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Prius lease ends in 4 months…thinking about trading it for a WRX…

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Maximus96

Maximus96

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The lease my 2010 Prius III ends in July ’13. The payoff right now is $16,600. Its got 28,xxx miles on it. I remember reading that if I buy it out from Toyota, I’d have to pay DMV tax and registration on top of the payoff. Using DMV’s calculator that comes out to be around $1700 making my total cost about $18,300. My local craigslist ads have other Prius IIIs with slightly higher mileage for about $20,000. I think maybe $19,000-19,500 would be a realistic sales price.

I’m wondering if I can trade the car in right now for a base WRX instead of waiting out the last 4 months. I don’t have the title since it’s a lease and not sure how the process works. Can the Subaru dealer take the car off my hands and pay off Toyota? Maybe I can haggle the trade in price and have the extra go towards the new down payment?
 
Maximus96 said:
The lease my 2010 Prius III ends in July ’13. The payoff right now is $16,600. Its got 28,xxx miles on it. I remember reading that if I buy it out from Toyota, I’d have to pay DMV tax and registration on top of the payoff. Using DMV’s calculator that comes out to be around $1700 making my total cost about $18,300. My local craigslist ads have other Prius IIIs with slightly higher mileage for about $20,000. I think maybe $19,000-19,500 would be a realistic sales price.

I’m wondering if I can trade the car in right now for a base WRX instead of waiting out the last 4 months. I don’t have the title since it’s a lease and not sure how the process works. Can the Subaru dealer take the car off my hands and pay off Toyota? Maybe I can haggle the trade in price and have the extra go towards the new down payment?
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Yes, you can sell a dealer a lease, alternatively you can roll the payments into the next car as well if the dealer won't agree to buy it for the payoff, or you can negotiate a middle ground. Perhaps the dealer will pay for the final 4 payments.
 
I just did the same thing with my leased Honda Fit - traded it in for a Honda Civic. Most dealers will let you do an early trade-in, even if it's not their brand of car. Whether you pay more or less on your new car's payment depends on how much the car is worth - sometimes it's cheaper for the new car dealer to absorb the remaining lease payments and roll it up with the blue book value of the car, or whatever they assess the value to be, and sometimes it's more, so you'll have to pay more per month.

Some dealerships will also absorb the disposition fee (usually $400 or so, if your car has it - the lease "return" fee) and others won't. For example, I have 4 months left on my Kia Soul - Nissan would have taken in my other car's remaining payments, but not the return fee, so I would be stuck paying $400 out of pocket anyway.

So the haggling will depend on the value assessed (depreciation + wear & tear), how much the payments remaining total are, and if there is a disposition fee (and if the dealer will take that). It made sense on my Fit to do an early turn-in because I basically just exchanged keys (plus Honda doesn't have a disposition fee anyway, which is nice), but it didn't make sense to do my Kia Soul because it would have added over a grand to my next car, which would pop up the payment by $30+ a month.

Best thing to do is stop by & do some paperwork to see where the numbers are. That's what I did...ended up trading in my wife's Honda, but keeping my Kia for another 4 months. Just depends on what the numbers say and what your budget says!
 
Prius lease ends in 4 months…thinking about trading it for a WRX…

Wow, quite a change there. What is the impetus? You do realize that you are going to get probably less than half the gas mileage using more expensive gas, right? The ride will be harsher and engine/exhaust is noisier. Tires will be much, much more expensive, and maintenance too (requires synthetic oil).

On the flip side, it is a complete blast to drive. 😀 We have a 2011 WRX, now getting close to 35,000 miles (mostly freeway commuting, plus some road trips).
 
Yes i'm aware of the differences. My commute to work is 10 miles a day so I don't mind the mileage drop. I got tired of the prius and want a change plus the lease is expiring

I guess my concern now is whether to buy out the lease to sell on my own or trade in to subaru...
 
