it is stupid to put money down on a lease. if the car is stolen the day after you get it, or anything happens, you are out that money. since the leasing company has all interest in the car, even if it is worth more than the current residual, they get it ALL. you get NOTHING.

all leases have a residual, which gradually goes down every month. to get out, you just pay it. no fines. there are some crappy leases which have termination fines, but they are usually pushed by shady dealers.

the residual you owe NOW is higher than the residual at the end of the lease. basically your dealer is willing to pay that. your lease company, honda finance, is in NO WAY INVOLVED. they only get a check. Why is the dealer doing this? because the car is worth it to him, which means your car is TRULY worth more than that.

go for it if you want.

 

This is it exactly. A lease is a contractual set of payments. If a person has (say) 6 payments of $400 each remaing on their lease, a one-time payment of $2400 (6 x $400) would fulfill the lease obligation and not be a violation of the lease. With some cars (and market conditions), it is *possible* for the trade to appraise high enough (or nearly high enough) to satisfy the remaining payments of the lease...and thus get the driver into a car sooner.

Having said that...six months out does seem like a bit of a stretch. We typically offer that to our lease customers that are 3 or 4 months away from the end of their lease. As always, YMMV.

 

Actually if the car gets stolen, and you get more than what you owe Honda from Insurance, you get to pocket the difference....

Honda's only interest in the car is the amount you owe them....

 

Sometimes manufacturer held leases (Honda Finance, GMAC, Ford Motor Credit, etc) will offer lease pull ahead specials that are true get out early options. I only recall seeing the big 3 offer this promo, and only if you buy/lease another new vehicle from them. Still, it can work out to be a great deal. I just turned in my leased GM truck under their pull ahead program a full 8 months early, no penalties, no fees. It made my 36-month lease a 28-month lease, and effectively lowered my cost/mile and increased my monthly mileage allowance. The problem is, there is no guarantee they will offer this incentive when you near the end of your lease.

I've never heard of Honda (or any third-party bank) offering this type of promotion, so I'd guess that they want to use equity to payoff the lease, or rollup your loss into a new sale. I would not take it unless it is a real pull ahead incentive, or unless you absolutely have to get out of the lease now. BTW, I am paying under $400/month for a straight 36-month 36,000 mile lease through Honda Finance on my 03 S, with $0 down (not even a security deposit). You shouldn't pay much more than that for an 04 I would guess. Be careful, some dealers will use a lease to kill you.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by 6sigma
Sometimes manufacturer held leases (Honda Finance, GMAC, Ford Motor Credit, etc) will offer lease pull ahead specials that are true get out early options.

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by trendy26
Actually if the

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by trendy26

 

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Octane-Girl

 

I think that the key words here is that it's a "Closed End Lease". So your residual is spoken for when you signed the contract. That's how much you are going to owe at the end of the lease. I think it's a win-win situation for the dealer here. He buys out your car for let's say 20K, purely for example, then sells it for market value of 23K, his dealership makes 3K profit off the bat on a used car......sometimes way more than selling a new car. Also, with that, he gets you into another car and therefore has sold two cars in one shot. So it's up to you on what you want to do.