Author Topic: Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended  (Read 7626 times)

Caribsurf

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Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended
« on: December 21, 2021, 01:37:51 PM »
ok so I just bought my 2019 Honda Pilot after the lease ended. The payoff amount was determined pre Covid and now used cars are selling way above the predetermined value at the end of the lease...my payoff was $21,900.

Going by the Blue Book and Edmunds values,  private party the car is worth $32-34,000 and $30k or so trade in. Car Guru offered me $35,600 but I don't know if that is a scam.

debating whether to sell/trade in my car for a new one, lease a new car , keep my car.  it has only 17800 miles on it.

I HATE car shopping. I know I ALWAYS get screwed, but this time it looks like I made out alright and want to take advantage of it....any suggestions?   thanks
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Dwight (DW)

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Re: Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended
« Reply #1 on: December 21, 2021, 02:05:35 PM »
We sold a car to Carmax once. They paid me way more than dealers were offering on trade.

Drawback to selling is……..new cars have gone way up and often sell above sticker. So you probably won’t come out ahead, if replacement car is over priced. Best to find a replacement before you sell that Honda.

We feel fortunate to have bought new vehicles right before COVID hit. We can keep our current vehicles until well after markets return to normal.

Hdip

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Re: Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended
« Reply #2 on: December 21, 2021, 03:53:32 PM »
Carmax free appraisal takes less than an hour and is good for a week. I hear carvana pays a bit more.

Caribsurf

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Re: Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended
« Reply #3 on: December 21, 2021, 08:49:55 PM »
We sold a car to Carmax once. They paid me way more than dealers were offering on trade.

Drawback to selling is……..new cars have gone way up and often sell above sticker. So you probably won’t come out ahead, if replacement car is over priced. Best to find a replacement before you sell that Honda.

We feel fortunate to have bought new vehicles right before COVID hit. We can keep our current vehicles until well after markets return to normal.

Ya Dwight that is the dilemma, sure I can clean up selling my car, but I still have to buy a car and the price of that car would negate my profit so it might be a wash. I might buy a used clunker to get me to the my foiling spots and wait for the car market to settle down .
Hobie Raw 8'10"
Jimmy Lewis Kwad 8'7"
Naish Hover 95 liter 5'7"
F-One Rocket foil board 5'5" 90 liters
Fanatic Aero 1250, 1500, 1750 HA foils
CabrinhaMantis 3.5, 4m 5m. F-One Strike 7m CWC
Hobie 14' race board

Caribsurf

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Re: Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended
« Reply #4 on: December 21, 2021, 08:50:32 PM »
Carmax free appraisal takes less than an hour and is good for a week. I hear carvana pays a bit more.

Thanks will check out Carmack, thanks for the tip
Hobie Raw 8'10"
Jimmy Lewis Kwad 8'7"
Naish Hover 95 liter 5'7"
F-One Rocket foil board 5'5" 90 liters
Fanatic Aero 1250, 1500, 1750 HA foils
CabrinhaMantis 3.5, 4m 5m. F-One Strike 7m CWC
Hobie 14' race board

PonoBill

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Re: Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended
« Reply #5 on: December 22, 2021, 11:07:28 AM »
It's a weird market, but every market is currently weird. I generally buy either exactly what I want/need and just accept that I'm getting fucked, or I buy crap cars. My current Maui surfmobile is an undistinguished soccer mommy van that I bought used from Hertz with 35K miles on it. I paid a little over $10K for it, and it's fine. Doesn't smell too bad, carries my usual ton 'o crap, and gets adequate gas mileage.

My wife insists on new or completely restored, doesn't mind spending a small fortune, but she keeps cars forever so the initial cost doesn't mean too much. She bought a Boxster when they were unobtainable, paid $10K more than retail for a "used" Boxster with 1K miles on it, and then kept it for 14 years and sold it for nearly nothing. Cost per mile? Not much. When we got married her daily driver was a restored, matching numbers '62 corvette. She drove that for ten years and sold it for $20K more than she paid for it. Somewhere between and overlapping both cars, she bought a slightly used Bentley Continental Spur, had a blast with it for five years, and sold it for a few thousand less than what she paid for it.

