Novated Leasing Break Fee and Charges - Need Ideas

corepda on 02/08/2026 - 09:14

Hi everyone,

Looking for some advice from anyone with experience in novated leasing or vehicle finance.

The lease is with metro finance. Honestly they are bunch of shits due to their service levels.

We bought a 2024 Kia EV9 GT-Line as a demo vehicle in June 2025 and put it on my wife's salary through a novated lease.

The lease runs until July 2028, but unfortunately our circumstances have changed and we've decided we need to sell the vehicle.

We've been given a payout figure of $89,696.03, which has surprised me. We purchased the car for $89,000 plus GST, and despite making over a year's worth of lease payments (including interest and other costs), the payout amount is still basically the same as what we originally paid.

The vehicle currently has around 28,000 km on the odometer, and I'm not sure what sort of sale price we could realistically achieve in the current market.

The original lease documentation showed a residual value of approximately $42,000 at the end of the lease term.

Our monthly finance payment is:
$1,990.72 per month
(including the lease establishment fee)

Given our situation, we can probably only keep the vehicle for another three months at most, so we're trying to work out the best option and minimise any financial hit.

Has anyone been in a similar position? What did you do, and what would you recommend in our circumstances? Any advice or insights would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.
Regards

Financial Novated Lease

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  • apsilon on 02/08/2026 - 09:33

    All the lease companies are pretty rubbish IME. Is the situation change your wife losing her job? If so many leases will have packaged insurance that would cover this so something to check. Otherwise all the costs were known up front so not sure what you can do other than pay out the obligations.

    • 16
    • corepda on 02/08/2026 - 16:38

      Thanks and yes she is losing her job as her mother is going through life sickness and she has to attend to her family responsibilities. Very heartbreaking and mentally challenged time for my wife so i hope some sort of insurance can fix the issue. Appreciate your response. Do you know how to check the insurance part of the deal?

      • 1
      • brad1-8tsi on 03/08/2026 - 08:02

        she is losing her job as her mother is going through life sickness and she has to attend to her family responsibilities

        It sounds like she's resigning so I doubt your lease insurance covers that but you never know.

        Good luck with your Mum, we had similar a few years back except my partner was looking for work (post retrenchment) and her sisters went "you aren't busy, you can look after Mum." 12 months later and Mum had passed and so had my partners employment prospects within her field of expertise.

        Can you transfer the NL to your employer and sell another vehicle?

        • 5
        • Davo1111 on 03/08/2026 - 15:12

          It sounds like she's resigning so I doubt your lease insurance covers that

          this

          OP look up bereavement leave, although it's short term.

          • 3
      • p1 ama on 03/08/2026 - 01:49

        That's very unfortunate, but when you say she is "losing her job", do you mean she's getting fired, or she's resigning?

        If she's getting fired, you probably ought to see an employment lawyer as this doesn't sound like it's something that's all on the up and up. If she's resigning, then I think there might be better options, e.g. taking a long period of unpaid leave. FWIW, jobs are valuable, you never know what the market will be like when you're ready to go back to work, I'd always choose to take unpaid leave, take a sabbatical…etc. over resigning without another job in hand.

        Very heartbreaking and mentally challenged time for my wife so i hope some sort of insurance can fix the issue. Appreciate your response. Do you know how to check the insurance part of the deal?

        You need to check your own policies, contact your insurer if you do not know. Impossible for anyone online to be able to give you advice relevant to your specific case.

        FWIW, back to the novated leasing question though, when you sign a contract with the novated leasing company, you are committing to making all of the lease payments. Remember that it is a lease, not financed ownership.

        Best analogy I can give is back when we would go to Blockbuster (or Video Ezy…etc.), you would pay $5 for a 7-day rental (or whatever it was). If you returned the movie early, you wouldn't get part of your money back.

        I think lots of people entered into novated lease arrangements because of the EV fringe benefit tax concessions who do not fundamentally know or understand how novated leases work and what exactly their obligations are. That said, I don't think much changes though, even if your wife is not employed, you can still continue to hold the lease, you just won't get any tax benefits (which is fine, she's not paying any tax).

        Even if you were to pay out the lease contract, depending on how long you were under the arrangement, you might have still been better off due to the tax incentives.

