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Lease ending, looking to buy new car, need some advice/roadmap

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Thanos316
Established Member

Lease ending, looking to buy new car, need some advice/roadmap

Need some help/advice on how to go about this, so anything will help right now, and theres a few wild cards.

 

TL;DR
I have a lease ending in December, would like to buy the car off, only to sell it (I think theres still some value), and use that money to put a down payment on a new car (to own, not to lease).

 

 

I got a lease on Dec 2019 for a Honda Civic, new, for 3 years.

Wild Card #1, I have 2 payments left, although technically 4. During 2020 Covid, we postponed 2 payments.
I do like the car, but I really only got it because I needed something to get around at the time while I built my credit up (this lease was cosigned).


I'm looking to purchase a Ford Bronco, although the price tag is a bit hefty. I didn't put a down payment on the lease for the Honda, but I dont want to lose the $9,000+ ive put on the Honda in the last 3 years. Which is why I'm looking to potentially buy the car at the end of the lease.


Wild Card #2, the car registration is due Dec 11, same day as my "last" car lease payment. I feel it'd be a waste to pay that car registration, only to buy the car outright, and then sell it.

 

Is it doable to look for an auto loan to purchase the Honda at the end of the lease, then go to maybe Carmax, or whoever, and sell the car, pay the loan off, and use the rest as a down payment on the Bronco, then obviously get some kind of new auto loan for the Bronco?

I'm wondering if thats too many loans in a short period of time.
My credit currently sits at about 700 across all 3 bureaus. No negatives or collections. DTI ratio looks pretty good. All payments made on time for the last 4 years (credit history started during that time). I make over $110k/year.

 

I basically don't want to lose on the $9000 ive put in the honda. Ive looked for what my car can potentially sell for, and it looks like the car hasn't depreciated much, I'm hoping to sell it at least for what its worth brand new. It is also under 30k miles, no damage or anything.

 

Wild Card #3, although I dont think it matters on my end, my cosigner just recenlty got a DUI. I'm not sure if that will affect me or the leases contract, etc. I could be wrong.

 

Anyone with some advice for me? Whats a good roadmap to getting a new car in my situation? I'm not a frequent car buyer, and am not good at all with terms or what I can and cant do, so i'm a little new at this.

Thank you for any info you can provide!

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2 REPLIES 2
Gmood1
Super Contributor

Re: Lease ending, looking to buy new car, need some advice/roadmap

The key is to get all of your loan pre-approvals at the same time. Look for those banks or CUs that give you 45 to 90 day windows to purchase. This is if you plan to buy and sell multiple vehicles in a short period of time.

I obtained four pre-approvals before purchasing two vehicle earlier this year. Used two different banks for purchases done several weeks apart.

Basically neither bank knew about the other loan, because it was based on my credit before both purchases. 

The goal was to sell one of them. Which is exactly what I did. 

Buy your current vehicle. From there check Carvana, Vroom, CarMax and any other company on what they'll offer you for the Honda. It may take a month for the registration to show up, in order for them to pull info on the Honda, before they'll quote a offer price. 

 

What will you drive while you wait on the Bronco? Those aren't that easy to come by. As they are mostly retail orders placed a year ago by individuals. I haven't looked recently, but some dealerships were selling these $10,000 above MSRP.. maybe more. Which I find absolutely insane! 🤣🤣

 

Me, I'd buy the Honda and just keep driving it for now.

Order your Bronco, which may take a year or more to show up. But at least it will be at MSRP without an added ADM of 10 grand. 

 

In the meantime, pay off the Honda and keep it as a daily commuter. Two operating vehicles, is always better than one! Unless you live in NYC🤣.

 

 

Message 2 of 3
pizzadude
Credit Mentor

Re: Lease ending, looking to buy new car, need some advice/roadmap

I agree with the advice above, also have a question on your scores as you mentioned they're all around 700.   I'd expect them to be higher if you don't have any negative accounts or derogatory items.   How long ago did you pull your FICO scores ?   Also what does your revolving utilization look like currently ?

March2010 FICO® ~ 695 TU, 653 EQ, 697 EX
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