car lease

[Anonymous]

HI, all.

I have a leased toyota corolla 2005, I leased it in 05 and the lease is over end of July of 09. The car is in good condition, but I made heavy mile usage on it. It's a little bit 40K now, and suposed to be not more than 48K by next July. What's the best way to get out of it? Trade it in sooner the the end of lease or wait till the end of it and pay a fee or maybe there's another option or a couple? 

[Anonymous]

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Victoria wrote:

HI, all.

I have a leased toyota corolla 2005, I leased it in 05 and the lease is over end of July of 09. The car is in good condition, but I made heavy mile usage on it. It's a little bit 40K now, and suposed to be not more than 48K by next July. What's the best way to get out of it? Trade it in sooner the the end of lease or wait till the end of it and pay a fee or maybe there's another option or a couple? 

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Hi Victoria!

I recently paid to get out of a lease 4 months early.  GMAC offers their pull-ahead program, though I'm not sure Toyota offers such a thing.  We split the different as they paid for two months and so did I.  This works if you lease another vehicle from them.

One consideration for me regarding early termination was the warranty that was in effect.  One reason I lease is to avoid any car expenses other than basic maintenance.

I always pre-pay miles on my leases and don't feel guilty at all when I decide to go out for a Sunday drive.  The end-user fees are always so much higher than pre-pays!

Perhaps you could stop by the Toyota dealer and see what they have to offer you. 

Good luck!

Peas

[Anonymous]

Thank you so much for the adivce!

I've never heard of pre-paid miles. What is it? When can you prepay your miles and is too late for me to do it? Also, do you know what the usual penalty for over mile usage is?

[Anonymous]

Lease miles per year vary -- 10.5, 12 and 15k are pretty standard.  I have 15k (per year x 3.25yrs) and pre-paid for an additional wear and tear warranty.  I'm sure someone will disagree with this purchase, but the price of my add-on was less than a set of new tires, which will be covered under the warranty. 

It seems like I've always had 60 days after the purchase to alter the contract w/ GMAC.  You would have to call the dealership to check if you can do this.

I did a quick search to see the typical excess mileage fees.  It looks like they range from $0.10 to $0.25 per mile.

Hope this helps!  (And sorry it took so long -- it's been a very long day.)

-Peas 

[Anonymous]

Peas, thanks a lot!!

[Anonymous]

Victoria - my '05 Toyota lease ended May 18. In September '07 (8 months before my lease was to expire) I received a letter from Toyota saying that, since I was such a good customer (never late with lease payments) they would pay the balance of my lease and put me in a  new '08 Toyota. I did not take them up on their offer - but if you have a good payment history with them, Toyota is eager to keep you as a customer. I'd wait until the Fall (sept. or oct.) and them ask them about an early lease termination - with no penalty or payment.