        • 3
      • apsilon on 02/08/2026 - 17:09

        That's always a difficult time of life. It should be in the lease documentation but you could always speak to the lease company and ask directly,

        • 1
  • MS Paint on 02/08/2026 - 10:08

    Sell it privateky for as much as possible. You will need to use savings/credit to pay out the rest.

    There is no magic break even solution.

    Sorry you got sucked into the NL hype train.

    • 15
  • DOGGYWOWWOW on 02/08/2026 - 09:47

    Novated leasing sounds like a deal in theory but the interest rates they charge, if you don't do your research, take away most of the savings. From my back of the napkin maths your interest rate is around 10% which isn't the worst I've seen but could be better.

    If I were you I'd try get out of this lease ASAP. If you sell the car you would likely get $75-85k for it. If selling to a dealer expect the lower end. Unfortunately chances are you will need to take a financial hit if you want to get out of this.

    Not financial advice btw, find a financial advisor for that.

    • 14
    • sauce2k on 03/08/2026 - 08:11

      NL only ever makes sense if you are earning 145k/150k and up. Done the calc before anything below you just throwing away money.

      Also another reason I never did NL is because if I change employer and the new one doesn’t allow NL then you kinda cooked. Most people sign up NL don’t actually have the cash to buy , which is quite stupid in my opinion. Don’t buy something if you can’t afford it.

      Not a financial advice ofc

      • 5
      • Autonomic on 03/08/2026 - 17:51

        Unless you get an EV - then you have huge savings.

        • 5
    • cnrmlj on 03/08/2026 - 10:19

      I'm starting my 6th novated lease this year. They have always been a cost effective way to buy a brand new car compared to buying one outright when you have some form of debt e.g. home loan.

      This time its even better as the full EV's are currently FBT free so the overall savings are even greater. It's changing soon but even when it does, everything else being equal it will still be a better option.

      I haven't done calcs with no debt so perhaps under that situation the math doesn't add up.

      • 0
      • eek on 03/08/2026 - 16:43

        The FBT exemption is very tempting but the thought of high interest for an EV that depreciates HARD and being left with a balloon which might be higher than the value of the vehicle doesn't make sense to me. I am in the top tax bracket and even paying div293 this year, so avenues to reduce taxable income are always welcomed. On the flip side, I own all petrol and one diesel cars and enjoy wrenching on them for fun.

        • 0
        • gromit on 03/08/2026 - 20:02

          Sadly div293 is not reduced by a novated lease as ,while it reduces taxable income, it does not bring down your assessable income for div293 (in some cases it may even increase it)

          • 1
          • Kangal on 03/08/2026 - 22:41

            @gromit: Also depends on the company.
            If they give you the freedom to buy whatever vehicle you want, and they finance it, you might be able to grab a great value Chinese BEV.

            However, I believe most N.L. force you to choose a vehicle from their list, at their inflated buying prices, and their mediocre interest rates. So you end up paying more money, just to try and get the Tax Write-off, and come up slightly ahead.

            Whereas, usually you would be financially better off just paying for the vehicle outright, but getting it as a 2-3 year old "used" instead. Although you won't get the benefits of Tax Write-off on the Servicing and Insurance, so there's always a tradeoff.

            I think an individual that has a +$130k salary (not including Superannuation) is the breaking point. But you really need to read their fine-line and do some napkin maths, before signing any contract.

            • 0
            • Harrash on 04/08/2026 - 04:28

              @Kangal: most NL providers let you choose whatever car you buy yourself, and most EVs are set price anyway, so there's no inflated pricing. interest may vary, some do big markups, some are more competitive

              • 1
            • gromit on 04/08/2026 - 07:52

              @Kangal: no, most NL lease companies let you choose any car you like or even bring your own quote from the vehicle vendor (like I did). Many companies do how restrict which NL companies you can use to an approved list. e.g. where I work has 2 different NL companies you can use.

              • 1
        • cnrmlj on 04/08/2026 - 07:42

          I don't get the obsession with just the interest cost. It is one component of the overall total cost of ownership which is what i look at. It's like those that obsess over a surcharge or a resort fee rather than the total cost of the coffee or the hotel stay.

          I have 2 options to buy a new car:
          1. Withdraw money from my offset account.
          2. Get a novated lease.

          At the end of 4 years, i will own a 4 year old car under both scenarios.

          The total cost of ownership to get to that point under option 2 is substantially less than option 1 based my own spreadsheet model that i have used and updated each time i have taken out a new novated lease. This model has been validated each time i have taken out a lease.

