i've never really leased a car before, and my mom wants to return the car she leased, she has had it only for over a year and now she wants to get soemthing else., the car is an 04 mbz s430 it has 4year lease..

how do i breka it? i just want to return it, and she wants to get a range rover instead.? what do we do and what should we expect?

i called mbz credit and they told me that i have to payoff the remainder of the lease which is 48,000.00... is this correct?

i thought u just pay a penalty if u want to emd your lease early..

need help, im a lease newbie..

 

You are stuck unless you get someone to take over the lease (www.swapalease.com, www.leasetrader.com), BUT, she will still be held responsible for the car as the lesee on the contract if she went through MB Credit on the lease. They also put enormous restrictions on transfering a lease to someone from out of state, and if anything happens to the car while it is leased by someone else, she will be responsible according to MB. The other option is pay out the nose to get out - she'll have to pay all remaining finance charges and a huge penalty.

The short of it is, unless you have a close personal, trusting friend to take over your lease, you're in for the term.

 

Joe,

Unfortunately you are bound by the lease contract which must either be carried to term or paid off at the present value as prescribed by the contract.

Because of the way leases are structured, the market value of the car is almost always much less than the financed value as per the contract. Depending on how much money you put down and how hard/soft the market is on a particular vehicle, this difference could be as low as a couple thousand dollars or as high as tens of thousands of dollars.

Another option is to get someone to takeover the lease. The original lessee (you) will still remain ultimately liable if your buyer decides to take off to Mexico, but it's pretty much the easiest way to get out of the lease.

You may also wish to try new services like www.swaplease.com or www.leasetrader.com

 

thats what i thought, thats why im not a big fan of leases personally, but my mo had to do it for work purposes. she bought the s-calss but was not a fan of it. she's been an suv fan for long but was pursuaded by other family members to get the s-class..

mbz told us that it was gonna cost 48000 to break the lease and thats waaaay to much, if it was around the 20k range, i think we will do it,...

thats what i told my mom in the beginning buy the car thats "she" wants so not to have a ny regrets later

thanks.s.. so were pretty much SOL then

 

Joe

2 options I have done both multiple times

1) trade the car in on what she wants and take the hit, total payoff of car vs. what it gets wholesale. My parents just ditched an S430 for an S600 and took a 13k hit on the S430 and just dumped it into the S600 cost them an additional $225 pr/month. This usually only works if you are buying a more expensive car.

2) dont trade the car sell it outright and just call the leasing company for a payoff figure, whatever the difference is you need to pay out of pocket.

3) Lease the car to a close friend or family member perhaps absorbing some of the monthly cost, or what we call supplimenting the person. My cousin took my A6 2.7TT when I got my first 996m it had 28 months left on the lease I gave him a $2800 check therfore $100 a month of the lease cost.

THESE ARE ALL THE FACTS I HAVE DONE THIS ONE 10 TIMES OR MORE IN THE LAST 20 YEARS AND ALWAYS MADE OUT WELL.

GOOD LUCK!

 

I don't understand? You don't like leases because you can't just take a car back for the hell of it a year later? Can you do that when you finance? Of course not. Can you write a check for the car and take it back a year later and get a refund? Of course not. All she has to do is sell the car or trade it in just like she would if the car in question was owned or financed instead of leased. Any charges by the leasing company for early termination pale in comparison to the sales tax she saved on the car by not having to pay it because it was leased. She has only paid sales tax on a pro-rata share of the depreciation she has caused, used, and enjoyed since taking the car off the lot.

Again, what would she be doing relative to a financed or purchased car instead? Whatever your answer, you'll find you can do the same thing with the leased car.

 

"1) trade the car in on what she wants and take the hit, total payoff of car vs. what it gets wholesale. My parents just ditched an S430 for an S600 and took a 13k hit on the S430 and just dumped it into the S600 cost them an additional $225 pr/month. This usually only works if you are buying a more expensive car."

Exactly. Since leasing merely represents paying for depreciation on the vehicle + interest, the hit she will take on trade should be nearly identical to that she would have taken had she financed or written a check for the car. Only now, she won't have paid a bunch of sales tax on a car she didn't use 100%.

 

Joe, ditto. The fundamentals are the same here. Trade or sell is my advise.

T

 

Just trade it in and take the hit.

 

ok thanks guys.. shows u how much a newbie i am with leases... so we can trade the the s430 to the range rover dealership then?

so whatever the value they give to the 2430.. and teh difference between the trade in and the actual payoff amount is absorbed by us then right?

just want to make sure and if this is a go we will definitely do it then..

 

Ben, I am looking to unload my A8L (balance of 30 mo.) Unfortunately, it is not true in the state of IL. When you lease in IL, you have to pay tax on the entire price of the car, not the usage portion. Anyone want an A8 w/2 mo incentive

 

Before you take a hit on a trade, you said your mom owes about $48K. Kelly Blue Book says that an '04 with 15K miles in excellent condition should be worth $62K. If it's never been hit, still under warranty and has low mileage, why don't you try to sell it privately for mid $50's before you get taken by a "stealer" on a trade-in. You would still have cash to put in your pocket.

 

ow i forgot to mention the car has 60,000 mile son it , i know were gonna take a hit on it big time .....

thnakyou for all your help, we will try to trade it in then ..

 

Holy Cow!! 60K miles in a year. KBB says $37K on trade and $43K on private party sale. If Mercedes wants $48K to end the lease, do they know about the mileage? You may also have to pay $6-$7K more for excess mileage. I suggest that you go look at the lease and the clause about annual and excess mileage. You may end up paying $10-$15K to get out of this car.

 

She owes $48K to fulfill the lease. I did not interpret that as a payoff to get the car.