Lease buyout tips/tricks?

I don't believe the OP mentioned whether he wants to upgrade to another car or keep the one he is leasing. I assumed the latter, which is why I advised dealing directly with Toyota Financial.
Also, his lease isn't up until May; the Ford C-Max Energi Plug-in is due out by the end of this year. Interestingly, Ford is claiming to double the EV miles of the PiP at 20, while real-world mileage for at least some of us is closer to 15. Maybe the Ford will actually get closer to 30?
Ford C-MAX Energi Plug-In Hybrid Expected to Deliver 550-Mile Range and Nearly Double Electric-Only Range of Prius | Ford Motor Company Newsroom

 

Thread author didn't mention Ford Energi so not sure that's relevant to him. Energi was my reason for consider doing what the author was considering, talking to dealer about buying out lease early.

Again the oddball attack on lower income people and the bizarre worship of the bank's "credit score" business which is designed to encourage debt and has nothing to do with income but rewards taking out debt and paying it off.

You them mistakenly tie it to car leasing which is mostly by high income people leasing high end cars.

 

I was talking specifically about you with regard to the timing you mentioned in replying, in another post, when sagebrush said "Let us know how it works out for you." Depending on how soon you get your C-Max Energi after it comes out this fall, you would have the answers about the lease buyout, etc., sooner than would the OP, as his lease isn't up until May.
I think you have to be really careful if the dealer is involved, and you are leasing a new car. There is no real incentive for him to negotiate a lower-than-residual buyout, because he just rolls over the remaining lease payments, if any, into the new lease. This is similar to trading in a car with money still owed on it from the original purchase loan. The car then belongs to the lessor. And if he wants your current car for resale, he is going up against the lessor, who wants the profit over the residual, if there is any to be made.

 

The thread author's lease expires in May but he was asking about buying it out now, not May, that's why his question about buying out early.

He's buying out within months of the end of his lease so he really doesn't have an "early" buyout situation.

Mine, in the first year of the lease, would be an early buyout. Key's are the car's used value. Since Prius is high resale, it makes it a low risk for early buyout costs. Second key is how much the new vehicle dealer/mfg wants to make a sale as it affects how much they will provide in trade to do the lease buyout.

 

I never claimed a credit report had anything to do with your income. Living paycheck to paycheck has nothing to do a low income or a high income. There are people making $20,000 to $200,000 that live paycheck to paycheck.

Living paycheck to paycheck creates problems when an emergency occurs. That is when people living paycheck to paycheck get behind in their bills and it is a direct reflection of the credit score.

Many people that lease do live paycheck to paycheck. They go into dealer with a monthly payment in mind and the dealer sets them up with a lease.

 

OK, my interpretation was different. I thought he was just planning ahead. But he still does have an "early" buyout situation, IMHO, because he is looking to get out of the lease sometime before it concludes in May. By definition, that is "early," as he is not fulfilling the terms of the lease contract.

Clymberz, could you please clarify a couple of points? Are you trying to arrange an early buyout price now, and if so, are you going to trade it in as part of a deal on a new lease or purchase? Or, are you just looking for advice in preparation to negotiate the best price at the end of your lease, in order to keep the car?
Thank you.

 

At less than a year left on his lease, not really much of an early buyout. Especially true for a high resale value car like the Prius.

There's not much point in early buyout on a lease unless one is planning a new car purchase. If one is going to buy the leased vehicle, may as well wait until the end of the lease.

 

Yes, two slightly different strategies.

I just looked at the OP's previous postings and it looks like he asks this question about once a year after leasing his 2010. I think we can assume he is wanting to just own the vehicle. He has been told in the past that TFS will not negotiate on the residual buyout price, and he is just checking in to see if anything new may have developed on this front.

 

It does but nice try in walking back you bias against working people as part of your misunderstanding of who leases and why.

 

I agree up to a point. As explained in an earlier post, my friend was contacted before his lease was up, and by playing a little hard-to-get, he was able to buy the car at a price below the residual, and didn't have to make the last two lease payments. Now mind you, this was GMAC, on a Cadillac- not Toyota Financial on a car that, as you point out, has a high resale value.
If I may make a suggestion, can we all agree that some people like to lease cars, some don't, and some think it is a total financial blunder, regardless of income or wealth? The OP didn't ask his questions about whether or not leasing is right for him or anyone else, so can we just stay on topic, please? Thank you. Oops, sorry for the double post.

 

Correct and good idea. We had someone jump in and go off topic with their repeated bias against leasing and working people.

 

Has anyone had any luck negotiating a lower lease buyout with TFS in the last 6 months? If so, what were the circumstances?

 

That's OK. I can wait

LOL

 

It does not. It does not matter if you make $10,00 a year or $250,000 a year. Many people live paycheck to paycheck. Many people play the “Keep up with the Jones” game. The neighbor gets a in ground pool so they have to have one. The neighbor gets a new BMW 7 series so they get one. They lease.

These people typical have very bad credit scores because they never care how the bad decisions they make now will affect them later. They live for the day.

These are the most popular reason people claim they lease a Prius.

- I have a lot of money and like a new car every three years. (I doubt a Prius would be their first choice and they do not care about gas prices)
- The company I work for requires us to get a new car every three years. (This is extremely uncommon most companies will let their sales force keep a car for up to 6 years)
- The company I work for requires its field people to drive a car less than 3 years old to hold up and image. (Driving a Prius is not a flashy car)
- I get a better tax break on leasing (This is absolutely not true. The taxes work out the same if you work for a large company or a small company)

The real reason is their monthly payment is cheaper and they live paycheck to paycheck. How much they lose long term does not matter. They live for the day.

 

Talk about flogging a dead horse......
This is starting to sound like your rants about floor mats.

 

Clueless, you need to find another outlet.

 

But you need debt to do it. Utility bills only count if they go to collection. The entire "credit score" system is setup to encourage taking on debt so for someone to tout it as a reason not to lease has it totally backwards. Seen in the anti-working person bias of "paycheck to paycheck" being reason for leasing when the opposite is true since it is mostly used by higher income demographic for higher end cars, it is a way to spend the least amount on nice cars with no maintenance or warranty issues and upgrade often.

That wasn't the thread author's topic. He just asked most advantageous way to buy out his lease near the end. The reason for leasing is it costs less money, it conserves cash for investing in money making assets vs. money losing items like cars.

 

PS, you do not have a clue about credit scores.

In a nutshell, the score is higher when a history of meeting obligations is seen, and the person has an income/debt that suggests that any debt taken on can be repaid. If you want to be slightly general, the score is meant to answer the question: will a loan be repaid ? In the case of credit cards the moment I use it, the credit card company has in a manner of speaking loaned me money by virtue of paying the vendor; but since I have a grace period to pay the loan before interest accrues it is not usually called 'debt' until the grace period is over and I yet to repay the loan. The key point here is that the credit score looks at my history of repaying the loan, not whether I paid interest.

I have not taken on credit card debt ever, and not any kind of debt for years, but my credit score is over 800. Why ? I use credit cards. It happens that I pay them in full weeks before any interest accrues, but that does not affect my score at all.