I currently have a 2003 TL Type S with a lease that ends Aug 30, 2006. Is it possible to trade in for a 2005 TL this early?

 

you are 1 year away. so i think if you find a good dealer that its willing to work somthing out yes. other wise you might have to pay a penalty or something. When i asked they told me about it was safe at like 5 monhts or 4 moths before it ended.. but dont remember.

 

Just read on the 3gen tl pages and someone just traded a 04TL AT for a 04TL MT, so i guess it depends on the salesman.

 

The dealer would be more than happy to accept your lease as a trade in, but you will have to pay negative equity either int he form of a down payment or "convientely" roll it into your new finance/lease. You have a few alternatives that my be a little better in a financial sense:

1. Obviously the easiest thing to do is keep the car and ride the lease out. The new bodystyle TL's aren't going anywhere anytime soon, and if you ride the lease out till 2006, the 06 or 07 TL would be out by then, then you can go in a new lease/finance without the burdon of negative equity, not to mention other hidden fees they may tack on, espeically since its a lease.

2. Call your leasing company and ask if they do lease transfers. If so post you car on swapalease.com or leasetrader.com. (You may still be liable if the new leasee doesn't pay).

3. Sell the car outright to a private party. You will more than likely get more money for it then you would on a trade in. (you still have to cover negative equity) One the sale you two have to go to a Acura dealer and basically what happens is that the checks are made out to that dealer, and they send a check to the leasing company making the car yours. Then you transfer the title to the buyer. Keep in mind when paying off a lease vehicle, you are also responsible for sales tax. You won't pay any early termination fee penalties in this case because you are just buying the car from them. In the end all the leasing company wants is their money, and if you are willing to take a car off their hands with cash money they should be more the willing to oblige.

4. Last resort, sell the car to CarMax who keeps the trade in and buying process seperate. They will probally give you the same that a dealer would give you for it but since you are not obligated to buy a car when you sell yours, you won't be going into another lease/loan with negative equity.

This of course assumes you have negative equity, if you actually have equity in the car, then a trade in won't be as bad. But I would still avoid a trade in espeically on a lease if at all possible.