Letting lease car go and purchasing another before filing

[momoftwo]

Trying to figure all this out.

I have a lease that will be up in Oct of 2009. I asked an attorney at a consult if I should go ahead and trade out of the leased vehicle and get another vehicle before I consider filing while my credit is still good.

He suggested just letting the lease vehicle go back and purchase another car.

My question is this...if I purchase another car now and stop paying on the leased vehicle do I just wait for them to come and pick it up or do I turn it in somewhere immediately? I have never had to deal with this. I have no idea how to handle this situation.

[CindyLou]

I agree. Do not trade. You will end up paying fees galore and rolling them into the loan of the new car. You should definitely do this while your credit is still good. One challenge you may come upon is that sometimes the finance companies and banks want to know what you are doing with the other car or actually require a trade.

In this case, the fact that the lease is up in Oct. may be enough. If that is not ok, you could use capitalone blank check as your back up. You can apply online and they basically send you a blank check to use to purchase the vehichle. The do not require a trade in.

Once you get a new car you have a few choices. You can wait for them to pick it up but with that comes add'l insurance expenses. You will only be able to overlap your coverage for 10 or so day and then if you still have the old car you will have to get a totally new policy on the new one.

My advice would be that after you get the new car and everything is finalize with the loan...and you are completely home with the new car, simply call the finance co. for the old car and tell them you wish to give the car back immediately and find out which dealership to bring it to.

Then be sure you call your DMV and find out if you need to keep the plates to turn in or if you just need to fill our paperwork to release you from liability.

Good luck and happy car shopping!

[momoftwo]

thank you so much cindylynn. Great advice and helpful information.