This is probably a stupid question but what is the process of returning a lease early? I thought as long as I pay the remaining payment (1 more left by the time I start leasing a new car) and the disposition fee and wear and tear after inspection, there should be no more fees that apply such as early termination fee. This seems to be true when I search on this forum but when I search on google it says that I will need to pay the early termination fee and other hefty fees for returning a lease early which doesn’t make sense to me… why would I need to pay penalty fees when all the remaining payments are made and the lessor would be receiving a car few months early with under 8k miles than 36k? Please don’t judge…1st time leasing
Call your leasing company because it depends on them. They charge you more “for the trouble” of having to deal with it early probably. In actuality, it is just another opportunity to monetize you before you leave. Also, I returned a Chevy to GM financial and heard/read the same thing, that they would charge me the difference between auction sale price and my payoff, (it even said so on one of the lease return docs that i received) but in the end I called GM and they said they don’t do that, that the language was probably included as a CYA.
In any case, call beforehand to make sure. I wouldn’t put it past US BANK to charge you for it, just because they can.
I just called my leasing company and he confirmed that as long as I make the remaining payment (1 month) with the disposition fee and wear & tear fees, then there should be no issues at all! He even mentioned that sometimes they offer to eat that 1 month payment if the lessee has any financial problems. Thank you for your advice
Another question though, since I’m 8k below mileage, he mentioned that I should look up market price for my car at that mileage because it could be much higher than the payoff price (which is the residual value? is that correct?). Does this mean that I can buy my car off the lease and trade it in to my next dealership for a higher price and potentially make profit? I tried looking up carmax but the nearest one in NJ seems to be in PA so I think that’s out the door but if it’s a significant difference then maybe I can still profit from trading it into a dealership.
I just did on Carvana (Vroom requires input of personal information) and surprisingly it says that I’m about 2k below the payoff price so I guess it means that I’ll be returning the lease without buying. (right…?)
Referencing to Irongunner’s comment
is that ever a reality? I thought the benefit of lease was you return the car and that was it!
GM was pretty cool. I returned my car two payments early, but I had to go to my original dealer. The one nearest to my house didn’t want to take it. The wording on that letter from GM did sound like I was going to have to pay the difference between the auction price, and the balance, but that wasn’t the case at all. I just ended up paying the two months of payments.
