Cost of living has skyrocketed over the past year. If you can’t afford an Audi anymore, lease another brand for 3 years and then see how the market looks in 3 years. If you can afford it and still want to drive a new Audi, this particular lease won’t be as killer as perhaps previous leases were. People who leased last April got unusually wild deals, and the market is making up for that just like the cost of dining at restaurants has gone up, as well as a lot of things.
In your particular case, I think the fees, sales tax, and higher than usual depreciation hit over the next 2 years are factors that make buying out your lease less appealing. But just keep in mind that under normal market conditions, you wouldn’t be getting a trade in offer equal to your OTD price after buying a car—you would be eating 10-15% at least, even with a relatively low lease residual. So if you figure another 15-20% depreciation will be eaten, your monthly cost of ownership might wind up being higher than a lease.
Maybe you’re right, may be it will be shorter or longer no one knows.
But 1 thing you can control is how much risk you want to take on.
Have you gotten a quote? Have you looked at the marketplace listing of brokers for a car you want?
To me it feels like you’ve made up your mind that buying out this lease is the best decision for you & you’re not even trying to evaluate actual numbers.
The only numbers you have is for your buyout, you have no numbers for the replacement, you have not considered negative equity in the buy out, possible maintenance etc.
If you really want to have a true picture, & make an informed decision, get real numbers for the replacement & compare the financial impact of each transaction.
Good luck!!
P.S. - i just did a quick search in marketplace for a Q7 in FL & found an offer for $824 ($2800 DAS) on a 55 prestige + which is around the same payment you have now. There are deals to be had if you want.
You just said $2,800 due at signing. Do a sign in drive then include florida tax. You’re at $900+ a month for a new one.
I understand the current market and it can change in 3,6,9,12 months etc… I’m not trying to play the market and make money off the car. Break even and I’m more than satisfied. Lose a little money on a regularly depreciating asset will not ruin my life.
The other SUV options with third row and loaded and true sign n drive are all $800-$1000 a month so no need to hustle for something that doesn’t exist right now.
The legality of that varies wildly depending on what state you’re in, with the extremes being “it’s perfectly fine” in some states and “felony tax evasion” in others.
You’re already playing $1700 in fees just to buy out.
Let’s say over the three years, on the conservative side, you have 10% depreciation on your car, that’s $4,000.
Your total expense for the car is already at $5,700 above & beyond the monthly interest payment & we haven’t even accounted for maintenance.
So let’s say your new monthly is extra $100/month, that’s $3,600 over the next 3 years. Still way less than $5,700 & no major maintenance expense or unexpected depreciation issue.
If you don’t want to hustle to save money or potentially lower your risk of going under water on the car, then you’ve got your answer already.
People are still finding deals, yeah not the same as 2 years ago but they are so they exist, just gotta work for it.
You also have the issue of vw charging market rate for 3rd party dealer buy outs; not to mention that the mysterious LLC would need a dealer’s license to even buy it.
Did you factor in the $650 a month in principal pay down? In three years I’d have paid down minimum of $23,400 of the original $41,162 car loan. Only owing $17,700 on the car. Also saving the $3,600+ by having a lower car payment for 3 years.
How much do you expect to sell a Six year old Q7 for?
And once you figure out the expected selling price, let me know if you came out ahead of the 10% depreciation i assumed or more.
Don’t forget you’re going to get minimum 8% return on it once you put in an index fund just by conservative estimate.
I think you’re no longer shopping for a car, you’re shopping for a monthly payment & if that’s your goal then this whole conversation is going no where.
It seems like you are arguing over pretty short money at this point. Neither option is terrible but also neither would have been considered palatable in the before crisis times. If you can afford a $814 monthly payment the potential difference of 1k or 2k just doesn’t matter that much. If the easiest option is buying it out, just do it and don’t worry about it.
Thanks guys for all the info. We ended up just extending the lease. The lease extension is available for up to 6 months on a month to month basis. Just have to let them know before the next payment is due if we want to turn it in. Mileage gets added on and payoff goes down during the lease extension.
Hoping there are some end of year better deals in 2-3 months.
