We’re just nearing the end of the 3rd quarter and many new models should be released. 2019 C class, BMW 3 series… Most of that should put a lot of forward pressure on competitive models. For example, I hope MB will include more incentives in October for 2018 C class as the 2019 sits on the lot shiny bright like a diamond next to a 2018. The face lift and new engine is intriguing. By December, hopefully, the new gen 3 series will also put forward pressure on the 2019 C class sedans. End of the year will be some exciting times.
Has anyone ever tried to payoff a lease early with Ford (actually purchase the vehicle)?
When I called Ford Credit they said that I have to purchase it from the actual dealer where I leased it and to call there to find our what my “final payoff” is with taxes and fees.
Ford Credit has my payoff at $32,235 and the lease manager at the dealer told me the “final payoff” would be $34,885.
Does that sound right? I am in Florida.
Carmax will only give me 29k for it and Carvana even less so I’m in an ugly situation. Can’t just pay off remaining 9 payments ($5625) and return because the front bumber needs to be replaced, rear bumper has a dent and its lifted 6 inches with bushwacker flairs, aftermarket XD wheels and off road tires.
Thoughts? Suggestions? What’s my best play?
Do you absolutely HAVE to dump the truck now? I know you’re putting mileage on it and it’s depreciating, but it really seems like you might benefit from making the payments and selling the truck near lease end after fixing it up?
It’s a sticky situation to be in, but there really is no way out of it. Money is owed and it has to come from somewhere.
I don’t have to sell it now but I purchased a brand new Honda Type R on Saturday (finally made up my mind lol - love it btw) and the big offroad tires on the truck are running pretty low on tread and will have to probably be replaced soon (maybe 5k miles pushing it).
I also have to factor in the cost of having both the truck and the Type R insured while I have them both which may be more than average because I had 2 at fault accidents close to each other in the last 18 months. The front damage it has now is from the 3rd at fault accident that was never reported and I repaired the other persons vehicle out of pocket.
I know I will be at a loss in any scenario however wanted to see if you can help me figure out in which scenario I can minimize my loss the most.
Wow. You should probably sit down and add everything up to see how much money you really just spent this month and will spend in the next 9 months.
You bought (what I assumed is a marked-up Type-R) an expensive FWD Hot-hatch in the high 30’s to low 40’s while having an expensive full-size truck that you’re upside down on and will be for the forseeable future. You didn’t have an exit-strategy for the F-150 and you’re absolutely about to pay for it.
I don’t see how this is salvageable without taking a several thousand-dollar out of pocket hit. I don’t mean to be brash, but I’m pretty sure the advice was to not go down this road.
Didn’t you start this journey looking at MKZ Black Labels? The heart wants what it wants!
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I did look at MKZ’s but pulled the trigger on the Type R because I finally found a dealer that would sell it to me at MSRP. I pretty much contacted every single dealer in the country that had one in white and got one that was only 4 hours away.
Again, I know what a sh***y situation I am in but I feel like I would have been in this situation whether I purchased a car this past weekend or not (minus the additional insurance cost of course).
Had I lived out the lease on the truck, I would have had to put brand new off road tires on it, fix the damage (front and rear bumper), and still sell at a loss vs payoff amount in 9 months with a crap load more of miles on it.
At this point I guess I am just looking at the least worse scenario so I can be done with it and hopefully not make the same mistakes again.
Have you called your insurance company and asked what difference in premiums will be for both cars versus selling the truck. Guess it doesn’t matter now but that seems like something you might have wanted to know before buying the Type R.
Your options for truck are to fix it and sell it or not fix it and sell it. Pretty simple at this point. Figure out cost delta between the two and pick the one that has the smallest negative number.
Lease return is out of question since the truck has been modified. You would need to make remaining payments, undue the mods, insure the truck and repair damage. So that option is out.
Well, I get it, I Really do, and I’ve been down this road before just as you have… but now you have a modified truck that can’t be turned in and it will just sit there while you rack up high-mileage on the Type R, shooting it’s value down.
It sounds like selling the car as is and just eating the 3 or 4k dollar difference is your best bet? I don’t know how much it’s going to cost to fix the truck up and squeeze some more dollars out of it. You’ll need to look into that as well. If you get it in sell-ready condition, you might pull some more bucks doing a private-party sale.
I had called them to see what the cost was for replacing the truck with the Type R and it was a minimum bump but I forgot to ask about having them both on since at that moment I wasn’t thinking about holding onto the truck as an option.
Thank you for helping me think this through. I am really appreciative.
Whether I fix and sell or don’t fix and sell is there any reasonable option to sell a vehicle of that cost with those mods other than going through carmax, carvana, ect?
I anticipate that going through craigslist and autotrade may be rough and hard to determine how much and when it will actually sell.
Thanks for the advice. I think my biggest fear with this whole thing was ending up having to selling the car on the private market and stuggling to get it sold.
Btw, if I sell it to carmax my loss is not 3-4k. Its 6k.
35k payoff minus 29k Carmax offer (which expired a few days ago so may be even a little lower if I bring it back to be appraised).
Private party is your best bet. Dealer networks will give you less money for modified cars because modified cars are generally harder for them to sell to the general public.
You’re most likely better off trying to offload the truck at a reasonable price to someone who cares about the mods you put on, since modifications are an intensely personal thing to do to a vehicle. There is no easy way out, either take the 6k hit selling it to Carmax, or put in the effort to sell it private party to re-coup some of those costs. Selling it private party is generally not head-ache free, but it’s supposed to be worth it in the long-run.
Just a matter of what’s worth more to you, the money or your time. There is definitely a cost associated.
I like your strategic thinking. It is definetely very helpful for me as I am very strategic myself. Honestly I think my time is worth more than the headache of fixing it and selling it privately. I went through hell with the body shop that fixed the car for which I paid repairs on the last accident and it left a very bad taste in my mouth. Add to that the uncertainties of selling privately and I think I rather just take the hit.
I am sitting at Autonation Ford right now to see how much they will give me. Hopefully they can just purchase at the 32k payout and not pay taxes and they are willing to give me at least what carmax offered. We’ll see. Keep you posted.
Best of luck.
Thank you sir
Ok so looks like I lucked out. Ford dealer offering $28,580 on the $32,300 payoff. Looks like I don’t have to pay the taxes and fees that I would if I take it to a non-Ford dealer.
Even though dealers are “tax-exempt” with Ford since the original dealer that leased the car determines the final payoff, they quote non-Ford dealers my payoff (which includes taxes and title fees) or even higher I hear from someone.
Now I just have to see if they’ll let me turn it in with stock tires and rims so I can keep my XD rims and sell those to recoup some of my loss.
Sounds like you’ll make out in the end. Hope to see a happy ending to this story.
Congrats on the Type R. Always wanted one for nostalgic reasons but wife said we’re not in 1998 no more. 
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Lmao. I trained my wife to not get involved in my mid-life crisis purchases. She just rolls her eyes when I’ve showed up with Harleys, motocross bikes, ect
She knows they won’t last long.