Yeah I think I might just keep doing the monthly, maybe it gets totaled who knows. At least found this forum to not make the same mistake again.
It was not
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Audi allows lease transfers, but you stay liable, which is a non-starter
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Even if he gets 10k negative equity to dump this lease and buy some bargain lease deal, then that can offset the losses in future. To make it easy, OP can spread 10k negative equity over 30 months, that would translate: $333 a month. So in short, if you can find a better car at $900, and you assume that $333 negative equity, then you can say that you got the better car, but still at $1200 a month payment. Like I said that you have to find a dealer who can give you better deal for your trade to dump this lease.
I think your current payoff is: 32139.25+32524.80-9167.02 = $55,497.03
So if you can find some dealer to buy this lease at 50k, then taking $5k negative equity is not bad deal if you can find some amazing deal to start a new lease.
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Snowy off ramp?
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Not very many good choices here.
Go get into a much better deal with another Audi she likes with no blessings, the $7500 and big discounts, etc. and then roll the neg equity into a purchase. Be prepared to keep it for 4-5 years to dig out.
If you are looking to refi your house or can deduct a HELOC or second, then pay the lease off ASAP with the buyout and at least reap the tax deduction on the interest to partially recoup your loss on paper.
You leased your car at a time that Q4s were scarce. No one swindled you. It was just a bad timing.
Call me today . Letâs see what I can do for you
424-281-5606
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HELOC interest can only be deducted if it is used for the property the HELOC is for.
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Yes and no. Thatâs why I said âifâ above.
OP should be creative and talk to a tax professional.
Itâs about a mindset as much as it is about finding a forum.
If you wake up the day after exiting the Q4 and decide âI want to lease vehicle X todayâ then 97/100 times the forum canât help you. Most cars just donât have good programs (MF, RV, rebate).
The most âsuccessfulâ repeat hackrs are incredibly brand- and bodystyle-agnostic. Theyâve gone from a Chevy Cruze to several successive BMWs to a 2019 Etron to a Jeep to a Murano to a ⌠you get the picture.
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The damage is done. The only reason to buy it out now would be if you can get a substantially lower used car interest rate vs the money factor currently being paid.
This. For example you didnât need this forum to do the math and see that paying $45k over 3 years to lease a $58k car maybe wasnât the best route.
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I meant more like I didnât really know how good the lease rates could be on some cars if I just waited and did more research, eg etron and eqs. The only reason we went with this one is cuz it was within our budget. Like you would think a $100k car would be more expensive to lease than a $60k car, but obviously the timing and everything made this not the case.
If I knew the rates, then those cars wouldâve been easily within our budget as well.
In the end, the end goal is the same, I will probably finance or all cash a new car depending on APR around when the lease ends.
In that case, would it make more sense to buy this car out now and trade it in/sell it later or just keep the lease? The interest rate converting from MF is somewhere between 9-10%.
Buyout would cost me $58k, assume itâs value that time is same as the listed RV which is $32k. My cost of ownership at this point, if all cash, if I sell in 3 years would be $58k - $32k = $26k. RV might be higher since we donât put a lot of mileage due to WFH and short commutes, which happened recently.
Assuming I let the lease end normally, it would be 31*$1200 = $37k
So I should just buy it out? Is my math accurate? Any hidden gotchas?
Etrons have had poor reliability and poor resale values. There is no way I would buy it out.
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Iâm responding to this as I used the word swindled above and I disagree. His calculator score is < 5. Thatâs G Wagon / RR LWB territory (his prob a little worse, tbh). Only reason those land there are bc the consumers not only have the funds, but outright donât care.
He went into a dealer, he was an easy mark, and they capitalized and hit him as hard as they possibly could.
I understand you offering to help, but in all reality, his best option is sadly riding this awful lease out, learning a lesson, and moving on. Thereâs too much to bury here.
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Take it up North some day on a snowy day.
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Have you considered tax implications of buying the car out? Some states charge full tax upfront on a lease and you can buy out without additional tax. Some states charge a lease tax but then require sales tax to be paid if you buy out the lease.
I agree with @cruiserchick that Etrons will probably have poor resale values when the market normalizes. So you have to balance that residual guarantee with the high interest rate.
At this point, your best option is to continually remind your wife that the $1200 you are paying per month proves your love for her. She wanted an ETron and there was no price you wouldnât pay for her happiness. You can milk that for 31 more months. 
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Haha, I swear after marrying my wife, Iâve been making terrible financial decisions. But hey happy wife happy life.
To those wondering, the payments are not actually not that big of deal. Iâve made much worse decisions doing wallstreetbets lol. It is the fact that after visiting this forum, I realized âoh shit I got screwed pretty hard eh? I couldâve gotten something BETTER for LESSâ and see if there is some creative ideas to feel âless screwedâ ya know?
In the end, I appreciate all the inputs, learned lots, love yâall and this forum.
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If you sell it back to the dealer you donât pay taxes. If itâs truly like $5k loss like @gopal said I would just do it, your next lease is a separate transaction maybe EQS will make your wife even happierâŚ
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If the payments are not a big deal, if you like the car, and if a well-respected dealer here is saying that thatâs what the car was going for at that moment in time, then, yeah, I would just ride it out and move on to thinking about other things, personally. 
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