My point is simply this, no one has a useful strategy for predictably minimizing the expense of owning a car. Do what you want to suit your needs and wants. Sometimes lightning strikes and you make a buck, usually, you get hosed. That's about as good as you can do.
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Wetstuff

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Re: Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended
« Reply #6 on: December 23, 2021, 09:15:51 AM »
For many years I bought 'service loaners' ...they all seemed to take a big haircut - you need the option codes to make sure they were fully kitted to get the most out of the deal. (better options do not seem to increase the secondary price of high end cars)

I still drive weekly an '01 ML320 I bought in Toronto when the $CDN was .85c US. (US-made = no import fees ..now revised to Euro spec TPMS to keep schmucks like me from coming back) 

A lucky score was the purchase of a '19 Outback loaner in Cleveland - the car had been sold twice so I got offered a stuffed 3.6 new one. (buying later in the season helps..) ' Wired the check and they had an outlaw deliver it the 12hrs for $300.  We never drove a Subie - it's pretty good but common as telephone poles.  Buying cars can be fun if you make it a game.

Carib, I'd probably keep the Honda forever and buy another vehicle.  It seems a solid value.

Jim
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Caribsurf

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Re: Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended
« Reply #7 on: December 23, 2021, 10:22:47 AM »
Buying cars can be fun if you make it a game.

Carib, I'd probably keep the Honda forever and buy another vehicle.  It seems a solid value.

Jim

I agree Jim, the Pilot is in A+ condition and well maintained and really low miles. I drive maybe 7500 miles a year and most of that is driving between Florida and Maine.  I also knew the $ payoff amount..no hidden fees, charges and other BS.  It's a great deal for me actually because I can probably sell it in a couple years and still come out ahead. 
Hobie Raw 8'10"
Jimmy Lewis Kwad 8'7"
Naish Hover 95 liter 5'7"
F-One Rocket foil board 5'5" 90 liters
Fanatic Aero 1250, 1500, 1750 HA foils
CabrinhaMantis 3.5, 4m 5m. F-One Strike 7m CWC
Hobie 14' race board

sup_surf_giant

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Re: Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended
« Reply #8 on: December 23, 2021, 03:18:02 PM »
Sold my leased Tundra to Carvana w 2 years left on the least.

Payout was $30,100. Carvana gave me $40k.
Taller than most, shorter than others.

Caribsurf

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Re: Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended
« Reply #9 on: December 23, 2021, 08:56:50 PM »
Wow you scored big time...what did you end up buying?
Hobie Raw 8'10"
Jimmy Lewis Kwad 8'7"
Naish Hover 95 liter 5'7"
F-One Rocket foil board 5'5" 90 liters
Fanatic Aero 1250, 1500, 1750 HA foils
CabrinhaMantis 3.5, 4m 5m. F-One Strike 7m CWC
Hobie 14' race board

oceanAddict

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Re: Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended
« Reply #10 on: March 19, 2022, 11:06:46 AM »
 Last fall I sold 2016 XC90 that we had for a couple of years and my wife fall out of love. When she got it she blended in huuge negative trade in  and I thought I would stack paying it though the lease terms. Vroom gave us 3k over what we oved to bank. I followed the car and they sold in in a week with 2k over what they gave to us.
 
