Buying a lease vehicle at the end of term?

[Overboost]

Alright, little help here everyone. A little background; my g/f has a '09 Mazda6. Her lease is up in March of '12, and she's way under her miles (19500 on it to date). She's considering purchasing it after her lease is up, since it's in mint condition and so far under mileage. I've never tried to buy a lease, and don't really understand how that whole process works. Does the Mazda dealer set a price based based on purchase price minus payments to date, or is it dictated by residual value of the car at the time of turn in? Any suggestions?

If the car isn't worth buying, we'll probably be looking for a Fusion Sport or pre-owned Taurus SHO.

 

[DSG SNAKE]

From what I understand, you'll have the option to buy the car at a preset price listed on the lease agreement, assuming it's an open end lease where you have the option to buy.

 

[04GoaT]

when we bought out the wifes G6, it was based on residual value at the time. She bought extra miles from GMAC (at the time), and we got a check back from the for the amount she was under (20k under). Ended out working great for us, since our bought out price 2 years ago is about what the car is worth today. Probably won't be the case today with this lopsided used car market.

 

[1BADAIR]

my car was a lease. the final price was set at the begining of the lease. you have to pay taxes and stuff again

 

[abazababalla]

Its usually more expensive than it would be to just buy it outright the first time around. If she is thinking about the Tauras Sho vs the Mazda 6 Id say take the Sho.

 

[DetroitStyle]

When I bought my SRT8, it was a lease buyout. The original owner had to pay the pre-set price, plus taxes. Then I had to buy it off of him and pay taxes on it again. So our aweome gov't tripled dipped on taxes for that one. Chrysler Financial wouldn't let ME just buy the lease from them.

 

[KLITNER]

you can call the leasing company (bank) at any time and get a payoff , most of the time it is the residual plus remaining payments but some banks have fees they charge to terminate the lease early. Than I would weigh the payoff vs the value of the car to see if it makes sense to buy it. be careful if you go to the dealer to buy it out because a lot of the time the dealer will mark up the payoff when you buy your lease out plus other fees.

 

[MystryGuy]

some lease buys arent a terrible deal, hell my buddy had the option to buy his loaded 300c for 14k 3 years old

 

[91trunk]

Who is the lease through?

9 times out of 10 the residual value is higher than actual value of the vehicle.

In most cases the original leasee must buy the vehicle out, now you can be on the deal as long as the original leasee is also. This way you can refi the vehicle without the leasee down the road and the car will be yours without having to pay tax again.

As for the dealer marking it up, it does happen when you deal with a shady ass dealer.

 

[Overboost]

Well, we found the paperwork, and the purchase option is spelled out explicitly on the purchase agreement. Considering the NADA value and what she would have to pay, it's more reasonable to buy the Mazda. The lease is through Chase.