eric1032

hi guys, my Q5 lease is up this month and I am wandering if anyone has tried to buyout the lease and resell for a profit. my Q5 (2.0Q premium) buyout is 21500, however, CarMax appraisal is 27K. Naturally, I wanted to sell to CarMax but then realize that Audi has a different payout for car dealers, buyout price for CarMax is 29K.

I don't want to leave 5k profit on the table. has anyone tried to payoff the lease outright and then sell it to a private party or dealer?

GeeT

Nice! It always feels great when your leased vehicle's appraisal is higher than your set buyout price.

However, I didn't know that buyout price is different for other car dealers. That's interesting.

Have you considered flat out buying at 21.5k and flipping it to CarMax? Also if you are interested in getting into another new Audi, I am sure your dealer will be willing to make some kind of deal for you. Are you getting another Audi?

PaddysPub

We just took advantage of this similar situation. Went to Carmax and the a couple Audi dealers for appraisals. One of the Audi dealers have us the best price for our 2011 Q5. So that's where we sold it/turned it in we were still about 6 months for the end of the lease and we walked away with $5200 positive equity.

gronk

I did exactly this for my last 2 leased Audis. Exactly like you said, I paid it off, received the title, then headed to CarMax and sold for a lot more.

2 things to keep in mind:

1) It's not really a profit, more like recouping some of the leasing costs since Audi has low residuals.

2) Because you are buying the car, there may be tax implications depending on your state. In Virginia, you pay full tax at the beginning of the lease but tax when buying off-lease is waived.

eric1032

thanks guys for the valuable info. I am going to DMV later to find out the sales tax implication. I am in ca.

like 99% of the Audi owners, I did not know about the higher dealer payoff. After went to carmax, I bought a new car then this whole fiasco. Lol!

Audinewbi

Hi Eric - let me know what you find out from DMV as I'm in a similar situation living in CA with an A3 lease that's almost up.

eric1032

per DMV rule 11.020 termination of lease - if you buy the car and sell the car within 10 days, no sales tax charged to you, only the 3rd party who bought the car from you. DMV says the date they go by is the date on the title or bill of sale.

I will execute a deal following the above...hopefully I will be okay. but I am ready to pay the sales tax if DMV don't agree.

good luck to you.

Audinewbi

Thx for the info!