Hey everyone, I’m looking for some advice on my EV lease situation. I’ve had an electric car on lease for a few years now, and the contract is ending by the end of this year. The car did its job well enough overall, but honestly, it’s been a nightmare trying to travel long distances with my kids. I really need something more practical for family trips. The residual value on my contract is 25k, but the car is actually worth around 29-30k on the market right now. So I’m in a decent position equity-wise. The bad news is that the car has some cosmetic damage, few exterior scratches and the wheel rims are scratched up too. I’m not sure how much that’ll affect the final value or if the leasing company will charge me for repairs. So I’m thinking about a different approach. Instead of just returning the car at the end of the lease and going through the whole buying process separately, I want to trade it in directly to a dealership now and use that equity toward a new, more expensive car. My question is: can I actually do this before my lease officially ends without having to pay the residual value myself? Does the dealership handle the payoff with the leasing company, or does it get complicated? Or is there any other strategies? Also, I’m curious whether I’d be better off trading in at a dealership or if I should explore other options. And realistically, how much will those scratches actually impact the deal? Any advice would be really appreciated. What’s the smartest strategy here? submitted by /u/funkyjunkymonky
Originally posted by u/funkyjunkymonky on r/Switzerland