Now her SUV lease is getting close to the end and I'm debating what to do. On one hand it make sense to payoff as it has pre-covid numbers. On another hand she has a tendency to change cars often - so I doubt this car will survive another 3 years in fam. lol. Perhaps make it lease end payoff payment and sell it to Vroom/Carvana/etc..
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PonoBill

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Re: Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended
« Reply #11 on: March 19, 2022, 11:35:41 AM »
The nuttiness in the market remains. Teslas have increased in price a bit, and the dream of a cheap EV seems to be fading, but all the reasonably comfortable and capable ICE cars I might be interested in have climbed to Tesla level. I no longer REALLY need my F350 diesel, I don't have anything heavy to tow since I quit racing cars. So I'm going to sell that and buy a Tesla model Y. I have to wait until August to get the silly thing (I placed the order two months ago) but I think I'm going to like it. With the money I made selling my race car (Peyote) and the Airstream trailer I built to haul it, I come out even on the model Y. I could justify keeping the truck for occasional use, but that's just stupid. I'm going to stick a trailer hitch on the Tesla and rent or borrow a truck if I ever really need one. Model Y can tow 3500 pounds. I have a lightweight motorcycle trailer (three rail) that I could add a box to, and a massive dual axle trailer that would probably come close to the maximum tow weight completely empty. I think I'll sell both and buy a high end, lightweight aluminum utility trailer with big wheels and add motorcycle carrying thingies. I put some in my big trailer and they worked well. Anything beats the crap out of running a motorcycle up a ramp to load it in my pickup bed. the big F350's bed is way the hell up in the air. Even with wide ramps it's a unnecessarily exciting thing to ride a bike up into it.

The big project for this summer is adding a LOT of solar to my shop along with a giant powerwall--a container with a 75KWh battery from a wrecked Model 3 and all the associated controllers, inverters, etc. spaced a safe distance from the shop in the event things go very, very wrong.

"Free" charging for my Model Y. At the true cost basis of what I'm doing minus the ridiculously low price for electricity in the Northwest, the price of gasoline would have to hit the stratosphere before I'd break even--or I'd need to live to be 210. But financial practicality has never been the driving rationale behind any of my truly stupid projects. On the other hand I sold the excess land at my shop to my neighbor--I was already letting him use it in return for an agreed-on amount of work each year. I cleared enough on the sale post-taxes to pay for my nutty project three times over, so there's that.
« Last Edit: March 19, 2022, 12:23:42 PM by PonoBill »
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

Tom

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Re: Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended
« Reply #12 on: March 20, 2022, 12:42:51 PM »
Bill, do you think we'll ever get our Cyber Truck we ordered.? I'd sure like to get mine while I'm still young.

PonoBill

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Re: Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended
« Reply #13 on: March 20, 2022, 04:35:10 PM »
Yes, but neither of us will be young when we get it--even if they delivered them tomorrow.
Foote 10'4X34", SIC 17.5 V1 hollow and an EPS one in Hood River. Foote 9'0" x 31", L41 8'8", 18' Speedboard, etc. etc.

StellaBlu

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Re: Car suggestions.. bought car after lease ended
« Reply #14 on: March 21, 2022, 08:21:58 AM »
ok so I just bought my 2019 Honda Pilot after the lease ended. The payoff amount was determined pre Covid and now used cars are selling way above the predetermined value at the end of the lease...my payoff was $21,900.

Going by the Blue Book and Edmunds values,  private party the car is worth $32-34,000 and $30k or so trade in. Car Guru offered me $35,600 but I don't know if that is a scam.

debating whether to sell/trade in my car for a new one, lease a new car , keep my car.  it has only 17800 miles on it.

I HATE car shopping. I know I ALWAYS get screwed, but this time it looks like I made out alright and want to take advantage of it....any suggestions?   thanks

Unfortunately you already missed part of the tax arb here.  You would have made more money (net of taxes) if you had traded it back to the dealership because there is no transfer of title (taxable event) - hence a tax free transaction.  You presumably paid taxes when you bought out your lease residual, because the title was transferred to you.  If you had handed it back to the dealership, and traded for a new car, you would have essentially reduced your purchase of the new car by the difference between blue book value for the leased car, and your residual on the lease. 

I just went through the exact same thing and trading the car back for a new car maximized my arbitrage.  The magnitude would differ from state to state, but it was material for me (NY).

 


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