I know that, but the other posters brought up a lot of valid points. Ben-C (the OP) did not even state that he was interested in buying the car, his main concern was the residual price in the contract and that was what I was addressing. Some people want you to think that a signed, sealed, and delivered contract is “written in stone” but I would say that the toughness of the “stone” is only as strong as the stubbornness of the signees.
Ben-C has nothing to lose if he wants to keep the car and has a “talk” with the dealership. As I said, it all depends on how much the dealership wants to get from underneath this car. If the car is a hot seller, Ben-C should be grateful for the “low-price,” but if this car is a slow mover, a “park-it-in-the-back-of-the-lot-model”, then the dealership might be willing to lower the price so they do not have to mess with it…
And I never suggested that Ben-C should not honor and abide by the contract, just see if he can renegotiate the contract based on “world events” since he originally signed the lease…
One final thought for Ben-C; if you decide to return the car at the end of the lease, I suggest you pay to have it detailed and all other nitpicky “s#@t” that the dealer will want you to pay for if done by the dealership (like repainting the front end because there is a chip in the paint…).
Nest time, consider “Rent a Wreck” or “Lease a Lemon” and they might just pay you to take it off their hands when the lease if over…
Seriously Snowman . As much trouble this person is having with the early cancelation of a lease do you really think he can do all that is required ? I don’t . First where is the 41000.00 going to come from , then registration fees , trying to handle selling this expensive vehicle and possibly have early payoff fees for the 41000.00 loan if that is what he had to do.
I only leased one car, A1994 Mitsubishi Gallant. At the end of the lease it belonged to Mitsubishi, not the dealer. I tried to buy it at the end of the lease but they would not budge on the contract residual price so I let it go.
The 94 was a great handling car . It had a double wishbone front suspension but the next year they cheapened it by putting in a strut front suspension.
I am not normally in favor of leases but I lioked the car, needed one in a hurry for a long planned trip but was not sute if I wanted to BUY a Mitsubishi, plus, they gave me $1500 more for my 87 Reliant than anyone else would… That was more than I had paid for the Reliant 3 years earlier at a US Marshall’s auction.
This is what happens when hanging around the sales department while waiting for an oil change. You are in the middle of a lease so the salesperson can’t sell you a new vehicle, maybe they can sell you the vehicle you are leasing.
Every lease has a “money factor” which is the effective interest rate (when you multiply by 2,400). Your payments don’t go to reduce the residual value by 100%. Your money factor is baked into your lease contract and should be negotiated up front when leasing, similar to negotiating loan interest rates on a finance deal.
A good lease is one that has a low money factor and well negotiated price for the vehicle. This results in the lowest residual value at lease end (or if you want to terminate early). Most leases are NOT set up this way and people don’t know that leases are just as negotiable as purchases (and dealers definitely take advantage of this).
Either way, residual value is all part of the details in your lease contract that you signed. Also in your lease contract is your money factor and the price of the vehicle that the lease was based on. If you didn’t negotiate hard and pay close attention to the details then you probably got a raw deal.
The person did not say but I get the impression that they don’t like the 600 dollar monthly payment they now have . If they have to borrow the 41000.00 the monthly payment at 2% ( not likely that low as this is a used vehicle ) for 60 months will be higher than 700.00 a month .
Sticking with my previous advice . Finish the lease period , turn the vehicle back in and purchase a more affordable new vehicle.