          • 0
          • gromit on 04/08/2026 - 07:54

            @cnrmlj: You are comparing incorrectly, you should be comparing a NL lease against getting finance yourself. generally (especially with a EV) you will still come out ahead, but when you do that the finance interest rates matter, especially when a lot of car manufacturers offer ultra low rates as incentives to buy from them around EOFY or EOCY.

            • 1
            • cnrmlj on 04/08/2026 - 13:17

              @gromit: Not saying interest rates don't have an impact on total cost of ownership, but total cost of ownership is the only thing that matters.

              I've modelled 2 scenarios:
              - Lease compared to buying for 6% interest (i.e. withdraw from my offset) - $30,000 better off over 4 years leasing.
              - Lease compared to buying with 0% interest (i.e. some magical financing provider loans me the money interest and fee free) - Still $15,000 better off over 4 years leasing.

              Anyway, pick up my new car next month and the lease begins.

              • 0
          • Typical16-bitEnjoyer on 04/08/2026 - 23:10

            @cnrmlj: You don't own the car after a 4 year lease lol

            • 0
        • UltimateAI on 04/08/2026 - 08:27

          EV’s hold their re-sale quite well. Mine is 2 years old, just had a trade-in quote for 2k less than the driveway price 2 years ago.
          Anything high-end depreciates rapidly, budget end no so much.

          • 0
          • JimB on 04/08/2026 - 09:48

            @UltimateAI: what car?

            • 4
            • UltimateAI on 04/08/2026 - 19:19

              @JimB: MG4 2024 $29k was the purchase price. 24 month novated lease, so looking around now.

              • 0
              • droodle on 05/08/2026 - 15:14

                @UltimateAI: hows it been over 2 years? was looking at getting a lease on a 2nd hand extended range MG4? which still has 5 years warranty

                • 0
                • UltimateAI on 05/08/2026 - 16:27

                  @droodle: Exceeded expectations,
                  - Despite long day-trips, only charge at home
                  - Easy to drive (difficult to go back to ICE)
                  - Fun to drive and great handling, very spirited ride
                  - Zero unexpected additional costs, still using a granny charger
                  - Still has some physical buttons
                  - Higher ride\quiet
                  - No issues with the Mobile App (heating\cooling the car ect…, scheduling charging ect..)
                  - No observable degradation in battery life\range

                  downsides;
                  - No OTA updates
                  - No Wireless CarPlay\Android Auto ($30 Carlinkt box fixed that and has been great)
                  - The overhead light is in the front, not center so very dark in the back seat
                  - Excite model has vey basic trim
                  - charge door sometimes gets stuck (will get them to look into it)
                  - Reports of dealer support\warranty claims being difficult to non-existent, so I do wonder how useful the 10year warranty is.
                  - lot of alternate offerings now
                  - many complaints about driving aids\auto breaking ect.. no issues for anyone in our family. Perhaps an issue for aggressive drivers.

                  • 1
          • eek on 04/08/2026 - 14:19

            @UltimateAI: Porsche Taycan depreciation is INSANE! LOL.

            • 3
            • MS Paint on 04/08/2026 - 16:05

              @eek: And no one wants to buy them used either. Seen some on the market for 12 months. As soon as they hit $50k I'll be all over them.

              • 2
              • lachhelix on 04/08/2026 - 21:35

                @MS Paint: The dealers are currently artificially inflating the prices so the market doesn't bottom out - I can tell you wholesale is pretty close

                • 1
            • UltimateAI on 05/08/2026 - 16:34

              @eek: Looked up some examples on CarSales, napkin math seemed about 50-60% drop after 3 years!!
              That's insane.
              But frankly, that still seems an insane amount to spend on a second hand car, that you know has been flogged.

              • 1
  • changyang1230 on 03/08/2026 - 01:04

    I am sorry that you are in this position - and that you are unpleasantly shocked by the fact that you still need to pay out heaps "as if you haven't paid down any principal".

    That's the nature of novated lease i.e. the full achievable saving only really crystallises if you run the lease till its natural completion, if you have to pull out on the first year of a 3-year lease, your remaining lease reverts into an expensive under-the-hood finance without GST benefit. The true break-even point (where breaking the lease is equivalent to the case where you bought the car with cash in the first place) is often only after mid point or three quarter of the way, i.e. if you break your lease earlier than that, you are in a position where "it would have been better if you bought with cash".

