New Here - Need Help Getting Out of Purchase w/ Negative Equity Into Affordable Lease in MI

Alright - Here’s the situation:

State: MI (48823)
Me: Purchase financed a Ford Focus, with about 5k in negative equity. Have 4.5 years left on financing. (It was a bad deal. I know that now!) Payments are 250 a month.
Here’s What I Want: I’ve been trying to get into an Equinox or a Escape (something bigger than what I have) and keep my payments in the same ballpark, with a monthly payment ceiling being around $325 or so. I’ve been to 4 dealers in my area and I haven’t seen anything less than $400 or so a month. The negative equity pisses on the whole thing.

I’m not a lease conquest, so I don’t get those deals. I’m also not eligible for employee discounts. I know you all can’t fix this, but I’m open to any thoughts on how I can get into a bigger vehicle on a 24 or 36 mo lease with 12k miles for no more than 325/mo without putting cash down. I do know it is sort of unrealistic, but i’ve seen some stuff on these forums that makes me wonder if you all know something I don’t about magic!

Something that might be helpful for us:

(1) What year is your Focus?
(2) What trim level?
(3) What is your current payoff?

(1) What year is your Focus? 2014
(2) What trim level? SE
(3) What is your current payoff? 12143.52

(1) What year is your Focus? 2014
(2) What trim level? SE
(3) What is your current payoff? 12143.52

That is not as bad as I expected, but like you said, your negative equity is still very much present; I think you probably have a $7k car, give or take.

If you qualified for all of the rebates etc. associated with the Chevy Cruze or Equinox, you might have a fighting chance of staying under your threshold. But since you don’t, I think you’re likely to end up with a new vehicle that would have a 0-down base payment of $199-$249/month + tax. On a 24 month lease, that $5000 of negative equity is going to add $165/month plus interest and tax on that to the lease; On a 36 month lease its a little better.

If you can bring some money to the table to buy down some of the negative equity, I think you’d be able to work something out.

Ha in same boat here! 2015, SE Focus 11,890 payoff. Carmax offered $9000 about a year ago. I’m sure it’s $8k or less now. The last dealer quote I received was even worse at $7k. Painful the depreciation on these vehicles. It seems (makes it) worse when you take a massively long loan. Have you taken your car to Carmax?

BTW mine was an excellent deal at $7k OTD off MSRP. But no matter the deal these cars don’t keep their value. Just fishing around for something larger and was shocked how bad it is.

Yea. I’ll never buy a compact again, lol. I haven’t taken it to CarMax. Do they lease or only purchase there? I’m not interested in another purchase at this point. Thanks for the feedback and letting me know I’m not alone, lol!

That’s good info. Thanks. It’s on par with what I’ve seen. Its a mathematical issue really. To get out of the negative equity I’ll either need to put cash down or pay ~$400 a month, lol.

Yes it is. Someone has to pony up at some point for the rolled over equity at some point; no way around that short of being able to take advantage of a lot of lease cash/rebates that eat some of that up. But it sounds like you may not qualify for those, at least not from GM.

Good luck!