I made a stupid descision and now I can't take it back

[maiden_girl]

I purchased a 2015 Toyota Corolla LE Plus in a lease with option to buy after 36 months. The payments are $387 a month but I feel I paid too much for the vehicle and with a trade in, I don't think I got a fair price for my 2014 Kia Forte. Ive never traded a vehicle before so I didn't know what to expect. I knew I was upside down with the Forte when I traded it because I owed 14,500 and the car was only worth 11,000 in KBB. I feel like I will be upside down thousands if I try to end my lease agreement early with the Corolla or try to find someone to take over my lease agreement. I am willing to be without a car for a while. I admit that I made a really bad decision and should have kept the vehicle I traded in. I would like to correct the situation. However I am really unsure what to do at this point. I'm considering voluntarily vurrendering my vehicle--I'm unsure of the damage now but some insight will be helpful. I know there will be penalitites and my credit score will tank but I just can't stay in this bad car loan. In three years I will have paid 14k for this vehicle as a lease. I  just don't see this car as my forever car and I'm looking at all options to terminate this lease early without buying another car. PLEASE HELP!

[grassfeeder]

if you can afford the payments of the new, I'd wait it out and make better decisions in 36 months.  If you do something like surrender, it may take that long just to rebuilt your credit which looks good based on your scores.  Live and learn I'd say.

[jeffeverde]

Separate from getting out of this lease - you should be aware that a lease is absolutely the WORST possible way to acquire your "forever car".  Your final purchase price is substantially higher than if you bought a new car outright.  And buying a new car is the SECOND WORST way to acquire a forever car.   Buy a couple-year old car, and let someone else take the big depraction hit.  If you want the dealer experience, off-lease cars can save you 20-30% of the new car price for a fairly new and fairly low mileage car, and are typically sold with the same warranty and perks as a new-car purchase.  

I typically keep my "forever cars" for 10+ years, and retire them at around 250k miles.  The current one is at 275k, and it refuses to die.  At this point, excluding consumables, it's cost me an average of $800/year (that purchase price AND maintenance).  I love not having a car payment. 

[maiden_girl]

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@grassfeeder wrote:

if you can afford the payments of the new, I'd wait it out and make better decisions in 36 months.  If you do something like surrender, it may take that long just to rebuilt your credit which looks good based on your scores.  Live and learn I'd say.

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That's the thing...I think I'm in over my head with the monthly payments and I have no idea what to do. I am willing to return the lease early and pay fees upfront but that doesn't seem like an option at this point. I called Toyota and they only advised a voluntary surrender. Didn't even offer me monthly payment suggestions. I feel stuck.

[0REDSOX7]

What were your payments on your other car?

[Anonymous]

If there is any way at all for you to afford the monthly payments for three years that's the route you should take.  If you surrender your car your credit will take a nosedive and will make it very difficult to finance or lease another car.

[Anonymous]

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@maiden_girl wrote:

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@grassfeeder wrote:

if you can afford the payments of the new, I'd wait it out and make better decisions in 36 months.  If you do something like surrender, it may take that long just to rebuilt your credit which looks good based on your scores.  Live and learn I'd say.

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That's the thing...I think I'm in over my head with the monthly payments and I have no idea what to do. I am willing to return the lease early and pay fees upfront but that doesn't seem like an option at this point. I called Toyota and they only advised a voluntary surrender. Didn't even offer me monthly payment suggestions. I feel stuck.

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Not sure about how you feel about put this in the forum but care to run us through your budget? 

Also you could see if yuo can trade it in /sell it. It seems unlikely and you will definitely end up paying the difference on a car you are not even driving.  And that is assuming the bank is willing to do this in the first place.

You will pay 14k for the lease and the upside down value you took when you traded in your 2014 kia. 3.5k of this was for the kia deficit so your lease cost is 10.5k. This is not a god awful lease. (ok it does depend on net cap cost, residual value, money factor and taxes and fees in your contract -- care to share those as well?) If you got the low end automatic kia trade in then you didn;t get a horrendous trade in value -- the problem is you traded it in at all in only 1 yr. 

You keep talking about  your forever car but it is irrelevant if this is your forever car. This is your car right now.   And it comes back to budget ....

[StartingOver10]

A voluntary surrender is a repossession. It is coded as a repo on your credit report. There is no difference between a voluntary surrender and an involuntary repo scorewise.

You will be hit especially hard because your scores are good. If you had crappy scores now, then the repo wouldn't do as much damage - but that is not your situation. When you surrender the car you still owe the entire amount remaining on your lease contract, less whatever value they give you in the surrender. So you will be on the hook anyway, but you won't have the car.

There is no such thing as a forever car. Deal with the situation you have at hand right now:

1) Look at your budget and start to trim away all the little areas of fat to find the funds to make the payment.

2) Pick up a second job to make the payment.

3) Sell it (find out what your options are here since you have a lease).

A repo stays on your credit for 7 years.

[Anonymous]

You could try to contact the dealership and see if they will sell you the vehicle, then you might try to go to a place like carmax, craigslist, ebay, and try to get rid of it there.  You will probably be at a loss for about 4-6k depending on prices off the bat, if it were me I would just keep the car till the end of the lease but its up to you, remember a car is really just to get from point A to B,(and loses value fast).  Your forever car should be Tesla model 3 coming out in 2017, Good luck.

[Creditaddict]

I think you need to figure out how to keep this car for 36 months and then turn it in and walk away from the lease and buy your next car.

Your payments can't be that much more than the Forte?