I have a friend who’s in a horrible lease on a '17 Lexus GS350 F Sport.
$5k down payment
$600/mo including tax
61k MSRP
She’s been in the car for 18 months now and wants to find a way out. She’s considering buying the car out at $41k + tax. At 18 months in, she’s paid $5k down, plus $10,800 (600*18). Adding that to the buyout price, that’s $56,800 + tax/interest on the loan. Doesn’t sound like a good option to me, as it would also make her monthly payment around $1k on a 4 year loan.
Her monthly seems too high for anyone to take over, so she’d need to provide a hefty incentive.
Carmax offered $38k for the car.
She absolutely refuses to put it on Turo.
So I suggested just riding out the lease and checking her trade in/carmax value periodically to see if it gets closer to her payoff amount, at which point she could sell it. Otherwise, just make up for it on the next lease.
Yep, this. No reason to throw more good money after bad. 3K is better than 10K if she wants out of the deal.
I would definitely try @adamcar’s approach. Lexus dealership may get a better buyout price. If they are willing to buy, you may be able to get that 3K number down a little bit.
"and then finally, when there’s nothing left, when you can’t borrow another buck from the bank or buy another case of booze, you bust the joint out. You light a match. " Henry Hill
Why does she want out? She has already suffered the worst part by paying $5k up front. Getting out now just makes that part worse by breaking it out over fewer months. How much longer does she have left in the lease?
This coming from an ex car salesman of 11yrs and current lexus owner your friend did not get a bad deal at all!! Do the math the car is a 50k+ Car the residual value on it is less then half add up the payment 600x 39 =23400 she put 4k down its 100% a fair deal… if she wants to pay less go look at a cheaper vehicle like a chevy or ford… just bite the bullet and ride out the lease…
