Breaking vehicle lease

It doesn't matter whether you have any assets or not, you can still be sued. I can't see how you'd get off scott-free, just because you don't have any attainable assets. They can possibly get a judgment against you, and those are usually good for 10 years (I think I read somewhere), and can keep being renewed.

I would recommend speaking to an attorney that offers free initial consultations, so you can find out what you're facing if you break the lease. These kinds of things don't usually just go away.

I am also here in Fl and on top of all my credit card debt I have 2 car payments to get out of. 1 of them happens to be a lease too.

I don't know too much but have been searching online and found a few sites that deal with getting out of your leased vehicle. Whether it be by trading or offering your car as a "take over my lease payments" type deal-there are several ways to do it I see. I can't really recommend any yet because I haven't really tried any one yet. I would imagine the people taking over your lease will have to get their credit checked-I am not sure though. I was just suprised to find people were doing that.

Also here in South Fl there is a used car dealership chain that buys cars financed or leased. I am sure you probably have 1 or so by you. You might want to check them out. Their slogan is "we will buy your car even if you don't buy ours". HMMM?

I am weighing my options too. I am not sure how upside down I will be and if I gotta pay the cash difference-well I don't have it. :?

There is always surrendering the car. I made that mistake when I was 18-yup. I didn't really care about the consequences then but they did hound me for the difference and the fees to sell it and blah blah blah.It haunted me for I am gonna say 7 years. When I was older and more responsible-we were trying to buy our 1st home and I was told I would have to pay that bad debt off in order to get financing. I didn't have the cash so I sent a DV letter and they validated it alright! I eventually waited and it fell off my report and I bought my house but they do go after you with all those crazy fees! I would surrender the car only as a last resort!

Oh 1 more thing... I know that even though I surrendered my car-they put it down as a "repo". I am not sure if that is how they still do it but I just thought that made it look worse!

Good luck.

Great suggestions..... you mentioned that you were 18 when you surrendered your car, and it sounds like this was years ago. It seems that creditors are more aggressive in going after their money now, so it is possible that in Tiffvaughn's situation, they might do more than just report negatively to the credit bureaus.

There is a nationwide chain called CarMax, and they have numerous locations in Florida. They buy cars without you having to buy one of theirs. I can attest to this being true, as that is what we did this past September. I think they use the Kelley Blue Book as a guide in valuing your car, as well as THOROUGHLY inspecting it. They gave us a higher offer than a few dealers we took it to, including the dealer we bought it from brand new, and who regularly serviced it.

Also, finding someone to "take over lease payments" is another good idea. To avoid the possibility of any type of suit being filed by the creditor to get anything that may be owed after surrender and sale, I would at minimum try looking into one or both of the above options.

Yes, Tiffany. You got it! Carmax is who I was talking about. I am still learning and haven't posted much. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to post their name or not.

I have a question, if you go and sell your car but it doesn't cover the cost of what you still owe on it how do you get a clear title to the car to sell it? I know that some dealer will buy your car but the remaining payments go onto the new car that you purchase from them.
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Being exempt from wage garnishment doesn't mean that they won't eventually get paid. They can go as far as freezing your bank accounts, taking a lien against future assets later on when you have something. Depending on how much you could owe on the remaining balance it might not go away at all. Also, just because something falls off of your credit report doesn't mean they still can't collect it. They just can't take legal action against you once it is out of your SoL.

FYI, I know in my case I couldn't get the title unless I paid off the car.

Carmax is a little different than a regular dealer. They advertise they buy cars. It's not like a regular dealer that you go and trade it in and dump the negative amount (if you are negative) into another car. They pay cash and handle all the paperwork. They work it out with the bank. The only problem is-if you owe more than they offer you-you gotta come up with the cash difference unless of course you buy one of their cars and put that into the new car payment.

I haven't gotten mine appraised yet but I am pretty sure I am in the negative. :?

That is not good.