I am currently leasing a VW CC and I'm only 9 months into a 36 month lease and I'm already bored with the car. My previous car was a G37 coupe that I loved but was totalled in an accident and I got the VW because of the 4 doors and better gas mileage. Now I am bored with the car and regret leasing it (first time leasing a car).

My question is can you trade in a leased car? I have read articles online but I am still a bit confused. I read that you have to pay the difference between your payoff amount and the amount that a dealership offers for the car. If someone knows more about this can you please give me some insight?

Also, I have looked into Leasetrader and Swap-A-Lease and VW is one of the lease companies where your name is still attached to the lease even if someone new takes it over. Not really feeling that idea so Im ruling that out.

Thanks in advance!

 

Leasing is one of those things that if you don't read the fine print, you will get screwed. I leased my MX5, but at the time it made sense, plus my plan the whole time was to buy the car out of the lease at the end.

Hold out for the duration, or you'll loose your ass.

99...er, 100% of the time you wont be allowed to trade it in. Why would the dealership let you do that, and not pay them x amount for the next three years.

 

You should go see a movie, have a beer and forget about it. 9 months into a 36 month lease is NOT the place to be when considering a switch. You can get out of the lease, but you will need your checkbook with you.

 

Total it?

 

You can absolutely trade it in anytime, they will just throw the negative equity on to the new car. Or go to leasebusters.com or something like that.

 

My old Si was a lease & trust me, it is not fun when you start to think about how you want to get out of it. As far as I have now learned, when you lease, you're in it for the long haul around 99% of the time unless you can cover the fees.

 

Learning experience. The one time I leased a VW then read the paperwork after the fact, I almost got screwed bad. As I recall, you could leave anytime. You just had to pay off the lease before you left.

I got lucky and wiggled out when the car had a problem. No more leases for me.

 

Short answer, yes, you can trade a leased car. At any time.


At each moment in time (now, or next month or a year from now) your lease has a pay-off amount. If you want "out" of your lease, you have to pay the pay-off amount.

If your pay-off amount is, say, $24,000 and the car is worth $26,000 on the open market, no worries, you'll sell for $26k and pay-off $24k and pocket the $2000.

If, however, your pay-off amount is the same $24,000, but the car is only worth $22,000 on the open market, you move the car and have to PAY the other $2000 to get to the pay-off amount.

This situation is much more common - you're almost certain to be "upside-down" by some amount.

If you trade a car you're upside-down on (you owe more than it's worth) a dealer will often roll over the difference into the new loan. So using the example above, you're upside-down by $2000. Make your best deal on another car. Then the dealer will pay-off your lease and roll the $2000 you're short into your new loan.

It's hard to know when the "sweet spot" (i.e. highest resale value) for dumping a lease will occur.

If you happen to have car that 1.) holds value really well and 2.) is desirable in the used market things might work out OK at any time. If you've got a car that depreciates rapidly or is un-popular, you may be so far upside-down that it's never worth getting out of; you've just got to ride it out.

So, anyhow, first step is to find your current pay-off amout and then REALISTICALLY estimate how much you can sell/trade the car for. Find out how screwed you are.

If you're just a little screwed, maybe you go for it and dump the car. If you're a lot screwed .... .

 

As everyone has stated, you can return your car and pay them what you still owe, but that could be substantial considering how many months youre into it.another option is that you could try transferring your lease to someone that wants it and take it off your hand that way. Tougher than said, but i suggest go that route if you really want out.

 

ask whatever dealer your looking to get a car from to evaluate your car as a trade...if you owe less then what theyll give you then youll pocket some money or put the extra money towards your next car.

if your trade in value is less then your pay off either cover the difference or roll the remainder into your new car payment...thats if your only a few grand away from trade in value vs payoff

 

you can always try a website such as swapalease.com

But unless you got some amazing deal...meh

 

Thanks to everyone for the advice . I know my payoff amount and its pretty close to blue book for trade in so hopefully it wont be much of a difference. Im gonna head out to a few dealerships when I have some time and test the waters . Thanks again.

 

you're best bet...take it to a carmax, see what they offer.

 

im going to NEED to get out of my 36 month lease half way through when i move back to NYC. trying not to think about it. parking rates in manhattan > lease pmts (even with down pmt rolled in). id be happy to give the car back with 18 months remaining, and pay them for those 18 months upfront. sucks, but it will be cheaper than keeping a car im not going to use. plus, public transportation will be less than half of my lease pmts.

 

I exhausted a lot of options because I wanted out of my lease.. I put a ton of miles on the car I hadn't anticipated needing when I signed the lease. At the end of the day, I am sucking it up and riding it out. I am bored to death with the car (2.5 Altima) and am itching for a new (used) car. I will have lower payments, and own the car in the end which I am thrilled about. Used car maintenance is what I am not looking forward to, but each side has its pros and cons.

Ultimately, I am a possessive person, I love things that are MINE that i can customize (especially cars) however large or small that might be. My lesson learned is that, a lease is not yours, no matter how long its in your driveway for.

In the end you will probably end up with some negative equity, but if it financially wont hurt you, being a little bit upside down in payments and enjoying what youre paying monthly for is alright in my book. just make sure it fits into your budget without issue.