End of deal car lease

FBaby

I've just come to the end of my car lease contract and found out this morning that the company I had gone with (very good deal at the time, as APR was 5% less than what the manufacturer was offering) has ceased to operate this business.

I have therefore three options:
- give the car back (and hope they don't ask for more money)
- buy the car
- sell the car
- ask the manufacturer if they would be prepared to pick up the deal

I currently owe £5,500. I have just had the car valued with auto trader and it came up with a value of £6,100-£6,500 as private sale price, and £4,900-£5,500 for trade in. The car is in very good condition (had chips and scratchs repaired by one of those mobile repair place for £100).

Ok, trying to use logic and from the info above, it would seem that the best deal would be sell the car privately, pay the loan back and hopefully have a little deposit for a new lease or new car deal, however, this just seems to obvious so am thinking there must be a catch... why is there such a difference between private and trade in quote?

For info if relevant, the car is a VW Touran.
Thank you for any tip you can share so I don't end up doing something I will end up regretting!

blacksta

I suspect with trade - you get something to fall on if ever anything goes wrong with car.

rodenal

There is no catch - the trade price is lower as that seller then has to prep your car for sale, sell the car and give a warranty on the vehicle - as well as covering the business overheads. Hence they simply can't offer what a private buyer would offer you for the car and sell the car for more than a private sale would be.

Have a look at similar models all over the country and check if that private price looks realistic (knock a few hundred off the prices advertised by private sellers) - check ebay completed auctions and decide if you think you'd get enough back by selling privately to give you something towards a deposit for the next car.

Your trade value will also (likely) be lower than advised depending on who you go to, what (if anything ) you're buying from them and whether they think they can move the car on relatively quickly

auroan

You'll find it very difficult to sell the car with finance outstanding on it. Any sensible person will see it has finance from a HPI report and not go near you. If you go down the selling route, you'll have to either pay the car off first or find a very trusting buyer (good luck)