Tips on Buying Cars: lease is up, 2007 toyota camry, worst case scenario

Question
I leased a 2007 Toyota Camry for 24mos. My lease was up in Sept. I was going thru a horrible divorce & chose to continue to lease the car on a month to month basis.I have the option to do so until Sept.2009.BUT my payment is $664 a month & I cannot afford it much longer. The car is immaculate. No dings,dents, or scratches. Interior is perfect tan leather.No one can believe it's an 07, especially the dealer! I was allowed 30k miles & 1250 each month. I have less than 30k.Blue book is 15k-17k but I have paid these outrageous payments for so long that my payoff is less than 10k. I would like to sell the car or finance the remainder. Will I have to pay interest on a new or used car? Toyota is telling me I have to pay tt&l. How do I calculate tt&l (texas)? Toyota Financial faxed me the papers needed if I want to sell it myself.Who has to pay the sales tax if i do a 3rd party sell? If I take the buyer to Toyota to do a pass thru sale & I sell for more than my payoff, do I get the extra money? I want to buy the car but this divorce has destroyed my credit (my score 595)However, it improves every month. What is the worst case scenario, if I try to finance thru Toyota, besides a complete denial? Whats the highest %they could charge.How much down? Used car int rate? Is it possible in this economy, and because of the equity, that they will want the car back to sell & make a profit? Any advice? I have to make a move soon. I have to pay the property tax again this year & that bumps my payment up to $800! I know it sounds crazy but I didnt plan to keep the car very long & money really wasnt an issue when I bought it! Oh, how times have changed! Thank you so much for your time, Jeree

Answer
Jeree,

Thanks for your questions.  First, yes you would have to pay interest on the vehicle if you refinanced it, not if you pay cash.  Secondly, Yes you would have to pay taxes.  The way you calculate that is based on the sales price or the amount you would have to buy it from Toyota for times 6.25%.  That is state sales tax.  There are about $174 in title and registration fees to be added to that number in the State of Texas.  If you do a third party sell, the person who is buying the vehicle would need to pay sales tax, not you.  However you are responsible for making sure that it gets paid.  If you wanted to refinance the vehicle and Toyota approved you, the MOST they can charge you on a 2007 would be 18% in the State of Texas.  As far as how much down, that would be up to Toyota, but I doubt they would require any money down, since you will have such good equity.  Understand that depending on how you paid Toyota, they may or may not approve you.  They will only want the car back, if you don't want it, at which time you would have to terminate the lease completely, which your paperwork should tell you how to do that, but it would involve going to a Toyota Dealer to do the termination paperwork, and would not hurt your credit as long as you pay them any additional charges they will tell you about, if those are there, and based on how well you have said you have taken care of the vehicle, there won't be any.  The best thing in my opinion that I would do if I were you, is refinance the amount left on the lease and keep the car.  More than likely your payment will go down, and you won't have to pay any more property tax on it.

Hope this helps.  If you have any further questions, do not hesitate to ask.

Thanks - JB