Help! Leasing a Subaru Crosstrek

Ask the Hackrs
1

Since March of this year, I’ve been leasing a 2017 Subaru Crosstrek Limited. I got a good deal price wise ($26k on a $30k car) because it was the outgoing model–Subaru doesn’t offer any incentives :frowning: . My credit at the time was so-so and they wrangled me into a .0025 MF (that’s 6% interest right?) after MUCH negotiating. I needed a car, and wanted a Subaru, so I compromised on the price. I live in Illinois, so with taxes, fees, etc., I pay $357 a month (I don’t recall the residual but maybe I can do some backwards math here). Nothing down except first month’s payment, taxes, plates, etc. (about $700). The payments aren’t horrible but I’m having a bit of buyer’s remorse being stuck in a 36 month lease.

Here’s my dilemma. My dealership (which has the highest volume in the central region of the US) has already contacted me about a pull-ahead offer, but said I won’t be eligible until I’ve had the lease for 1 year, which will be in March. The rep from the dealership said a lot of people take advantage of that to upgrade their lease or switch to financing a new Subaru vehicle.

Any suggestions for how to proceed? We’ve been looking at upgrading to a Forester as our family car (though isn’t an immediate need), and the Forester will be redesigned for 2019 so probably no huge discounts right away. But my credit score is much higher now so surely I would qualify for better than 6% APR :wink:. Sidebar–is it possible to trade in/pull ahead my lease, and WALK AWAY from Subaru (or maybe I can finance a used car through them?)? I thought that was wishful thinking, but someone please tell me if it’s true or not.

Another option I’ve looked at is “buying out” my lease (or seeing if another dealership will?) but the worst part is Chase wants about $30k for it. The buyout amount after 36 mos is only $19k :roll_eyes:. But the $19k plus my $11k in total lease cost=$30k. Yes, I’m stupid, and yes, it sucks. Any ideas for how to proceed?

A. Keep the lease for the full 36 months (and figure out a plan later)
B. Buyout the lease and roll the $5k loss into something else (get rid of that MF, maybe get some conquest cash/competitor’s offer??)
C. Do the pull-ahead offer next year and finance a Forester (at better terms)

Thanks for reading! :slight_smile:

2

The option to get into a lower MF lease is nice, but with this much negative equity, no way - You are better off just driving what you have …

3

Option A. You wanted a Crosstrek and your payments are OK. It’s too early to try and get out of this lease. I keep getting this pull-ahead and “we need your Forester” offers all the time, but they come at a cost. Subaru’s GTP program pays lower price than shown by KBB. You can trade it in, but much later if you don’t want to have any negative equity.

4

Thanks all! I’ll have to get more details from the dealership in march, but probably plan to keep my lease.