Consumer complaint received 2025-08-28 00:00:00
Product: Vehicle loan or lease — Lease
Issue: Problems at the end of the loan or lease — Termination fees or other problem when ending the lease early
Company: ALLY FINANCIAL INC.
State: NJ

Complaint narrative:
I leased my XXXX through Ally in XX/XX/XXXX, and the amount of money put down on the total ~ {$46000.00} vehicle cost at lease signing with incentives and my XXXX XXXX trade in they auctioned off ( which was likely way higher than the {$9000.00} they gave me for it ) was about {$25000.00}. So, the amount of equity down was so high, my payments are ~ {$220.00} per month. I only have {$6500.00} left to pay, and XXXX miles total on the car- which is in pristine condition. 

I initially thought there was no buy out available, as the lease agreement didn't contain the information. However, there's a rider to this agreement that does allow early trade in for a penalty- and it says the vehicle could be purchased for the amount on the lease along with an " early termination fee '' of " several thousands '' - which is not defined anywhere. 

I called Ally to find out the cost for the dealer to buy out my lease, and they quoted me {$36000.00}- which is not only way more than the equity in the car, it's more than the KBB value of {$31000.00}. When I asked how he came up with that number, the Ally employee told me he can not tell me that. When I asked how much of that was the " early termination fee '' and how much was the car value to pay off, he refused to give me the break down.

When I pressed him and said I believed Ally has a legal obligation to be transparent in their terms, and this is exorbitant, more likely a hidden penalty fee, and possibly usurious, his response to me is that it's in the contract and I signed it - and that I agreed to it being " several thousands '' so, essentially, he's saying I agreed to let them charge me whatever they wanted. I told him that he could essentially make up any number and they are essentially making it so it's impossible for anyone to do anything with this clause because it's impossible to do any deal for another dealer buyout if I can never know the amount and how they are arriving at it. I pointed out that that could mean {$2000.00} or tens of thousands of dollars and still he refused to explain the exact numbers and how he is arriving at them. 

I am under a massive time crunch to trade in this car for another and I am relying on the massive equity I have put into this car - to have no way to know how much they're charging me, or why, especially when it is frankly outrageously and inexplicably high, is very upsetting. 

A quick check online shows many other XXXX owners complain about this exact practice with XXXX vehicles- where it or banks like Ally use these vague terms ( that they could change at any time because there's no way to know what it will be, and they won't put it in writing ).... and they make it so impossibly expensive to buy out the lease the lessee learns when it is way too late that they are essentially unable to exercise their rights under the contract. This contract is ambiguous at best ( intentionally fraudulent/deceptive at worst ), and since they are the drafter of this clause, I feel that the ambiguity in their contract language should mean they have to strike it and get none at all, frankly. 

I didn't realize this at the beginning, but I want Ally to either let the dealer buy this lease out for the actual depreciated cost of the car plus a * reasonable * termination fee immediately, or I want to take this as far as it will go and have all their XXXX agreements reviewed for this deceptive practice, and to have to provide me with whatever restitution would be available to allow me to get the same car for the same price I would be paying now ( which would mean a penalty/restitution for the substantially increased costs I will incur to get the exact same vehicle after the XX/XX/XXXX and expiration of the EV tax incentives )... which I'm only at risk of missing because of their deceptive and possibly fraudulent practices.

Company response to consumer: Closed with explanation