

Assuming 799 FICO, if my "early termination" is the sum of all past due and future payments ($482 x 30) plus the residual ($14,430) = $38,568 and I can sell the vehicle for $40,000, can I just apply the difference to cap reduction/fees on another lease and get a different model?

I absolutely ***HATE*** my RX330 - it's in for service today, and they dropped of a wonderful GX470 - I don't want my RX back! I'd take a high-mile USED GX470 instead of my RX... Help!!

AsianGirl007

iTrader: (1)

Yes, there is always a way out of a lease. Just depends how much money you owe. But it doesn't sound like you had your car for very long if you still have 30 payments left. Did you do a 3 or 4 year lease? The good news is that Lexus has very high resale value so getting out of a lease early is very possible to do.

Jasper2k

I did a 36 month lease, so I figure I'm trapped for a while in Upside-Down Land. Boy I despise my RX though... I made such a bad choice for me, the first lousy choice I've made since my 1978 Jeep CJ-7 Renegade!

HarrierAWD

Like some others said, it's better to have someone take-over (assume) your lease. Used RX300 is still in great demand, so you might be able to "sell" the lease with no incentive.