So, my neighbor sells Volkswagen cars, and they were having a big sale at his dealership because of the hail-damaged (which have all have been fixed). He wants me to come in and trade in my 2024 Tiguan SE with 12,000 miles and 10 payment left to get a 2026 SE 36/7500. My current payment is $384 out of the door. This is before any negotiations.
Keep your car for 10 more months. Lease something without previous hail damage next year.
I don’t know if Volkswagen allows third party buyout. Most likely you would have to go through a VW dealer:
First thing should be to value your current car to see how much equity (positive or negative) you have in your current lease:
Then figure out how much you can get the new car for without a trade-in. Look at other vehicles too, I am sure you can get a better car for cheaper lease from a broker here. Typically trade ins are not always the best value, so doing two separate transactions is advisable.
You are trading in a Tiguan with 12k miles for another Tiguan?
And with Negative Equity?
Your neighbor is trying to make money. Pretty much it.
This is what AI is spitting out:
The Breakdown
MSRP/Retail: $37,697.00
Selling Price: $33,416.00 (This is a massive $4,281 dealer discount off MSRP on a brand-new 2026 model. That is an excellent discount!)
Rebate: $700.00
Government Fee: $46.00
Proc/Doc Fee: $448.00 (Pretty standard dealer doc fee)
Capitalized Taxes: $1,128.84
Gross Cap Cost: $37,005.71 (This includes the vehicle price, fees, taxes, and rolling in that $876 of negative equity from your trade)
Trade Allowance: $24,000.00
Cash Cap Reduction: $392.00 (Your first month’s payment/money down)
Cap Cost Reduction: $1,092.00
Adjusted Cap Cost: $35,913.71 (The final figured amount the lease is calculated from)
The New Verdict: 8 / 10 (Very Solid)
The fact that the dealer discounted a brand-new 2026 model by over $4,200 is impressive. They basically ate your negative equity and then some.
Because of that steep dealer discount, paying $392/month with only $392 due at signing on a ~$37.7k car is a genuinely strong deal. It safely passes the “1% rule” (where a good lease monthly payment is around 1% of the total MSRP with zero down).
the new deal is good. I never said that it wasn’t
The trade in isn’t.
Losing money on your current car just to get a new car isn’t the best move. Unless you have a lot of money to give to him.
Everyone wants the newest shiny item, if you have a lot of money, then go ahead, but in the sense of is this a smart deal? No it isn’t.
Thank you for clarification. That makes perfect sense so you think I should ask for more money in my trade-in?
For starters, what does Carvana, carmax, etc. say your trade is worth?
The only way you don’t get ripped off here is if you independently know all the inputs and how they interact. Just for example sake let’s say your existing vehicle has 5k of equity. What would you think of this deal if you had to write a check for 5k at signing? It would be the same thing.
True Car $23,250
Car Max $23,600
Caravan $21,600
Also, is there a reason why you are now getting 7.5k miles instead of 12k? did you drive a lot less than you initially planned?
How do those compare to your payoff?
$24,876 is the payoff.
So you are underwater and will be adding negative equity to the deal…just wait your lease out.
Unless you have a specific reason for wanting the new ones doesn’t seem like a strong enough reason to roll neg equity to the deal, even if the discount is strong on the new one… Agree best to wait
That’s why I’m asking.
I don’t care AT ALL about getting a new car now or in 10 months; but I guess I’m confused won’t I have even MORE negative equity in 10 months.
You just turn it in…and lease another…spend time until then really learning how leasing and the math works.
In a lease, whatever value the vehicle has at the end of the lease isn’t your responsibility. When the lease expires you just turn it in to the lessor and lease something else…it’s the responsibility of the lessor. It’s certainly is one of the main reasons so many of us advocate for leasing a vehicle, under the right circumstances.
Sometimes there’s useful insight in what AI spits out about leases, most of the time there is not
Maybe the @trusted should have a reply explaining why evaluating broken clocks is a waste of everyone’s time.