Leasing Advice needed

Anonymous · ‎10-31-2008

In August of 2007, my husband and I leased a vehicle. Stupidest thing I ever did, and since he looks to me for financial advice, I completely blame myself. To top it all off, we both despise this car! Twice now, he's turned the key and tried to move the shifter from Park to Drive and it's locked up. First time it happened, he'd had the car less than one month and was stranded at the airport.

Is it possible to get the hell out of this lease? I don't want to trust someone else to "take over the payments." Worked too hard to get us both out of the very bottom 500 scores into the 700s. I also don't want any negative equity rolled into a new loan.

BUT, if it's possible to get out from under this thing and into a car that he actually likes, on a loan instead of a lease, I want to explore the possibilities.

We may not be upside down on the thing. I haven't taken this process as far as investigating that yet. The lease is about 15 months old, and it was a 36 month lease. If we have to just let it ride, we will, but if there are other alternatives that don't include trusting some stranger to make the payments (out of the question) or rolling over a massive amount of negative equity (don't want to compound one stupid decision with yet another), I would like to explore it.

Any thoughts?

Anonymous · ‎11-01-2008

I assume you have taken the car in for repair? I would threaten them that they are violating the lease and warranty if they can't repair the shifter.

If it is just a matter of taste I think you should just stick it out the final 21 months. Cars are really just a mode of transportation, and as long as they get you there safely and have basic comforts I think you can tolerate a car for 21 months. Usually you can break a lease but there is a horrible fee and you will be upside down because the depreciation is evened out in the payments but actually comes quickest the first few years since a car is driven off the lot.

I say this as a driver of a Honda Civic Coupe, it looks nice and I likely would not repeat the purchase, but I will stick out the full length of the loan and likely keep it a year or two beyond that because it makes financial sense.

Anonymous · ‎11-01-2008

@Anonymous wrote:
I assume you have taken the car in for repair? I would threaten them that they are violating the lease and warranty if they can't repair the shifter.

If it is just a matter of taste I think you should just stick it out the final 21 months. Cars are really just a mode of transportation, and as long as they get you there safely and have basic comforts I think you can tolerate a car for 21 months. Usually you can break a lease but there is a horrible fee and you will be upside down because the depreciation is evened out in the payments but actually comes quickest the first few years since a car is driven off the lot.

I say this as a driver of a Honda Civic Coupe, it looks nice and I likely would not repeat the purchase, but I will stick out the full length of the loan and likely keep it a year or two beyond that because it makes financial sense.

They have, of course, repaired the shifter twice. Apparently, this is a frequent problem with this particular car because both towing companies reported that they have had to pick up quite a number of these cars with the same problem.

It's more than a matter of taste. It isn't a question of whether we find the car asthetically pleasing, and we've never been interested in impressing the neighbors or anyone else---there has been a steady stream of mechanical problems with the car and, frankly, I could do much better financially with a loan than with this lease. Doing the lease in the first place was a bad choice on my part. If I can get out of the lease without suffering financial detriment, I would. If not, then oh, well. We'll just ride out the lease, keep track of the repairs and if we hit the magic number under the lemon laws, we'll get out that way.

BUT, if I can find a way out of the lease early, without it costing us too much financially, that would be my preference.

Any thoughts on that?

Anonymous · ‎11-01-2008

As mentioned, your lease contract should have information about early termination. Expect steep fees/penalties. That's the place to start researching how much it would cost to end the lease. I've heard the fees can add up to the cost if you kept the car and made each month's payment, if not more. Once you know how much it would cost to terminate the lease, you can make a decision.

Takunda1 · ‎11-02-2008

Leasetrader.com is your friend. Hope that helps.