In 2023 I did an AFS lease and a quick buyout. Pretty easy, no penalty or early termination fee, couple of administrative issues on local taxes but it all worked out. Looking to do the same thing again with a 2025 - anbody know whether AFS has changed its policy to prevent/discourage/increase costs of an early lease buyout? Thanks
I’m curious which Audi model benefits you from a lease buyout vs either buying on day one or leasing with the intent to return it at lease end.
What am I missing?
Leasing an Audi EV or PHEV gets you an additional 7500 rebate that is unavailable on a buy. Its not a full 7500 in your pocket because most states will tax that 7500. But if you lease and buy it out within a month or two, you’re going to end up with a “buy” cost, all-in that is likely more than $6K the cost of a straight buy. Its a bit of a hassle but, at least for me, its worth it. Obviously, you have to want to buy - vs lease - and there are very good reasons to lease, especially with an EV or PHEV due to tech advancements.
The tech advancements are over rated. The main reason to skip buying is a cheap lease.
Every EV or PHEV that Audi makes has a cheap lease or has a better competitor with a cheap lease.
There is no Audi EV you should be buying (vs leasing) unless you like lighting money on fire.
I wouldn’t buy an Audi lease. Take your time on this decision.
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There is a reason the leases are cheap. Nobody wants to own one due to massive depreciation. You pay more to buy it out than it is going to be worth three years down the road.
As I mentioned, I did this a couple years ago and made out pretty good after 24 months (better than leasing) due to combination of high AFS MF and 7500 rebate on a PHEV. Maybe EVs are depreciating more than the PHEVs or maybe I got lucky. But today’s AFS base MF is .00284 and total support is 13,500. Obviously used car prices change constantly but I’m fairly confident I won’t do worse with the buy vs the lease and possibly better.
All that being said - and while I do appreciate the input - my question remains unanswered – has AFS changed its lease paperwork since 2023 in any way that prevent/discourage/increase costs of an early lease buyout?
I don’t follow these things closely, but I haven’t seen anything about Audi doing anything to discourage early buyouts.
What do you mean by made out pretty well? You bought your car out of lease and kept it, sold it, traded it? Did you pay cash or finance the buyout price?
I’ll say this one last time before exiting this thread instead of beating a dead horse. You’re on the verge of committing financial harakiri.
A couple of years ago was a lifetime away and that was when used car prices were insane. That is no longer the case and is definitely not the case for EVs.
Electrified gas cars (hybrids and PHEVs) have big demand on the used car market that pure electrics don’t. And the more expensive the EV the more it depreciates. Audi doesn’t make a single EV where it makes sense to buy it over leasing it or leasing a competing product if it leases better.
Why the insistence on an Audi product? Like I said some of Audi’s EVs have comps that lease much better. if you’re going to burn your wallet because of one-sided loyalty to a faceless corporation that couldn’t give two shits about you as a person then I don’t know what to say.
As I mentioned, this is on a PHEV not an EV. And, as you mentioned, “Electrified gas cars (hybrids and PHEVs) have big demand on the used car market that pure electrics don’t”.
So perhaps you want to reconsider your response.
Not sure when LH turned into a nest of vipers. I didn’t ask for any of you to comment on my deal, as I’m confident in my ability to run my own numbers and understand my own financial situation.
What I asked - and the only thing I asked - was: “anybody know whether AFS has changed its policy to prevent/discourage/increase costs of an early lease buyout?”
While, of course, you are all free to say what you want, I’m done responding to the attacks.