Getting Out of Subaru Lease?

I made a mistake leasing my last Subaru and want to know if it is possible to get out of it. I took it to Carmax and I owe about $4k more than their offer. I don’t think I can sell private party so I guess I am stuck with it for now.

Basically, I want to get out of it and just buy a car outright for $12-$15k. I should have just kept my 2015 and now am realizing that I do not want a car payment forever.

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Subaru American Credit does not allow transfers, so your only option would be to sell it and eat the negative equity.

If you can wait it out a bit, keep the miles low and try to sell it when you reach that below retail/wholesale break even point.

Sorry man, neg. equity is the worst. Wish there was a better solution. You may very well do okay selling privately if you’re up for it. Can also try Carvana, Vroom, or a few other online buyers - might get a little more than Carmax.

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I didn’t think I could sell private party. My understanding is I would need to buy the car, pay taxes, then get the title. So I think my best bet is a trade in

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What is wrong with your lease besides you not wanting to have car payments forever? If your situation has changed and the payments are a problem, taking a loss to get out of lease could make sense. But if you just want to own a car and not have monthly payments, don’t compound one bad decision by making another. Ride this lease out till the end/whenever trade in value equals your buyout price. It might feel better to be payment free but paying 12k for a used car and 4k to get out of this is a terrible idea. Instead put that 4k towards lease payments without spending more money on a used car.

I think his issue is with Subaru not being a MB - he was trying for MB and ended up with Subaru.

Good catch, going back over her posts it seems you are right. My wife’s last car hunt started in Subaru and ended in a Acura so I understand the sentiment. That said, it makes my advice more applicable. If she could not get a luxury car for the price she wanted before she definitely isn’t going to be able to do it rolling 4k of negative equity into new deal.

What is MB? New here

MB = Mercedes Benz .

I would take the Subaru over the MB. With the money I save go skiing in Lake Tahoe.

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You can. You do a bill of sale and the buyer pays you. You then send the money to the lease company/bank. Then you deliver title to the buyer.

I want to sell so I can get out of this cycle of having car payments. My fiance and I decided we are going to buy cars outright and just keep them. I have about $10k left in payments, however, I think if I wait a till end of year, Carmax will be closer to what I owe.

After a year you should break even on a Subaru lease.

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For when you sell, I’d highly recommend looking at a Lexus ES350 in your price range. They are very reliable, luxurious, and cheap to maintain (mostly Toyota parts)

If you are willing to stick with a car and maintain it right you should come out ahead particularly because you live in Maryland, (I think is where you said you live) due to the 6% tax on total sale price when leasing.

That said, this really depends on what kind of car you buy. Buying a base accord or just off lease Rav-4 and owning it for ten years will be cheaper. Buying any sort of luxury car less so. Think about it, you spend 40k on a car that is like paying 333 a month for 10 years. Between maintenance and time value of money, I’d argue you are better off leasing a new car every three years.

Finally, my wife also doesn’t like car payments so we do one pay leases. I figure savings on interst are worth the risk of losing money if car is totaled/stolen.

Do you know if you can do one pay leases on any car make? Also, if I was paying cash for a car, I wouldn’t spend more than $20k total including fees/tax. So it definitely would not be a new lexus or anything, however, would look for a certified used vehicle

I’ve never shopped the true luxury brands but never found a lease that could not be one payed.

You should be able to bail early. Subaru is very conservative with their lease residuals

Yes you can do 1 pay but not a good idea, You wreck it or it gets stolen your out a lot of money