- Pay out the remaining twelve payments of $385. Total cost $4620. OUCH!
- Buy the car outright at its appraised value from Toyota. At that point, it is ours, and we can sell it for whatever we want. Nah thanks.
- Find someone else to buy out or take over our lease.
Neither of these seemed like that an idea, but our friend Jo suggested a website called www.leasebusters.com. People we knew weighed in and said that it helped them break their lease too. Unfortunately, this seems to be a service for people who *really* want to get out of their leases, rather than those who simply think they might like to. Consider:
- Listing fee of $295
- Many 2010 Toyota Corollas and Matrixes (Matricies?) currently listed at around $250/mo. This is partly because many listings offer incentives like covering a payment or paying the customer to take over their lease. By the looks of things, there is no way we'd be able to just get someone to take over our lease of $385/mo.
- lease transfer fees (never suggested what they might be, but...)
- inspection fees, security deposits, etc.
In the end, it looks like it might cost us upwards to a grand to get out of our lease. That might be fine if we were in a dire situation, or a situation that made this an otherwise worthwhile expense. Hey, it sure beats defaulting and owing over four grand.
But to spend that much money on going car-free? No, not yet. We just might wind up waiting out the lease. This is not to suggest that this process is over. It's just on hold pending new information or a change of circumstance.
YIKES! $295 listing fee?? I didn't know about that.
ReplyDeleteI only got my licence when I was 26, and I was car-free for years after that. We took the cats to the vet on the bus, and in a cab in an emergency. Once I discovered Beattie's, I did occasionally pay friends $20 to drive us to Brantford (we'd still save money) but wound up getting a lot of vet services in town on a bus route. And yes, the sick kitty did poo in the carrier on the bus. It's life, I guess.
BTW there is a new Beattie's in Stoney Creek, I heard.
We go to Beattie's too, Jo. And, with a very ill dog right now, I must admit I was very worried about being so far from our super convenient 24 hour vet with no car to get there. Looks like I won't have to worry about that now for another year. And yes, there is a new Beattie's in Stoney Creek, but it takes us almost as long to get there as it does to Brantford... and it is such a lovely drive to Brantford - beautiful farmland vs. strip malls and traffic congestion.
ReplyDeleteWow! Obviously not a viable option right now, but something that can be put into action at a later date, if you both still feel up to the challenge once the lease is up.
ReplyDelete