    My calculator's advanced mode, section 7: early termination has a graph that plots it out and shows you the precise scenario.

    As for what you could do, there's not a whole lot unfortunately.

    • Before your wife quits her job fully, ask the novated lease company whether she is allowed to deduct as much of her pay as possible in order to go into as much financial payment as possible before it's terminated officially. This would allow more of your remaining obligation to still come from pre-tax money and ex-GST instead of having to pay with post-tax money and inc-GST after termination.

    • If you guys do want to keep the car, then it makes more sense to keep the car under lease but continued on as post-tax lease. The financial impact still sucks but is better than having to pay the lump sum.

    • Ask if the financier could consider giving you guys a discount on the early termination for the remaining obligation, citing compassionate reasons. Typically on termination most of them want everything left in post-tax, inc-GST + residual in a lump sum, however the future figures can often be "discounted" i.e. instead of getting the 2000 per month for the June 2027 portion right now, they could instead only get ask for $1900 for that portion due to the fact that the net present value of "$2000 in 2027" is probably around 1900 right now.

    • If you are still working and if you could do NL yourself, ask if it could be transferred to you.

    • 11
  • sghetti on 02/08/2026 - 09:54

    As far as I’m aware within the contract for a Novated Lease. You pay the remaining repayments and everything due up until the Novated Lease was supposed to end. Not just the outstanding principal on the underlying loan.

    A bit like penalty interest on a fixed home loan if you exit early.

    • 9
    • UltimateAI on 05/08/2026 - 16:35

      On paper yes, but hits harder without the tax savings.

      • 0
    • corepda on 02/08/2026 - 16:39

      But isnt it very unreasonable to charge for the period we didn't own the car and paid off the debt?

      • -7
      • p1 ama on 03/08/2026 - 01:39

        You've never owned the car - it's a lease, not ownership.

        You entered into a contract with the novated leasing company to pay them a certain amount of money, and in return, they lease you a car.

        You now wish to exit that contract, therefore, you are actually paying for two things here:

        1. You are paying off the loan associated with the vehicle, and any difference to the residual value - this is because you will end up owning the car

        2. You are paying out the rest of your lease contract - you entered into a contract with the leasing company to pay this

        • 20
      • coffeeinmyveins on 03/08/2026 - 13:27

        But isnt it very unreasonable

        You signed up for a contract.

        I love posts like these. "Guys help I signed up for something to get a benefit which carried a risk and the risk has bit me in the ass it's not fair".

        • 4
        • changyang1230 on 03/08/2026 - 13:47

          @coffeeinmyveins

          To be fair, I think there is still something to be said about people who sign up for these things without knowing the full spectrum of all outcomes.

          If they haven't read deeply around the topic (e.g. in the novated lease guide), even IF they have read the actual terms and conditions in the NL quote, they would still not have realised that the payout in the event of termination is: post-tax, GST-inclusive figure of all the remaining obligation. This actual obligation is only described in the deed of novation in obscure complex legalese which 99.9% of people have no ability to properly decipher unless they are already familiar with accounting and legal terms.

          There is not enough consumer protection in place in novated leasing, and I absolutely sympathise with people who feel that they are unfairly done for when "things they were never told" sting later, even if technically they have signed the deed of novation which "technically has already described the potential outcome".

          • 1
          • gromit on 03/08/2026 - 20:08

            @changyang1230: I really have little sympathy for people that enter into a contract like this without basuc research. It takes all of 5 mins to find a list of the pros and cons and risks of a novated lease. Found plenty before signing up to mine 2 weeks ago. Dont sign shit you dont understand, especially for large amounts, plenty of readily accessible information to make it an informed decision. Hell you can even get insurance for the risk of losing your job or being unable to meet lease obligations.

            • 2
          • CrushJelly on 03/08/2026 - 20:01

            @changyang1230: Why do consumers needs further protection to mask their own laziness?

            • -3
            • changyang1230 on 03/08/2026 - 20:08

              @CrushJelly: Because on a whole the populace’s financial literacy and sharpness always loses to the conniving businesses.

              Albania fell to the get rich quick schemes when they transitioned from communism to capitalist market, because the government did not proactively protect the people who did not have enough healthy skepticism on the too-good-to-be-true schemes. (They don’t even know how free market works)

              It is the same reason why we regulate share market, insurance products, superannuation etc. Free market and due diligence enough is not enough, time and again we have discovered the hard way that unfortunately pitting the general public against businessmen will only result in a sea of pain without proper structural protection.

