Lease ?: Residual lower than blue book, what should my friend do?

[Righteous Bucks]

Hey,

I've got a buddy whose coming to the end of his VW GTI lease this week; Blue book on his car with 45,000 miles is about $14-15,000. His residual is $11,578.

I've never heard of this happening but what should he do? It seems he should "buy it"; then sell it.

But what options are best and how could he do this? If he walks in and buys it, signs terms to a loan; how can he sell the car and make the extra cash?

Thanks for your time

[Prail11]

Pretty simple....

Does he want to keep it? If so then buy it out.

If not he can sell privately for about that much or maybe 1-2k more, or he can trade it in at the dealer on a new vehicle - they will give him blue book value (or somewhere there abouts) for the trade.

[gsprobe]

Unusual. What are the exact specs on this GTI?

If he can buy it and flip it immediately- that would be nice. Remember that if he buys it out he has to pay tax on residual value- so add tax to that- nso ow we are probably into the GTI for aprox $12,400 or so. If he can sell it immediately for much more than that- I say do it.