For the experts: I have 23 remaining payments left on a 36 month lease. Nothing wrong with the vehicle, we’re just trying to get a lower monthly payment. I’m in NJ. I know in NJ you get tax credits on a purchase trade-in, but not a lease, correct? So I would essentially be responsible for the full buyout of the lease, then all negative equity?
I’m sure this smells like a bad idea, but I figured I would just put this out there for options
How negative are you?
10-12 dependent on KBB if dealer trade in, 10k according to driveway.com
I know the “right answer” is to just see out the lease and turn it in, but I just wanted to see if I had any other option at all.
Originally I was thinking I would need to find a “new” MY24 or MY23 that has a huge dealer discount but that is few and far between. My thought process is the dealer discount would gobble up the negative equity and I’d essentially be financing a “new” car at MSRP. That plan went out the window since there aren’t many previous model year “new” 3 row SUVs out there with big dealer discounts other than a GCL, which is a fine vehicle.
I digress… anyway. Like I said I know the right answer, just inquiring to see if there are any other options out there. You all know cars better than I do.
What car do you have? What car do you want to get into? How much do you pay? Is an EV okay?
Here in lies the problem. EV not an option. It’s my wife’s commuter car and she has a deep fear of EVs lol.
We’re in an Atlas right now paying 712, not bad, not great for a 50k MSRP car. It’s a great car, but we want to reduce our monthly. Again, if possible.
Open to other vehicles. Really just Hyundai/Kia that’s out of the question. (Don’t ask, I don’t make the rules, I just follow them lol)
That’s not how it works unfortunately. You’d be borrowing and repaying with interest every single cent of that NE.
You need to let go of the mental gymnastics that people use to justify bad decisions.
If a $50k MSRP car is selling for $40k that’s because that’s its market value. If you paid $50k plus tax you didn’t pay sticker for it. You paid market value and added on $10k of negative.
Let’s take this thinking to its logical conclusion. Let’s say there’s some leftover 2023 that’s “new” and highly discounted because it’s undesirable and the sticker was inflated to begin with. The sticker was $100k and now it’s selling for $50. If someone rolled in another $50k of negative in there would you say yeah that’s fine they just paid MSRP? No, they financed $100k+ when they could have financed $50k+ without the NE.
This is the answer I was looking for honestly. I’ve known from the start that I just need to ride out the lease and turn it in. We aren’t struggling and this isn’t making or breaking us. I’ve just taken up researching this stuff as a hobby recently, so I figured I might as well find out
Thanks for your responses, it’s appreciated.
It was a bad deal but doesn’t matter anymore. There isn’t a scenario where you get a lower payment for a similar car with rolling that much negative equity. Ride it out like you mentioned. That’s not a long time.
Hi! Long time reader, but first time leaser. In February, I traded in my 2016 Audi Q5 3.0 V6 with 125,000 miles at Carmax and received $7500. This seemed like a good deal, as both of the catalytic converters were failing and needed replacement, and it needed new brakes. I bought a 2022 Subaru Outback Limited XT with only 25,000 miles for $29,000. Add on the extended warranty, a higher than expected interest rate of 5.74%, and now I’m shelling out $633 a month plus $132 a month in insurance. The gas mileage is awful in city. I’m averaging about 19-22 mpg, and 28 mpg highway, and am filling up the 18 gallon tank every two weeks or so. I had and still have an 830 credit score. The outback is fine. It does all of the things. It’s comfortable enough. But there isn’t any joy in it. I currently owe $31,000, and trade in value is about $25,000 on a good day.
I have talked to a few friends in the pacific northwest who all love their outback. I just can’t get over the fact that it is horrible on gas, and at the end of the month I’m putting almost $1000 into this car. There are so many great deals on AWD EVs that expire soon. Any thoughts on what I should do? I loved the size and drive of the Ioniq 5 Limited and the Cadillac Optiq. I live in a condo building without car chargers, but there are some at work. Do you know of any stellar deals that will help with the negative equity AND get me into a more modern EV/ Hybrid with better gas mileage.
Appreciate the kind review. I just feel like I made a bad financial decision, and only recently discovered this site.
Have you checked to see what you can get for it from several of the auto buying companies?
You can get 5 or 10 offers in less than 30 minutes. (Use a Google Voice number!)
What could you get if you sold it private party?
I have a 2024 BMW ix on a 36m/10k lease. I have about 11 months remaining. From a couple of dealers I have about 20k negative equity.
Would there be any way to trade in and get a good deal right now or wait for the end of the lease? This is my first lease, and LH has been a huge help in getting this lease, but now want to start thinking about my next.
put it on swap a lease and see if someone wants to take if off your hands.
Unless you got an amazing deal where you can swap these are always hold to maturity vehicles.
Are there any good deals right now even if you could exit the IX lease without penalty?
Asking for a family member, any way out of a rivian lease?
Any way to get out of a Audi S5 lease?
I’m planning to roll negative equity into a lease because the math makes more sense. I owe about $4k more than the car is worth and can get $4500 in local incentives on a new EV lease. Given further depreciation on the current car, by the time I no longer have negative equity it will cost me more than $4k, and I won’t be able to get the incentives any more.
Not really a big deal because I only have one payment left so the pain is almost over but this is pretty indicative of how the market has moved.
My expiring lease is on a 2022 Tesla Model 3 Long Range, did it through the app in Nov. 2022. $0 down and I’ve been paying $830 a month this whole time 
I’m pretty sure I could get a new version of this for less than half of that now.
To me, this is one of the greatest beauties of leasing. I made a dumb decision but only had to wait a couple years to get out of it.
My friend purchased a Model X at the same time and is like $40k underwater on it 
.