              • 6
              • brad1-8tsi on 03/08/2026 - 21:28

                @changyang1230: Financial PDS's are written in plain English.
                For a substantial commitment of $80k you'd seek advice if you didn't understand what you were signing.

                • 1
                • changyang1230 on 03/08/2026 - 21:55

                  @brad1-8tsi: There is no PDS for novated leasing. (It’s precisely what I describe in the above link.” - novated leasing is somehow beyond the scope of financial product and therefore has no legal requirement for a PDS - hence my whole argument)

                  There is a quote, a lease agreement, and a deed of novation.

                  The consequence of paying the rest of lease on early termination is absolutely hidden in deed of novation behind legalese.

                  I am on my third NL and wrote the novated lease guide website.

                  • 3
                  • hypocrisyinaction on 04/08/2026 - 08:00

                    @changyang1230: Just wanted to thank you for writing the novated lease guide. It's excellent. I have a company and therefore use company cars rather than novated leases for exactly the reasons you've stated, but I'm still glad that you've written it for other peoples' sakes.

                    • 4
                  • brad1-8tsi on 04/08/2026 - 16:50

                    @changyang1230: It was 2008 but I was fully aware of the break fee when I got the NL on the Skoda. I must have got the information somewhere.

                    • 0
      • brad1-8tsi on 03/08/2026 - 08:07

        But isnt it very unreasonable to charge for the period we didn't own the car and paid off the debt?

        You signed a contract and it will say exactly what the processes, costs and penalties are for early completion. When you signed the contract you must have thought those T&Cs were reasonable.

        When I had a NL I was concerned about (a) The reliability of the vehicle I'd chosen and (b) the stability of my employment so I took out a 1 year NL which I then extended 2 years then 1 year. In the 5th year the tax advantages were so small I just paid the balloon and owned the car.

        • 1
  • changyang1230 on 02/08/2026 - 12:03

    Novated lease for EV is fantastic value and saves you tens of thousands over cash, PROVIDED that it goes to plan and you don’t have to change your job, write off the car early, pay out the car early, need to borrow for a house, etc.

    These caveats are what instantly turn what COULD be a good deal into a shitty deal.

    In itself novated lease is not a scam once you understand the above and decide whether it’s good for you; however the NL companies are not doing themselves a favour by choosing to shy from disclosing these caveats when they are pushing their materials.

    While I encourage people to be highly skeptical about NL and its potential risk, it’s also important to recognise that it can still be a fantastic deal-of-our-lifetime when taken up judiciously for appropriate circumstances.

    • 9
  • JIMB0 on 02/08/2026 - 12:53

    This whole time I though these people driving around in flash new cars laughing at me in my old Toyota were rich and doing extremely well. Turns out they're just one redundancy away from a missed payment and catching the bus.

    • 9
    • Wiadro on 02/08/2026 - 14:23

      dont be mean to 40% of the population

      • 7
    • corepda on 02/08/2026 - 16:46

      Honestly losing a job is very common these days. It is not like we splurge our money and don't care about uncertainty. Although we knew if things we need to pay but charging so much for the break fee is very unreasonable. Hence the question to the community over here.

      • 0
      • brendanm on 02/08/2026 - 17:55

        It's not unreasonable if you agreed to it when signing up.

        • 2
        • tenpercent on 02/08/2026 - 18:01

          Is usury reasonable if someone signs a 50 page document saying they agree to it?

          • 0
      • coffeeinmyveins on 03/08/2026 - 13:30

        but charging so much for the break fee is very unreasonable

        you didn't think it was unreasonable when you signed the contract for your shiny car, did you? you're on the "find out" stage of breaking a contract and it feels unfair, but you did sign it.

        • 1
  • Doboman on 02/08/2026 - 10:06

    I dont think you need to worry , look like you got very good deal on the car . You should be able to put this on a car loan ( continue payments directly to bank or financier) with the same bank you in , get out of the NL as this calculate for running cost which is why your monthly payment is high.Then try and sell the car as this car still have good value.when you break the lease you have to pay admin fees and interest rest of the loan. Good luck 🤞

    • 4
  • brendanm on 02/08/2026 - 10:15

    Holy cow, you've been paying $500 a week for a car? You're lucky in that they seem to be in demand, seems you should be able to get nearly what you owe on it. Only issue would be that it will be encumbered, so you have to find a buyer who is willing to pay the finance company and hope for the best. Or you need to pay it out and then sell unencumbered.

