Audi Q3 Lease Ending... Next Sub Lux SUV Deals?

[nycbrk1985]

Hi guys, new here and hope I can gain some insight.
Los Angeles here with a couple questions.

I have an Audi Q3 that I’ve been leasing for $349/month after some haggling. Lease is up 7/31.
I have been asking Audi to tell me what I could trade in for at the same budget, and they’ve been telling me the best they can do is $500/month for another Q3!
That pissed me off and led me to this forum.

Question 1:
After reading this forum, I checked the financials.
The residual value is $21,289.50, and the Audi buyout quote is $21,564.87.
Carvana has offered me $28,357 for it and CarMax offered me $25,800.
I barely drove it since I was bicoastal (7500 miles in 3 years) so it seems I can sell it and get some equity to throw into my IRA. Why not – is that the smart move? Would be great to pocket $7K and not give it back to Audi.

If so, do I transfer the registration to a new car before I sell it?
I already paid for the DMV registration for the next year.

Question 2:
The next step is what car to get next.
I know it’s Memorial Day weekend, so I was thinking it might be a good time to get a new car this weekend and settle the Audi as a separate transaction. Is that correct?

I like the footprint of the Q3 a lot, and don’t want to pay more than $350-400/month for the car payment. Ideally I want $0 DAS out of principle. I have great 800+ credit. Cars I like, but open to suggestions:

• Audi Q3
• Volvo CX40
• Jeep Grand Cherokee
• Mercedes GLA
• ???

Question 3:
I have heard it said on this forum that now is a horrible time to lease. I think I understand that given that my lease somehow has increased in equity but I still don’t totally understand why. What about buying a car? I could also afford it, but honestly given that I know so little about cars, I just prefer to trade in every three years and get something new, without worrying about the transmission breaking or whatever. But if right now I really get screwed with a lease and it makes more sense to buy, I am open to buying.

Any leads on how and where I should be looking? Or any blind spots I have in this approach? I’m great with tech, but I’m in way over my head in this industry even after reading a lot of the posts here.

Thanks.

[jeisensc]

@nycbrk1985

That pissed me off and led me to this forum.

Welcome. Not sure that’s a question but got it.

@nycbrk1985

Would be great to pocket $7K and not give it back to Audi.

If so, do I transfer the registration to a new car before I sell it?
I already paid for the DMV registration for the next year.

Plenty of threads here and experiences. Yes separate this out from replacing it.

In CA you lit that registration money on fire unfortunately.

You can also extend this lease if you need more time.

@nycbrk1985

I know it’s Memorial Day weekend, so I was thinking it might be a good time to get a new car this weekend

Holidays and deals are not correlated. But you do need a new car if you sell this one.

@nycbrk1985

don’t want to pay more than $350/month for the car payment. Ideally I want $0 DAS out of principle. I have great 800+ credit. Cars I like, but open to suggestions:

• Audi Q3
• Volvo CX40
• Jeep Grand Cherokee
• Mercedes GLA
• ???

Yeah none of these are going to lease at $350/mo with tax on a sign and drive.

You need to do more research on the replacement side. Search the Marketplace and Shared deals to recalibrate your expectations.

@nycbrk1985

heard it said on this forum that now is a horrible time to lease

To transact at all, lease or buy.

Good luck!

[Bluemkn57cars]

@nycbrk1985

After reading this forum, I checked the financials.
The residual value is $21,289.50, and the Audi buyout quote is $21,564.87.
Carvana has offered me $28,357 for it and CarMax offered me $25,800.

Make sure you are getting the 3rd party buyout from AFS, since it could be higher than your personal buyout.

[Muwa]

There is a chip shortage, but SoCal is a competitive market. Let’s say you can get 8% off a Q3. On a 36/10 you are looking at a RV of 57% and a MF of 0.00147. I heard something or other about Q3/A3 loyalty but I can’t be bothered to look that up. I’m going to assume that your tax rate is 10.25%. You should be at $620 /month on a 45k premium plus 45 engine. If you have a dealer match what carvana or vroom are paying, and you have 7k in positive equity, you are at $426/month.. Every other car you mentioned is going to lease similiarly as they compete and have similiar RVs, MFs, and lack of incentives. Until the manufacturer brings back incentives you have to pay to play.

[Blueapple]

Consider an X1 or RDX too, but getting $350 with $0 DAS isn’t gonna hit there either. Really only option is being open to paying more or consider a sedan–there are deals out there on ILX, TLX, 2 series, A4, and S60–but even then many of them will be over $350 once you add tax and inception fees.

[jeisensc]

@Blueapple

Consider an X1 or RDX too, but getting $350 with $0 DAS isn’t gonna hit there either.

I doubt $450 is possible on a sign and drive right now, without loyalty/OL/etc.

Volvo and Acura have conquest on some models, but it doesn’t get you close.

[mllcb42]

@Muwa

If you have a dealer match what carvana or vroom are paying, and you have 7k in positive equity, you are at $426/month

Let’s not conflate what’s going here… that’s $636/mo for a q3

[Muwa]

The only right answer here is the 4xe

[max_g]

Mercedes GLB perhaps

[mah4546]

Audi charges third parties the market price if they buy out the lease. Your payout is $21,5xx and the Audi’s dealer payout is the same, but Carvana or anybody will else will get a random market price number that might be close to $28k. So you’ll probably make the most money selling to an Audi dealer. The good thing is, the Audi dealer will probably pay more than $21,5xx for it.

Did you lease your previously Q3 for $350 and $0 DAS? That’s a great deal. You won’t find that in this market for anything you are looking for.

Are you open to sedans?

[paranoidgarliclover]

Toyota Venza?

[Kellstar]

OP is in CA, if Audi gets the title to them fast enough they can do the buyout and sell it to Carvana without being taxed.

[mah4546]

Yeah I’m in CA too, I wouldn’t trust it can all be done in the 10 day window these days.

[nycbrk1985]

Hey there, if you wouldn’t mind, could you explain a bit more about this for me?
I read on here something about the 10 day transfer and avoiding tax; can you explain?

So – if I sell to Audi, they get me the title, and then I re-sell it directly to Carvana, all in 10 days, I can keep the difference and avoid tax where? Sales tax the amount I buy it from Audi? Or income tax on the profit from selling it to Carvana?

[purz]

Other than the people that had leases ending early on when used car prices shot up (even then it was mostly the usual vehicles that sometimes are positive anyways that had good markup) everyone else is going to have to sacrifice some of the lucky profits if they need a new vehicle. I wasn’t super happy with our Venza price and my truck price was fine but overall between the money selling our old leases and going 8 months with 1 car we still ended up netting a good amount of money.

Right now you’re not going to get any of those vehicles for ~$400 and if you need something you’re prolly gonna have to cough up some of that 7k or lease something less desriable.

[mllcb42]

@nycbrk1985

So – if I sell to Audi, they get me the title, and then I re-sell it directly to Carvana, all in 10 days, I can keep the difference and avoid tax where? Sales tax the amount I buy it from Audi? Or income tax on the profit from selling it to Carvana?

Third Party Lease Buyout

I recently went through a third-party lease buyout in California. I often see the question on how this is done so I wrote a quick document of my experience: I think the main one I hear is how to avoid paying sales tax twice when selling to a private party. This can be avoided (in CA) by (a) selling you lease within 10 days of acquiring the title from the lessor (b) applying and being approved for a CDTFA-111 from the CDTFA. Note, if you sell to a dealer, the leasing company transfer the ti…