I'm in a bad situation with my lease ending next month and I'm trying to cut my losses.

I've driven the car an excess of 15k miles. And when it comes to excess wear and tear I have a couple a small deep scratches on the rear bumper where someone clipped me and curb rash on the rims. I figure, based on the lease inspection, I'm facing anywhere from $2250-2700 in penalties.

So I started considering the purchase option. The payout amount is $19500 for an 04 coupe. I'm not looking to keep the car but to sell it to avoid the lease penalties.

So my questions are these:
Is there any way that I can offer the car to someone else for the payout amount? Or else, the way I see it I would have to pay the buyout 19500 + CA sales tax ~$22,000. To come out even I'd have to sell the car for 22,000. Is it worth the risk to try to get 22k for an 04 auto coupe (base model with 18 wheels) with 53k mies?

A rep from IFS told me that I could get an interested buyer to front the money then tranfer the title to their name in order to avoid paying sales tax twice on the car. Is this legitmate option that's completely legal? How is the buyer protected during the transaction?

I'm sorry if I rambled on. I desperately need advice. Thank you for any input and suggestions.

 

good questions, lease experts chime in!!

 

In your situation, the Blue Book for private party sales would run around 22k I believe (might be off like 1k here/there). But if you really wanted to avoid the excess charges, couldnt you hypothetically get a loan for like 5/6 years for the 19k to buy out the lease. Then turn around and sell it privately for 22k?? I mean our cars really kept their value very well, the way I see it, you could even sell it for 19-20k and still not have to pay out of pocket...??

Im curious to know, b/c I wish to lease my next car...

 

If your buyout is 19.5k? then that is what you owe, buyer pays sales tax, DMV fees. If you need a car to drive after your current lease is up? you could trade it in before the lease is up to avoid extra mileage and some of the wear and tear, you might get bit lower value for your trade cus the conditions and higer mileage, most of the time? dealership dont really care much wheather if you had 40k or 50k miles on the trade in's, certainly wont be like 15 cents per mile when you return it.

Its no different than selling the financed car, "someone" send the money in and lien holder sends the title to "someone" then you or buyer would have to send/go to DMV to transfer the title and pay the sals tax/registration fee, or you could go into any dealership and ask them to do the paper work for you for small fees.

 

ok - I'm a finance manager for a car dealership.

First, don't buy the car out. too much risk!

What are you going to buy to replace the vehicle you are in now?

Do you want to ask Infiniti to extend your lease term another three months to give you a little time to figure out if you want another infiniti or not? wink wink

can you negotiate your penalties into a new car deal so you can spread the pain out into your next car? (by the way, infiniti should waive $500 in excess wear and tear fees, at least they did 6 months ago when I sold nissans)

too many loose ends for me to really give you an expert opinion. but do NOT buy your car out!

 

Why not buy the car? I have a 1 yr lease that's up in July. I was planning to put down 6k finance the rest and wait a year until the bugs are out of the G37. It's an 06 with 6k on the clock. I'm sure it's got equity now with that low milage. It's possible I may put the 6k down to lease the G37 but I'd rather wait. Anything wrong with my plan?

 

once the g37 comes out the g35's will TANK in value. Never buy a second gen car in its last year of production, unless you plan on keeping the car for a looooong time to get your money out of it.

by the way, you can never be sure you are in an equity position in a lease! wholesale value is driven by demand and nothing else; there will be a flood of g's on the market once the g37 comes out. best to finish your lease, turn it in and move on.

 

So hypothetically I can take someone with me to the dealership have them pay the buyout and IFS doesn't care who's giving them money and will send them the title? Then the DMV won't care who has the title and will transfer the title to them? This seems like the option with the most potential. Wouldn't buyers jump at the chance of buying a 04 coupe for 19.5K with 53k miles? I'd even be willing to throw in some type of incentive as well.

By the way thank you for all your responses. I really appreciate the help.

 

Lending company dont care where or who they send the titles to, as long as the check is good! DMV wont care either, as long you have pink silp in hand.

I think 19.5k is good price, I did quick check on autotrader, most of 04 coupe are asking more than 23k, so I'd think you have good chance for quick sale, just need to do it before the term is up.

 

I just sold my leased 06 G35 to my buddy for the payoff. He just came with me to the Infiniti dealer, they handle everything, he just had to pay some doc fees (about $450) plus tag and tax. That was it. I was out of my '06, and jump into my new '07 G35 tonite.
Very simple!

 

I just got off the phone with the lease return manager from the dealership I purchased the car from and was told just as you have described. Thanks for the info.

For anyone that's worried about the end of lease inspection, I had mine done today and wasn't charged for any excess wear and tear. I had the common front bumper riddled with rock chips, and a couple of small but deep scratches on the rear that I tried to touch up before the inspection, curb rash and some scratches on the wheels, and one moderate sized ding.