Help with a lease

[Anonymous]

I used to buy cars but I like to have new things so I switched to leasing a few years back. I have an Acura TLX and my lease is up in 2019, however usually halfway through the lease they offer to move you into a newer car, same payment, no additional money down. My issue this time is that I moved from California to Texas and my commute went from 1 mile to 50 miles, meaning my 12k mile allowance is shot, I'm 18 months in at 40k. Whats my best option? Negotiate to waive the mileage charge? Pay the mileage overage? Buy the car? Sell it? 

Need advice.

[marty56]

Some car companies allow you to buy more mileage per year so see if they will do that.  based on how much miles you have on your current car, it may be better to keep it if the mileage charge isn't too much then buy or lease a new car with more miles on it.

[JGGM]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I used to buy cars but I like to have new things so I switched to leasing a few years back. I have an Acura TLX and my lease is up in 2019, however usually halfway through the lease they offer to move you into a newer car, same payment, no additional money down. My issue this time is that I moved from California to Texas and my commute went from 1 mile to 50 miles, meaning my 12k mile allowance is shot, I'm 18 months in at 40k. Whats my best option? Negotiate to waive the mileage charge? Pay the mileage overage? Buy the car? Sell it? 

Need advice.

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Have you called the leasing company to find out what the payoff is "for dealer inventory"? This will let you know how much you need to get for trade in (or private party sale) to payoff the vehicle. If the payoff is 21k and it's worth 18k, you have $3k negative equity, that you could roll into another lease, or just put $3k down and start fresh. You could also turn in early, in which case you're responsible for payment amount X number of payments + mileage overage + wear/tear + disposal fee. Acuras keep their value relatively well, my guess is trade in would make the most sense at this time. 

I don't  really think lease lenders negotiate mileage overage much....at least I know GM Financial and US Bank do not. 

[Kree]

Depending upon your income, you might want to consider buying out the vehicle at the end of the lease and keeping it around as a backup vehicle. You can rent it out to cover the cost of ownership, and some insurances give you discounts for multiple vehicles so you can wind up owing less with 1 new and 1 old than with just 1 new.

Other perks, never worry about going over mileage again, you can just switch to your acura for a few months. Less pressure at leasing time, because you can take your time finding the right new car because you have something to drive. Help out friend and family, by lending them a car when they are in distress and be a hero. Get a smaller/sportier car for fun, because you have the acura available for when you need a larger vehicle. 

[DeeBee78]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I used to buy cars but I like to have new things so I switched to leasing a few years back. I have an Acura TLX and my lease is up in 2019, however usually halfway through the lease they offer to move you into a newer car, same payment, no additional money down. My issue this time is that I moved from California to Texas and my commute went from 1 mile to 50 miles, meaning my 12k mile allowance is shot, I'm 18 months in at 40k. Whats my best option? Negotiate to waive the mileage charge? Pay the mileage overage? Buy the car? Sell it? 

Need advice.

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I don't see how leasing a new car is going to save you money when you're still going to be adding thousands of miles a month to it, just like you're doing with your current vehicle. Most leases have a maximum 15,000 miles/year built into them to prevent the car's residual from dropping too far. Granted, you can buy additional mileage, but again, you're not saving any money by doing so.

I myself was worried about this with my leased Audi. I wasn't sure if I wanted to keep the car, and in the first three months of ownership ended up putting over 7,000 miles on it. I decided to buy a second commuter car, and since then have brough the mileage down to 8,000 miles under where it should be (25,000 versus 33,000). I'm acutally planning on keeping the car, so I was worried for no real reason.

Have you thought about buying a commuter car to keep your mileage down as much as possible? You may find that a $4,000 commuter car is a lot cheaper than paying out the mileage at the end of your lease. Other than that, I would plan on buying the car out at the end of the lease. 

[Anonymous]

If it is a good car buy it ... your commute is too long for leasing now so you will probably do better just owning the car. When you get it paid off keep it as a commuter and lease a fun car with 10k a year to keep it cheap.