    • 4
    • Mjk698 on 04/08/2026 - 16:54

      TYPICAL people trying to keep up with the Joneses buying the 100k car to impress their fake friends… Never had any car on finance, happy with my 10k investment driven all over Australia without any issues…

      • 2
    • coffeeinmyveins on 03/08/2026 - 13:29

      $500 a week for a car

      Is better than $90,000 upfront that (a) most people don't have laying around and (b) could be better used in an offset account for a mortgage.

      $500 a week is ~17% of someones weekly salary on 200k a year, and it's even less pre tax as well.

      • 0
      • brendanm on 03/08/2026 - 18:07

        most people don't have laying around

        Then spend less.

        could be better used in an offset account for a mortgage.

        Considering OP has been making payments for a year and still owes the same amount he started with, I'd say the interest rate he's losing far more than he'd be making in any lessened interest payments from an offset account.

        $500 a week is ~17% of someones weekly salary on 200k a year, and it's even less pre tax as well.

        $200k is top 3-4% of earners in the country. Considering the amount of cars worth $90k or more I see on the road, I don't think the majority of the people entering into this sort of agreement are on anywhere near $200k.

        $500 a week can pay a small mortgage, paying that for a depreciating asset is insane for people on a normal wage.

        • 2
  • JIMB0 on 02/08/2026 - 11:55

    ADANLHS

    • 4
  • Dollar General on 02/08/2026 - 19:43

    $100K for a car. Damn

    I often slag off Chinese cars but at least they offer superior value for money

    • 3
    • WhyAmICommenting on 02/08/2026 - 20:45

      Yep got two Chinese EVs for about 73k. Luckily my job is likely very stable (unless QLD goes bankrupt)

      • 0
    • Prosp24 on 03/08/2026 - 09:37

      Need a little less "high yield investment" and little more time of ozbargain

      • 0
  • FlyingMiffy on 02/08/2026 - 20:37

    The way asset finance is usually drawn up for novated lease is effectively a fixed term loan. That means if the lease is terminated early, the financer recoups the full benefits of the lease. That 89K is the outstanding finance rental amount multiplied by the balance period (i.e.if you have 36 months left, its 36 x the monthly amount that appears as the lease rental on your contract), plus your residual which will have GST added. The only thing you dont pay is the running costs that you nominated on your lease.

    Terminating a lease early is one of the most disadvantageous things you can do for any finance loans…

    How long does you missus need to be away from work? If she leaves her current job 3 months and gets back into work with an employer that supports novated lease, you can temporarily de-novate and pay the full payment (no pre tax benefits) then re-novate to the new employer to get it back on a lease. Otherwise, like others have suggested, your only avenue is to negotiate with the finance provider (thats not your leasing company but the one that supplied the loan). Good luck.

    • 3
  • freefall101 on 02/08/2026 - 13:56

    Ask for a breakdown of the lease termination and look at what's going on there. Remember, you can break the lease but not have to pay out the loan, it could be there's massive loan cancellation fees. You might be better off keeping the loan (even though it's likely at a high interest rate).

    We've been given a payout figure of $89,696.03, which has surprised me. We purchased the car for $89,000 plus GST, and despite making over a year's worth of lease payments (including interest and other costs), the payout amount is still basically the same as what we originally paid.

    Back of the napkin math suggests the loan should have paid off by at least $10k. What was the balance of your NL account (was it in negative), lease creation fee, lease monthly fee and the loan break fee? All of these should have been in your contract.

    • 2
    • djkelly69 on 02/08/2026 - 19:57

      A lease is not a loan. The payout figure looks to be the remaining ~24 months x the lease payment ($48k) plus the residual of ~$42k.

      That is my understanding how a lease works, even if you want to get out early.

      • 5
      • freefall101 on 03/08/2026 - 15:45

        A novated lease usually isn't structured as a standard lease though, mostly because the NL company doesn't want to deal with taking the car back at the end, there's explicit details about retaining ownership and taking over ownership.