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Maximus96 said:
Yes i'm aware of the differences. My commute to work is 10 miles a day so I don't mind the mileage drop. I got tired of the prius and want a change plus the lease is expiring

I guess my concern now is whether to buy out the lease to sell on my own or trade in to subaru...
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Great choice, you will not be disappointed. I would imagine you'd probably get more out of selling it on your own after buying it out though it's probably a little more work.
 
I've been contemplating buying a 2012/2013 WRX for a while now. But just can't pull the trigger without seeing what the new 2014(or 2015) WRX will look like. I think the current WRX looks awesome, but not too keen about the interior and the low hwy mileage. I've been reading that the new WRX will be a separate car than the Impreza so I'm hoping the new WRX wont be as ugly as the new Impreza. Hopefully they update the interior and make it more efficient without killing the fun factor of the car
 
I fell in love with a White STi at a Subaru dealership a few weeks ago. Salesman is still calling me asking me WTF. I was supposed to bring my car over for him to look at.

WRX's look much nicer than I thought.
 
Aharami said:
I've been contemplating buying a 2012/2013 WRX for a while now. But just can't pull the trigger without seeing what the new 2014(or 2015) WRX will look like. I think the current WRX looks awesome, but not too keen about the interior and the low hwy mileage. I've been reading that the new WRX will be a separate car than the Impreza so I'm hoping the new WRX wont be as ugly as the new Impreza. Hopefully they update the interior and make it more efficient without killing the fun factor of the car
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Ah damn. Is there a model change coming?
 
amdhunter said:
I fell in love with a White STi at a Subaru dealership a few weeks ago. Salesman is still calling me asking me WTF. I was supposed to bring my car over for him to look at.

WRX's look much nicer than I thought.
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I'm amazed at car salesman culture...I took out 3 Nissans (Versa, Sentra, Altima) and the guy expected me to sign on the spot - tons of pressure - acted as if taking customers out for rides in cars was a big complicated thing and he was super busy (no other customers in the dealership the entire hour I was there, and he pretty much just grabbed the keys and we went with a plate). I told him I was just shopping around and looking at a bunch of cars >$300/mo & <30MPG, but if he could give me the right price I'd consider it...zero negotiation, no price change at all, and was evasive when going over the paperwork. Went to another Nissan dealership down the road, totally different experience...no pressure, lots of price adjustment. Funny how that works 😀
 
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Kaido said:
I'm amazed at car salesman culture...I took out 3 Nissans (Versa, Sentra, Altima) and the guy expected me to sign on the spot - tons of pressure - acted as if taking customers out for rides in cars was a big complicated thing and he was super busy (no other customers in the dealership the entire hour I was there, and he pretty much just grabbed the keys and we went with a plate). I told him I was just shopping around and looking at a bunch of cars >$300/mo & <30MPG, but if he could give me the right price I'd consider it...zero negotiation, no price change at all, and was evasive when going over the paperwork. Went to another Nissan dealership down the road, totally different experience...no pressure, lots of price adjustment. Funny how that works 😀
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Took me 6 hours of negotiating to buy my RX-8. Salesmen hate me. When I was at Subaru, I made sure he spelled out payments, and then I mentioned I have an 8 for trade-in. He got pissed and asked why I didn't mention that sooner. I told him straight up - because I don't want to get jerked. He mentioned the terms can change - I told him, in a nice way, that's bullspit.

I also said I had like 15k in payments left - I don't owe crap, and I won't give him any info to check either. I tell salesmen what I want for my car, they don't get to tell me sh*t. 😀

They can take it or leave it.
 
ballmode said:
The 14/15 model is supposed to be revealed at the NY auto show soon
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yes! I was debating going to this year's show. Looks like I am going now! Will be very disappointed if they dont reveal. I have been waiting for over a year now. I almost bought a WRX last year, but held off because I thought a new one is coming this year. But none announced for 2014 yet.
 
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