Getting out of car lease

[Baldeagle721]

Does anyone have experience getting out of a car lease?

[MilesTeg]

Does anyone have experience getting out of a car lease?

There are generally only two possibilities of getting out of a lease without paying a bunch:

1. Find someone else to take over the lease (not always possible, depends on laws and the language of the lease)
2. Buy out the lease and immediately sell the car (not always a good financial move but can be, you have to run the numbers).

[Silrossi46]

I do.  In my younger days I leased a sports car and then decided the thrill was over much sooner than the lease term.  I used swap a lease.com advertised the vehicle and basically offered it to the next person for the remainder of the terms and miles.  Obviously if you are way over on the miles it may not work out since the person taking it over would have to incur the cost of the overage.  If you are under on the miles it may work in the favor of the person who is taking it over.  They get to drive the car short term and enjoy it for the remaining miles. 

There is a caveat here.  You need to check with the original lease company to make sure they will support a lease transfer.  If they do not then you cannot do it.  The reason would be that whatever the person does to the car would still deem the responsibility of you the original leasee.  If they support a lease transfer then the full responsibility of the lease gets transferred over to the new owner.  This will hold you harmless to whatever happens to the car after you transfer it over.  This is very important.  I would not do it any other way. 

Hope this helps. 

[cool7hand]

The lease document will tell you under what circumstances you can get out. You probably have to pay a penalty. It could be worth it depending on how much time is left. Once you understand the terms, it should just be q question of math.

[Dave1442397]

Try CarMax. A friend in CA got out of her Honda Civic lease after she lost her job last year. CarMax actually gave her more than the lease buyout amount, and she walked away with $1400.

From their site " In most cases, you can sell your leased car in almost the same way as any other financed car. We’ll appraise the car, then contact the leasing company for a payoff quote and process any equity you might have. Please note that some leasing companies will not allow you to sell the car prior to the expiration of the lease. Also, be aware that your leased car might not be eligible for trade-in tax savings. Check with your leasing company for complete details."

[theoverlook]

Also try getting a Carvana offer. ( https://www.carvana.com/ ) The used car market is so hot right now you can sometimes get a decent amount of cash in addition to getting out from under the lease.