Several years ago, the lease for my wife’s Toyota Camry came to an end and the purchase price was substantially lower than its Blue Book value, making her purchase a no-brainer.

So he went back to the car dealership in New Jersey, where he originally negotiated the lease and informed them that he wanted to buy the car.

When they unfolded the financial documents, she politely told them that no, she wanted to pay in cash, without financing.

They then told him that before he could buy the car, they would first have to appraise it. When you told the merchant you were not going to pay any appraisals, they simply said, “Don’t worry, there is no charge.”

After waiting 25 minutes for this “evaluation”, the financing document was finally presented and the cash purchase price looked like this:

Buy from Toyota: $ 10,815.54

Preparation of Documents: 195.00

Sales Tax: 770.74

Cash needed: $ 11,781.28

However, before my wife went to the dealership, she got a different number of $ 10,850.38 which, including sales tax of $ 709.84, was $ 930.90 less than what the dealership wanted.

Looking at your finance sheet, you noticed that they had added $ 675.00 for an “inventory fee.” It was clear what the “evaluation” was about. They wanted $ 675 to put the car in inventory and then sell it to my wife. To add insult to injury, they added $ 195.00 to prepare the document I mentioned took less than half an hour. An observant person will note that due to these dealer additions, their sales tax was $ 61 higher.

So my wife left the dealership, called Toyota, received a purchase document by fax, and sent a check for $ 10,850.38, no document preparation fee, no inventory fee, no additional tax on the new inflated amount. Total time spent on the phone, completing faxed documents, mailing the check: 9 minutes. Savings: $ 930.90.

The casual reader may think to himself that this was just an isolated occurrence from a greedy car dealership, however I have since been alerted to similar incidents.

In California, a telecom customer of mine wanted to buy his car on a lease and was told by the dealer that before he could buy the car they would have to examine the car to pass a Toyota Used Car Certification, at a cost of around of $ 500.00. The truth is, if you are the original renter, you don’t need a Toyota Used Car Certification. So that? You know the condition of the car, what is the probability that you are trying to screw you?

Some dealerships will tell you that you cannot buy a lease until you are certified for smog, for a small fee of a few hundred dollars, because in certain states the law requires such certification before you can buy a used car.

Some dealers insist that a safety inspection is required, again at a cost of a few hundred dollars.

However, what these dealers will not mention is that all state laws provide a specific exemption for smog or safety certification in the transfer of ownership if the transfer “… is between the lessor and the lessee of the motor vehicle, if there is no change in the renter or operator of the vehicle. “

The simplest and least expensive way to buy your car on a lease is to call the manufacturer, request a full purchase document, and send a check. You don’t even have to get out of the driveway.