My Car Lease Is $1,250 A Month

Brought to you by the EveryDollar app. Start budgeting for free today. So currently, I'm just in a little bit, I feel like in a dead-end situation and I don't really know what to do to get out of it. I'm currently about 6,500 in debt with personal and credit cards. I have no savings at all and I have a $1,250 a month car note that I'm kind of stuck with at the moment. Why are you stuck with it? It's a lease that I signed about 10 months ago for three years and I wanted to get out of it. I wanted to do a ---- but just the fees to get out of it are just insane. So I decided to keep the car for the moment. Who gave you the fee? The dealer? Yeah. Who'd you sign the lease with? What company? Uh, it's a Visions credit union. It's who? It's a Toyota, but they did it with Visions credit union. Okay, and so you signed a lease. You got a lease through your credit union. Well, it was through Toyota Financial. They hooked me up with Visions. Oh, Toyota Financial set this up. That's who screwed you. Okay. What's the early termination fee? Do you know what it is? It was like seven something, like seven grand something because I also drove a lot with the car too. So I didn't go over the limit of miles, but for how long I've had the car, I've driven more than I was supposed to. Okay. That's not how it works. So someone, they're trying, they're continuing to screw you. All right. So you need to call, you need to call Toyota credit and ask them what the early buyout on the lease is. What can I pay you off today for? That's like the early payoff on a debt. It does not include the interest through the entire 36 months. Okay. And there should be no fees on that other than just what does it take? What, what is the check I need to write today? Okay. What car is this with Toyota? It's a 2025 GR Corolla. Okay. So look that car up and figure out what it's worth and then get the early buyout price. Have you looked up what it's It's worth about $38,000. Okay. So you can get, you could get about $38,000 if you sold it. Let's pretend that when you get the early buyout on the lease, $1,250 a month for 36 months. Hey, what's up guys. It's Jade. Listen, my husband and I drive used vehicles and we really do plan on keeping those running for a long time. So we trust Christian Brothers Automotive to take care them. Their team is honest. Their shops are super clean. And what I love is they don't try to upsell us on things that we don't need. I personally feel really confident walking into Christian Brothers because I know that no one's going to try to take advantage of me or scare me into unneeded repairs. Christian Brothers gets it. So schedule a service today at cbac.com slash Ramsey and get 10% off your visit. That's up to a $250 value. See stores for details. $1,250 a month for 36 months. It's, it's, um, 700 a month, but my insurance, it makes it $1,250. So it's insane. And that's different information, hon. Your insurance is a different thing. Okay. It's not your car payment. Your insurance is not in your car payment. You said you had a $1,250 car payment. You do not. You have a $750 car payment. Okay. Now that makes the numbers better. Makes them worse. It makes me understand the numbers. I didn't understand them at 1250. I couldn't figure out what Toyota had done to you. All right. So anyway, you find out what the early cars were 38,000. You find out what the early buyout is. If I write you a check in full today. Okay. Then let's pretend that's $34,000. You could simply go to the credit union and get a car loan for $34,000 and pay off the lease. Then you would owe $34,000. You follow me? Yeah. Now, or it's $42,000. So it's more than the buyout, the early buyout on the lease, but it has nothing to do with the mileage. This is simply a, the financial part of the transaction of what can I pay my loan off for early? That's what this is. Okay. And you compare that to the car. Now, if you, if it takes more than 38,000 to buy it out, let's call it 40,000. Then you've got to arrange with your credit union to borrow $2,000 and sell the car to someone for 38,000. And you sell it and you buy, you buy out the lease early, which is paying off your loan early. And that's how you get out of a lease early. And it sounds like you desperately need to do that. Okay. How old are you? I'm 25. Okay. So, so the number one mistake that 25 year olds make is an expensive car with a big car payment and a big insurance payment. So you're like a normal 25 year old, but you have discovered that sucks and you don't want to be that anymore. Yeah, that's right. Okay. So you didn't do anything that almost every 25 year old in America hadn't done. Uh, but the trick is you've really got to concentrate and not just, listen, if somebody screws you, like you went on that Toyota lot and Toyota financial screwed you, then don't go ask them how to fix it. Cause they're not, that's like the wolf in the henhouse, dude. You don't even know what that means. Okay. But that's like, you know, yeah, it's like asking an alligator if he's hungry, you know what I mean? It's like, seriously. Right. Yes. Yes. Come on in. I will eat you. Yes. I will help you. I will. I will screw you again. Says Toyota financial. Yes. Right. Well, good thing he called us because now I feel like he's got the next moves to get out of this. It just took him a second to get there. Rudy, I would, I would expend an amazing amount of energy to get out of this car. Yes. And not just accept laying down that this is your fate for the next 36 months. And part of that fate is after this car sold now he's in the real business of driving a beater, driving something that's, you know, three or $4,000, really the ugliest car and the oldest car that you can find that still runs is what you're going to be driving for a while until you need a car that has to have a name. It's so bad. You have to name it Bertha, old blue, Bessie, whatever it is. If it doesn't have a name, it's too good a car. You need a car that's so nasty that you have to name it. And then, and you walk out and you kick it in the door and say, all right, Bessie, we're going to start up, start up, Bessie. Here we go. You got to have the blue goose. You got to have whatever it is. Right. And, uh, and that's for a short period of time. But if you will drive like no one else, you can bank 1,250 bucks a month in 10 months. That's $12,500. That's going to feel good. And then you can get rid of old Bessie, right? Cause your insurance is going to go down too. Yeah. Cause you don't even get insurance for Bessie or Bessie. She's not even worth health insurance. She's not even worth replacement costs. We're just going to put a bullet. We're going to put a bullet in her. If she pulls over to the side, that's it. Yeah, that's it. I mean, this is the way you have to think. And I did that. I drove a piece of crap when we were broke and getting out. And then I got a little better piece of crap and it was so much better that I didn't think it was a piece of crap. Although it was a piece of crap still. Yeah. I mean, and that's what you do for a little while so that you never have to do it again. It's not a way of life, but it's how you get out of these messes that we all find ourselves in when you wander into the finance office at Toyota credit. We've all done it. We've all done it. I remember when I met Sam, he had a Jeep Grand Cherokee and he had finally made the final payment to pay it off. And they, they're not a good car. It's not a good car, but he paid it off and I'd never known anybody who I'd never seen anybody who didn't have a car note. And don't, you know, he went right down there to the Hummer dealership and bought an H3 because we couldn't stand not having a car payment. Well, it was the thought was once your car hits a hundred thousand miles, it's going to start breaking down. It's going to start messing up, you know, not a Jeep Cherokee. Once it hits 10,000 miles, it starts breaking down. Yeah. And so we've all done stupid things, but the point is I remember the feeling of then selling that H3. You're used to riding pretty nice. Y'all were Miami Vice. Y'all were in Miami riding around in the Hummer. And then had to sell that and you get used to it. My point in telling that story is it feels nice to drive a new car. It is a hit to the pride when you have to start driving something older and sell your things, but you do get used to it. Human beings are very time. It is a hit to the pride later on. It's a badge of honor is yes. I am a grownup and I did what it takes to be a grownup and I don't care what you people think about it. Amen. High correlation between people who don't give a crap, what other people think, and those that build wealth. If you're worried about what other people think, you're going to be poor. Most of your life create your free every dollar budget today. The simplest way to budget for your life.