I am 20 months into my 36 month lease of my 2019 Honda Civic Si Sedan (12k/36mo). The car is in excellent shape and has just under 15k miles on it. I have 16 payments remaining at $257/mo = $4,112 total remaining. The buyout initially agreed upon at the end of the lease term was $15,390. I am yet to get the car appraised at this time.
I received a letter from my dealer recently and due to the current car market, they want to buy out my lease, also giving me the option to lease another vehicle through them (or not).
This is my first lease, what should I be doing here? I wouldnât mind dumping the lease, as Iâd really like to get into an SUV or Truck. Should I sell through Carvana or something? I donât have a great understanding of how to figure out where Iâm at in terms of equity and the best way to move forward.
Any advice for someone new to this is appreciated- thanks in advance!
You have been marketed-to. Imagine it said, âwe want to buy your 1904 Model Tâ and recycle it with the rest of the junk mail. Keep driving your lease.
Given the current market and also the fact I can be without this car, do you think it would be wise to get it appraised and see where I am at in terms of equity?
Never hurts to get it appraised (and of course, call Honda Financial to get the payoff amount). I not into predictions, but I imagine you have quite a bit of positive equity on a '19 Civic with 15k miles. Check the usualsâCarvana, CarMax, Vroom, etc. to get quotes. Feel free to get one from your local dealer too if you want.
If you can be without the car until the new car supply gets back up to speed (who knowsâ6 months? longer?) then you should seriously considering selling then waiting to buy or lease when things cool down.
Thank you for your response. Sorry to ask a lot of questions, but I am new to this. Letâs say there is positive equity- I would then need to take care of the payoff amount through Honda Financial Services, and then once I own the car, I can sell through one of the third parties (CarMax, etc.)?
By doing this, isnât this technically breaking the lease contract?
Carmax, Carvana, Vroom, etc. would buy the car out from AHFC and send you the equity. Thereâs been some reports of Honda stopping 3rd party buyouts but nothing confirmed there. Just an exchange of paperwork.
Assuming you will sell it to CarMax, they will handle the payment directly to Honda, and will send you the difference amount that you agreed to sell it to them. Hence the equity âŚ
Thanks everyone- does the lessee typically contact the dealer before doing something like this? I want to make sure going this route of leaving a lease early wonât get me hit with any fees, effect my credit, etc.
It seems by going this route, there is no benefit in it for the dealer unless you sell to them and/or lease another car.
No work with the Honda dealer required. Get your payoff quote at the link above and run your car through the Carmax,etc. websites. If the equity is good enough for you, begin the process with them. There are threads reviewing the processes with all the online dealers if you have any questions. You can also ask your local dealer if theyâd like to match the best offer youâve got to save yourself a little headache.
Things could be different with Honda, but just got rid of my Chevy to CarMax last week. The GM Financial person on the phone even admitted the process is the exact same if I sell it to original Chevy dealer, another Chevy dealer, a non-Chevy dealer, or a place like CarMax or Carvana. The finance/business office wherever you sell it will do all the paperwork and cut you a check. The most youâll have to do is give them an account number for when they talk to Honda.
Hard to believe that people actually fall for this garbage, those letters are a scam to get your car and over charge you on another one. Every dealer wants your trade because they will manipulate the next âdealâ and you will get screwed.
The dealer I leased my Infiniti Q60 from is so thirsty to buy out leases they have employed some kind of call center who harasses me weekly about selling them the car. I keep reminding them that I sold it a year into the lease term but used car mania seems to be making simple thinking difficult. This market is truly crazy.
We can put man on the moon (supposedly), but the high-tech system that is tracking my mileage and sending this data to VWoA (reminding me to âserviceâ my Jetta) appears kaput. They sent me one of these letters for my 2015 Jetta, with 247,000 miles on the odo. Said I could get $7500 for my 2015, kbb says $1500.
Thanks to all of you for your responses- I appreciate them. Definitely staying away from the dealer, but Iâll get an appraisal from Carvana/Vroom and see what I want to do from there based on the value.
I am trying to find the threads on selling to Carvana/Third parties, but cannot find- if someone can guide me or give me a link, that would be great!