Quick Facts About Lease Mile Overages
- If you’re going to exceed your mileage cap, turning in the car early or buying it at lease end may reduce what you owe.
- Mileage limits matter as much as the monthly payment — sometimes more.
- Low-mileage leases are cheaper, but they don’t work if you drive a lot.
Many drivers underestimate how much they’ll travel. Example: If you drive 1,000 miles per month on a 3-year lease that allows 10,000 miles per year and charges 20 cents per mile over, you’ll owe about $1,200 at turn-in.
What Happens if You Go Over Miles on a Lease?
If you exceed your lease miles, the leasing company charges a per-mile penalty at the end of the lease. Paying the fee is the simplest option, but you may have cheaper alternatives.
Options if You’re Over Miles, or Close to the Limit
- Turn it in early: Some dealers may take it back early, depending on market demand. Just make sure you have another vehicle lined up.
- Buy the car: A buyout can eliminate the overage fee and may make sense if you were going to pay thousands anyway.
- Trade it in: Some contracts allow you to trade at a dealership (sometimes only at the original dealer). Check your contract first.
- Pay the fee: The overage fee is often 15 to 25 cents per mile — sometimes 30 cents. A little over isn’t terrible, but a lot over adds up fast.
- Drive less: If you’re nearing the mileage cap, cutting trips, carpooling, or using public transit can help, if practical.
How Much Do Extra Miles Cost?
Most leases charge 15 to 25 cents per mile, and some charge 30 cents. A few hundred miles over the mileage cap usually isn’t painful. Thousands of excess miles can hurt.
How to Avoid the Mileage Trap Before You Sign
- Estimate your real mileage using the past few years of driving. Then add a 5-10% cushion.
- Ask about higher-mileage leases if you consistently drive more than the standard caps allow.
- Look for a transferable lease that provides an exit option if life changes.
- Track your miles monthly so you can adjust early.
- Ask about buying extra miles early. It’s often cheaper than paying the end-of-lease overage penalty.
How Much Do Miles Matter?
Miles driven during your lease matter a lot. If you routinely drive long distances — whether long commutes, frequent trips, or rural driving — mileage limits can be the biggest reason leasing isn’t your best option.
Read more about leasing and check out the Autotrader Car Lease Calculator and see how much you can afford.
Editor’s Note: We have updated this article since its initial publication. Doug DeMuro contributed to the report.
If you happened to have made a large cap reduction (which I never recommend), thus lowering your monthly payment, taking over the kease may be beneficial to someone.,
When my lease is over. Do I pay up front for the excess miles I’ve used or is it paid in monthly payment similar to a car payment?
Thanks for reading, Eddy. Any excess mileage fees are collected when you return your leased car. You might be able to negotiate that fee if you’re leasing another vehicle when you turn in the current one.
When returning a leased car, that has $1000 over in miles how does the lease company collect
Thanks for reading, Shane. The leasing company will charge you a fee when you’ve gone over your mileage cap. If you had an auto-payment set up for your monthly lease payment, the mileage charge would likely come from that same account. However, you should contact them to negotiate a lower fee before turning in the car. Do not try to skip out of paying the charge. It’s a contractual obligation, and not paying it will cause your credit score sink, making it harder for you to get the best rates when you finance or lease your next vehicle. Also, remember that leasing companies typically waive any mileage overage charge if you buy the car at the lease end.
I am currently leasing and it was good when i WFH for two and a half years. Now that I am back, I want to turn it in early.
Isn’t yet another option to purchase more miles while you’re still in the lease?
One thing I learned is that if you go over your milage and are planning on getting another car from the same brand they will either forgive the extra miles or give a 50% discount. If I was going to go to another brand after turning it in then they will charge me all the fees they can.
I had a lease that allotted 10k miles per year on a 4yr lease. We went over 100k miles. At the time of the lease ending the car’s value was supposed to be $16k. For the overage of miles we were charged almost $20k. They then sold the vehicle at auction for a few $1,000. So on that $16k car, they made almost $25k. How can the over mileage amount exceed the original value of the vehicle?
