The Philadelphia Inquirer published an article on July 18th titled “As car values rise, lease equity makes buyouts more attractive. But study those fees closely.” The article reports on vehicle lease equity buyouts and includes the story of Plymouth Meeting’s Albert DiMaria who studied the options thoroughly before deciding how to best move forward.

From the article:

Automobile dealers may want to consider locking the doors when Albert DiMaria pulls up.

About a year ago, the Plymouth Meeting man started trying to get out of the lease early on his wife Stephanie’s 2019 Nissan Sentra, while trade-in values have been higher than at almost any other time in history.

But DiMaria, 28, learned some things had changed during the pandemic. New restrictions from the manufacturer would make it too expensive for him to stop leasing early. So he put his structural engineer background to work — methodically studying the contract, learning everything he could, and surveying six dealers. He then created an Excel spreadsheet comparing different fees he could face.

When the lease expired in June, DiMaria walked out owning his vehicle and all the equity that comes with it, while saving himself hundreds in fees.

You can read the full article here.