How To End A Car Lease Early?

Leasing a car is a tempting proposition for many. After all, who doesn’t want to drive a brand new vehicle for a low monthly payment which can be easily traded-in within two or three years—before the car even breaks out of warranty?

So, you signed up for a car lease thinking it would be all well but there you are stuck with it. And now you think you need to get rid of this mistake as fast as you can because you can’t keep pace with the monthly payments.

Well, there are a lot of people in the same boat. That’s why we decided to help whomever is out there struggling with their car lease. This post will talk about the top 5 ways to get rid of your current car lease. So, let’s dive in.

Transfer Your Lease Early

The number one thing you can do to terminate your vehicle lease contract earlier is to transfer it.

Now, the question is who would like to take the burden of your vehicle lease. Well, here is the thing, there are various third party companies who actually offer this service.

The most popular ones are Swap A Lease or Lease Trader.

They don’t take the burden on themselves but connect you to people who would like to get your lease transferred to them.

You’ll also have to pay a transfer fee which range anything between $50 to $5000.

Buy and Then Sell The Vehicle

Most people are just not aware that they have the option of buying the vehicle from the leasing company at any point of their lease term. This is called an early buyout and you’ll have to pay an early termination fee ranging anywhere between $200-$5000 plus any depreciation cost. So, the first thing you have to do is find out the payoff amount. Do contact the leasing company directly for it. The next step is to find someone who would be willing to buy your car. Note that since you’ll be buying the car from a leasing company and then selling it to a third party, you may have to bear taxes. You can visit your state’s DMV website to know the details about it. Some states may have an exception to the rule.

You can either choose to sell the vehicle off to either a private party or trade it in at a dealership.

Return The Vehicle To The Leasing Company

The next simple and straightforward step you can make to get out of the car lease is to terminate it before the contract ends.

You can directly return the vehicle to your lessor, but it will attract penalties for early termination of the lease contract.

This penalty is called a termination fee which is generally a large sum. You can compare the cost of this fee vs the cost of monthly payments. It will help you to understand if paying this termination fee is worth and whether you should actually go for it.

Ask The Leasing Company For Help

This is one of the measures you can try before going to the above mentioned steps which are more aggressive. You can get in touch with your leasing company and let them know that you’re in financial trouble and that you need a bit of time to get back on your feet.

This step would be especially suitable if you’re facing a temporary financial crisis and you don’t want to end the lease contract right now.

They may offer you a payment relief for a few months or temporarily suspend your contract.

You can utilize the time gap to get back on your feet and then continue with your lease term without incurring the penalty.

Default The Payment

Firstly, we must tell you that this is the least and the last recommended way to get out of your vehicle lease contract. If you conclude that the hassles of all the other options mentioned here aren’t worth your time, money, and effort- then you can simply stop paying your monthly payments.

However, you should also be ready for your credit score to drop tremendously or even getting sued.

On the other hand, if you’re not ready for such a risk, reach out to your local dealership in Fresno, Western Motors Fresno and let us help!