You hear these ads on the radio and see them in the newspaper all the time. They rely on your brain to trick you, or more realistically they prey upon the human instincts of greed and the desire to get something for nothing, as if the responsibilities of your current lease or auto loan just magically vanish. You can not just dump a lease or loan, it's a contract and breaking the contract will result in stiff penalties.
When a car dealer offers this magical option to you, they do get you out of your current lease or loan, but payoff penalties must be paid to your leasing company to end the contract prematurely. Contrary to how they may make it seem, the auto dealer is not doing any favors at all for you; they just want your trade in so they can give you far below market value for it, while selling you a new car at as high a profit as they possibly can. Then they resell your trade in for a high price and make a nice profit, while you are stuck paying off the debt load of 2 cars. Do you really think they pay for all the overhead of the big fancy buildings and all of those employees by no making money?
The way that car dealers make this look attractive is by extending the payments over a longer period of time. The more months they add to the loan, the lower the payments so you don't notice. As a matter of fact, it's conceivable that the payments could be lower than they are in your current loan, so you think you're saving money when in reality you just got shafted!
Their advertisement made you think that trading in a car releases you from your obligation to that old car. It does not! This misunderstanding gets a lot of people deeper into financial trouble. You are actually taking on double your current debt, when you believed you were dropping one debt for another and buying a new car. If you are in an automobile lease or a loan now, it's best to stay in it until the end. If you are upside down on a loan, this is not the time to trade in the car. You need to delay trading until the car is worth more than what you still owe on it. One thing you should do is try to sell it privately.
By mixing a trade-in with a new car purchase, you will lose the maximum amount of money possible. Don't ever believe you walked off ahead on a trade in. No one ever has and no one ever will. If you really need to get out of your lease, change your strategy from ending a lease early to a strategy of transferring your lease to another buyer via an auto lease trade. You can find reputable companies online willing to do this. Remember the car dealers are in the business to make money and they are going to make money on the car they sell you as well as your trade in.