I would have to say you paid your stupid tax. Why didn’t you just pay the $16k and buy the car?
No kidding! That’s a lot of coin to throw at a car you’re giving back
I swear this is true. I used to work at a Toyota store. We had a lady come in with a van she leased “for her brothers church” that was 2 years old with 187k on it! Her lease was a standard 3 yr 12k. Her options were:
Doug missed another option, which as another Doug I’ll provide to you. Since you’re already over the mileage try to sell the lease on a lease swapping site. Offer an incentive on the lease, and hopefully someone who doesn’t drive as much will buy it.
I have very little sympathy for people who get so ahead of their leases. You know how much you drive to work, and add a bit for pleasure, the math is easy. Either he didn’t pay attention to what he was getting into or his job changed right after the lease started. He needs to buy extra miles, they’re $.25/mile but if you do it ahead of time they can add it to the payment instead of as a lump sum at the end. I’ve never heard of anyone being so off track that wasn’t planning on buying the car at the end. It’s like signing a 2 year lease on a studio apartment when your wife is six months pregnant: you know it won’t work but it’s cheap so what the hell, then reality sets in and you’re screwed.
good thing there’s people like you in the world to keep things orderly and just for the rest of us.
Wow-after 4 years of leasing, THEN you finance the car? Somebody didn’t do their homework when they entered this lease….
Is the trip from LA to San Deigo for work? My company reimburses something close to 50 cents/miles for using a personal vehicle for business use. You could MAKE money on this!!! /s
Buying the car at the end doesn’t always work if you’re way over mileage, don’t forget if the car is supposed to come back with 36,000 miles but comes back with 56,000 it is not worth the buyout price and you can have difficulties financing it and may be stuck having to put a large down payment on it anyway.
If the instrument cluster fails and you have it replaced, then the car is considered ‘True Mileage Unknown’ and there is no way to determine the mileage on lease turn-in. Worked out great for me with a Passat TDI. It’s probably somewhat less likely that the instrument cluster will fail in a Mercedes and need to be replaced before the lease ends.
I’m glad you didn’t mentioned lease trade as a viable option. I took over a lease once as I needed a short term vehicle for an employee. Even though I personally knew the initial lessee (both of us being extremely knowledgeable about this stuff), it was a red tape nightmare. I can’t imagine going through the process with someone you didn’t know. I’ll never lease trade a car again.
Will you review the RCF?
Had this issue on a couple of leases and did option 5) Trade it in before the lease is up. You can always trade it in, no matter to who since all leases have a pay-off amount, just depends on what they have as an estimated turn-in value. If it’s a decently good resale value, sometimes you don’t get hurt too badly. Acura is very good with this. Not so good, Infiniti. There’s a reason why they lease so cheaply, they simply inflate the value at turn-in. That’s not bad if you keep it through the lease, but good luck in the middle. Just ask me.
There’s only one correct answer – https://www.autotrader.com/car-video/video-i-buried-my-1983-chrysler-lebaron-272578
some of my friends who are brand-loyal do this all the time: when negotiating their next car, the dealer offers to eliminate the mileage penalty on their previous car. it works most of the time
They bury the costs in the new car. There are several ways this is done, but the bottom line is that you are paying more for the new car than you otherwise would have if you didn’t have the mileage issue on the old car. I worked at a dealer; don’t let them ever tell you otherwise. You’re paying for the excess mileage in some way, EVERY TIME.
Ron needs to A. look into prepayment of the miles, they are usually discounted (but still will be more than .15). B. Swap the lease while it still has enough annual mileage to be useful to someone else, then buy something reliable to drive 20k miles per year.
Craigslist in southern california is lousy with lease takeover “offers” from people in exactly the same situation. I think you are going to have a hard time finding someone who wants to pay those monthly payments for a car with <5000 miles/year left. If you find the perfect person who wants that car and doesn’t drive much you might come out better, but it will be hard to find — especially if you are racking up miles while you search.