Lease End Advise

[jrc_bar]

Hi guys,
I just wanted to see if any of you have done anything like this or could give me some advise.

I have an 06 Toyota 4runner V8 that I leased as my daily beater. It has been good to me and I think I would not have any issues if I had to drive it for a few years more.
The Lease is ending next March. I was researching used car values on my 4runner and due to gas prices, the used price is low compared to the purchase off price. In the range of 15k to 18k. With about the same mileage mine has.
I was revising my options for this SUV for when the lease ends and it looks like its not worth refinancing or purchasing from Toyota unless they sell it to me at a lower price. The purchase off price is 21k plus the licensing and registration.

I read several articles where they mention that Chrysler has stopped leasing cars and that Ford has made it so expensive that clients just don't have another option but to purchase.
I read that Toyota might either cancel their lease program or increase their leasing pricing to make it less affordable.

In general context I think the car I have is a good one and was wondering if I wanted to keep it If the purchase off price can be negotiated?
Has any one done that?
I was thinking of telling Toyota, either you sell me the car at market value or less, or I will just return the SUV and have them swallow the loss. The car is in excellent condition reducing risk for end of lease fees. For me It would be the same, If they agree I get to purchase my beater at a better price, if I return it I will most likely look into buying a new Land Cruiser or maybe a newer 4runner.
What do you guys think?
Thanks in advance for your coments.

 

[Slider]

I'm not sure how flexible they'll be to negoitiating on the purchase price, but like you said, if you can't get it at a reasonable price just turn it in.

With the crappy economy there are a lot of deals to be had on cars, so that should work to your advantage.

Asking is worth a shot. The worst they can say is no.

 

[Falls]

This will be interesting to see where you end up. My 06 lease ends in Feb/09 . My buyout is $17 , BUT thats for an 82,000 lease . I will have about 55-60,000 miles which has been my saving grace as far as value.

I watch the local market closely and the used runners are actually not real cheap here . 3 year old 4R's have been selling for about low-mid 20's with milage in the 40-50k range that are lease turn in's or trades.

I do plan on buying out and keeping mine , BUT my wife thinks I should update to an 08 now and purchase one for the 0% interest which is a good deal but don't really want to spend/owe the money. I'm sure the 09's will not have these great deals .

In 09 the Trail Edition comes out which will be interesting , it's an basically an SR5 , with a rear locker and 16" tires , some other odd's and ends , interesting , but not going to pay a premium for it. At this point I don't see anything overly special to it . Maybe if I see one and what it looks like i might change my tune.

Bottom line , just don't want debt !!

 

[jrc_bar]

The local used car market here is more depreciated, because dealers need to spend more to send the cars out of town. I have researched the local market a little bit and 4runners similar to mine are beeing sold localy at about $16 to $18. Which makes me think I could negotiate something with Toyota.
I intend to buy out my car too if they agree to a lower price, the point is that I would not like to pay more for my car and walk of the dealer looking at their preowned runners $3k o $4k less in price than what the buyout is.
I agree with you I just dont want to have more debt but dont want to over pay for a car that is loosing its value faster than the buyout price is reducing itself.

This will be interesting to see where you end up. My 06 lease ends in Feb/09 . My buyout is $17 , BUT thats for an 82,000 lease . I will have about 55-60,000 miles which has been my saving grace as far as value.

I watch the local market closely and the used runners are actually not real cheap here . 3 year old 4R's have been selling for about low-mid 20's with milage in the 40-50k range that are lease turn in's or trades.

I do plan on buying out and keeping mine , BUT my wife thinks I should update to an 08 now and purchase one for the 0% interest which is a good deal but don't really want to spend/owe the money. I'm sure the 09's will not have these great deals .

In 09 the Trail Edition comes out which will be interesting , it's an basically an SR5 , with a rear locker and 16" tires , some other odd's and ends , interesting , but not going to pay a premium for it. At this point I don't see anything overly special to it . Maybe if I see one and what it looks like i might change my tune.

Bottom line , just don't want debt !!

 

[MikesToy]

Did you do the math? How much was the total price back then if you had to purchase it? Get that amount. Now, calculate the total of your lease payments then add that 21K. If it's less than what they would have sold it you back then, THEN you gotta deal. But with the crappy economy this world has, they may negotiate with you with a lower price. I think there's something in writing when you first leased the vehicle that you have the option to buy the vehicle at the end of the lease at some residual value.

 

[Jeff Kleb]

End of Lease


At the end of my lease in January of 2008, the local stealership really did not want to "play ball" with me at all -- unless I bought another new Toyota from them.

I tried to sell the 2005 4Runner myself (Internet ad) before my lease terminated, but most of the calls I got were people from other web pages trying to sell me advertising space on their sites. Fuel prices had just started to climb, and the market for SUVs was feeling the crunch. I tried for a few weeks to sell it, but found that I would have to "buy it" from Toyota, pay the state sales tax on the residual value and then re-sell it to a new buyer and have them pay the sales tax again on it. No thanks!

I ended up leasing a new 2008 Mustang GT from a Ford dealer (who wanted to offer me $500 less than the residual value of my 4Runner); so it was best just to 'walk away' from the 4Runner and leave it at the Toyota shop & then get the 'Stang across town the same day.


My 4Runner was in excellent condition and only had 33,500 miles on it. I always used synthetic oil and changed it twice as often as most people. Someone ended up with a well-treated, very clean and cared-for SUV in their driveway. I bet Toyota probably made a nice chunk of change from the next customer, too.

There's an '05 SR5 somewhere that probably misses me dearly.



I leased my '08 GT (which is a blast to drive, obviously) for two years, so I can keep it or let it go in January of 2010. With fuel prices being so volatile, I have no clue where the market will go for a V8, rear-drive muscle car. Even with a 300bhp V8, it still gets much better gas mileage than did the 4Runner.

Maybe it will be time to see how nice the upcoming Camaro will be (sure looks nice in the magazine pictures I have seen) and if Chevy/GM will have any lease incentives available. I hear that the 2010 Camaro "base" engine will be a 300 hp V6 and that two V8 options with 400+ hp will be available for the SS and Z28 models. Sweet!!
:awais:


P.S. That's a long way off, though, and nobody knows where the economy will be going by then.

 

[Falls]

I personally think the auto market has taken a big hit on ALL their vehicles because people just are not buying. The people who ACTUALLY NEED a big SUV or a FULL SIZED truck will still buy one. Its the people who bought one that really didn't need it that go another direction.

The whole industry is taking a hit , full sized , mid sized ( like the 4R ) , even compacts . People want to hang on to their money during these uncertain times.

Automakers of every brand are hurting .

I look at it this way with mine. If my buyout is inline with the value , then I will buy it otherwise I will look for a new/used vehicle if I was to buy used I would rather have the one I know I took care of and maintained then buying something used or off lease where people may not been as picky or maintained as well as I did. Sometimes leased vehicles are not taken care of very well since they use them and dump them.