Lincoln, Nebraska - 2022 Subaru Outback Onyx Edition Trim - 46k miles
Hey LeaseHackrs!
I am in a pickle with my current 2022 lease. I leased this car in the summer of 2021 with $599.99/month payments. I was talked into every additional package pretty much. I put down a $2k down payment. I now know I did A LOT of things wrong.
My lease ends on February 1, 2025.
I’ve gone to multiple dealerships and looked up the cash offers. The most I’m seeing is $24,800 on Carvana (but I can’t trade in to them) and $22k-$23k most everywhere else. My lease buyout is currently $28,000, so I have about $5k-$6k in negative equity in this lease.
Can someone explain to me how this is the case and which option makes the most sense:
Trade it in and roll the negative equity into a used car finance
Lease a new Subaru in February to avoid the extra fees
Turn it in, pay the mileage fees, disposition fee, and other fees, and then finance a used car
Wait until the lease ends; buy it at the end of the lease purchase price of $24.5k and just drive it into the ground for the next several years (this price is still over what they’re claiming it’s worth)
I would appreciate some solid advice here. I am a newbie to leasing and probably won’t do it again if I don’t have to. I like to drive long distances, and I’m rather rough on my cars (dogs), so leasing is not a good fit in the future.
It could have been worse, you could have a 2022 Tesla Model Y. I would ride the lease out and with about 2 or 3 months left, see if you can get into a new lease and get out of the remaining payments. Who are we kidding I would roll the negative equity downhill. Do what makes you happy.
You say your buyout is about 28k, is that including sales tax? If it does then take whatever % tax in your area is off off that 28k and you might “only” be in the hole 3-4K instead. Is it a lease thru Chase bank? If so I am pretty sure Carmax can buy those out, but don’t quote me.
You can look at it like this-pay $600 a month for the next 8-9 months or sell it and take a loss of hopefully only 3-4K (assuming you have that sort of cash on hand, don’t get into the snowball of just kicking the can down the road if you can at all avoid it). See if you can get into something in the 350-400 range and save 200-250 a month and you are better off in the long run and at a “break even” in about 12-15 months depending on the deal/car you get.
The agreement says 10k miles/year. And I don’t have the document in front of me but my Chase Leasing portal says it ends on Feb 1st, 2025. I bought it about June or July 2021.
If it is thru Chase I am fairly certain Carmax can buy it. You can get a quote right on line. You can also try AutoNation for an online quote. And as others have mentioned, it sounds like your portal INCLUDES sales tax which dealers don’t pay which could be 7-10% of 28k which is a good chunk of change that would lessen the blow. Whatever you do don’t just pay the fees and turn it in and walk away and don’t roll anything over into a new car. Keep the 2 deals separate because dealers love to confuse you and conflate numbers.
You are already over on your mileage, so they will charge you for those miles driven. It may make sense to just buy the car out. If you turn in the car, pay all the fees then finance a used car, you will end up paying a little bit of a premium just to get into another used car.
If a dealership buys it, including Carvana/CarMax, they don’t have to pay taxes so that 28k buyout may be lower if it includes taxes. If you personally buy it, you have to pay taxes.
I think the best options would be to get additional buyout quotes if you want out, or buy it out at end of lease. Your mileage overage will be even more by time of lease turn it. I like new things so I’d probably go the additional buyout quotes route.
One thing to keep in mind is the warranty, powertrain is 5/60. Subaru CVTs are hit or miss.
