UltraA4John

Currently leasing an '04 A4 w/ 39 mos and its been about 14 mos now. I'd like to upgrade to an S4 but don't know what I'd have to do to accomplish this. Thanks for your input.

A4xIV / Nadroj

and pay the remaning lease balance and buyout. or try and swap the lease. However lease swapping is pretty retarded IMO. (Nothing like paying full lease price for a used car)

CT Audi Fan

Depending upon how much (if anything) you put down on the original lease, you'll likely have negative equity right now (i.e. you owe more than the trade-in value of the car). Talk to your dealer. Worst case they can roll the negative equity into a new lease, or you can put some money down on the new lease to make up the difference. Your best bet is to target a leftover B6 S4, either a 2005 or even a 2004, which the dealer will be eager to unload, and work yourself a deal.

Getting out of a lease is not easy, but if you've got some cash you are willing to part with, the dealer will find a way to get it done.

Bob Loblaw

You can buy it out, or have someone else assume payments.

You can buy out the remaining value of the lease and sell it, or you might be able to negotiate some kind of 'trade-in' with the dealer (is the S4 at the same dealer that you leased through?)

Generally speaking, the earlier that you are in the lease, the more likely it will be that the residual value plus the amount of principal outstanding on your remaining lease payments will be higher than the market value of the car. In other words, it's going to cost you to get out of the lease. This will also be determined by the amount you put down on the car.

First thing I would do is find out what your 'buyout' figure is. That will be the residual plus outstanding payments. Then you'll have a better idea what your options are and what each will cost.

Since you're 14 months into the lease, there will likely be no penalty to buy it out (most leases have a 12 month period where no buyout is allowed without paying a penalty).

The other option is to have someone else assume your lease. Again, this is dependant on the terms and conditions of your lease. Some agreements permit you to tranfer the lease agreement to another party, which would then free you up to do the other deal. But depending on the market value of the car, the amount of the payments, etc, you may have to fork out some cash to someone as an incentive to take over the lease to equalize the payment to the market value of the car.

But read your agreement! Some leases restrict you from having someone else assume payments - such as you can have someone else assume payments, but if they start to default on payments, the company can hold you liable for paying and you then have to try and collect from the **** who won't pay.

Hope this helps...

UltraA4John

thanks for your 2 cents everyone.