        It might be OPs is very different to mine though. But I ended my lease early, it cost a couple of hundred bucks in exit fees and I took over paying the loan directly myself. I then re-setup the lease again at a new employer.

        • -1
    • lachhelix on 02/08/2026 - 15:08

      Likely they calculate and add the interest to the loan at the start

      • 0
    • corepda on 02/08/2026 - 16:47

      I didn't check that. How to check that if we have to? Contract doesn't mention anything in similar terminology.

      • 0
      • freefall101 on 02/08/2026 - 17:26

        Ask the NL company for all the details, my contract had the full details of the loan in it.

        One other thing to consider is that you usually pay the GST on the residual value of the vehicle at the end of the lease too. I'm not sure how that's calculated if you end the lease early, but that could be making up a big chunk of the increase as well.

        • 1
    • wannagrababargain on 02/08/2026 - 19:11

      The payout figure calculation can be very complicated. They often calculate an internal rate of return on the remaining lease. This is hidden in the fine print

      • 0
  • wannagrababargain on 02/08/2026 - 19:21

    Novated leases are in theory portable. I don't know your circumstances but you may be able to transfer the lease to your employer and your employer's lease company. Another option could be ask them what other options there are with regards to financial hardship. They might let you pause the payments until your situation improves in a few months, if you expect it to improve. Or they might waive some of the "make good" portion of the payout figure. If it's really a burden and needs to go you will be out of pocket the payout figure minus the market value of the car. Then the goal will be trying to negotiate to get that gap as low as possible.

    • 2
  • cnrmlj on 03/08/2026 - 10:22

    When my position was made redundant many years ago and i was 3/4 of the way through a novated lease i transferred it to a non novated lease and just paid it off by direct debit every month then paid the residual at the end of the lease.

    May be something to consider if there is no employer involved and you can afford it.

    • 2
  • nightmarez3k on 03/08/2026 - 16:58

    Your better off. Just paying for the lease with post tax dollars until the lease is up.

    Paying $89,000 is bad idea. Your lease payments is $2k a month x remaining months 24 = $48k plus balloon of $42,000k.

    So it's the same as paying $90k now. Plus you get to keep your money in the bank and earn interest.

    Even if circumstances change you need to do keep paying the lease as monthly payments it works out cheaper and your can just try and transfer to another employer.

    Keep working with same employer as long as possible and tax leave at half pay!!! Use up your leave and finish up don't quit.

    • 2
  • Atomik17 on 03/08/2026 - 18:51

    Who the hell wants to pay 1.9k a month 😮‍💨

    • 2
  • 87percent on 02/08/2026 - 10:07

    As someone that is looking for the EV9, I think you would get back most, if not more, than that payout figure. Speaking with multiple dealerships, they don’t even have a demo model as they keep getting sold

    • 1
  • Fredfloresjr on 02/08/2026 - 10:57

    Sell privately and pay.

    Damn man, you are paying too much. Got Tesla Y LR around that price and only paying $600ish per fortnight. Am under NSW health novated lease company.

    • 1
  • [Deactivated] on 02/08/2026 - 12:05

    Honestly dont break the lease

    I personally think these Novated lease deals are shit in general but to break one is financial stupidity the cost of just paying the lease as is for 2 more years would be a comparable penalty and you at least get to use the car

    • 1
    • Harrash on 03/08/2026 - 12:10

      you can't if their employment ceases

      • 0
  • Nutrino on 02/08/2026 - 12:43

    How does novated leasing save me money on tax?

    Novated leasing could save you money on tax because your car payments and running costs are taken from your pre-tax salary, which lowers your taxable income. You can also save on GST on eligible expenses like the car price, fuel and servicing, bringing down the overall cost of owning a car.

    • 1
    • Wiadro on 02/08/2026 - 14:23

      How does novated leasing save me money on tax?

      no

      • -2
  • jv on 03/08/2026 - 13:58

    Has anyone been in a similar position?

    Never… I'd do my due diligence beforehand…

    • 1
  • Lemond1977 on 03/08/2026 - 17:34

    Sorry to hear about your circumstances, hope things work out for the best.
    This has always been my concern with longer term NL's as you are locked into the interest payments, if your financial circumstances change then you are up the creek without a paddle, possibly insurance if you are lucky.
    For this reason I have generally taken out 1 year NL's & rolled them over to a max of 2 years, & kept the loan amount to an amount I can bail out of worst case.
    NL's are good if you understand all the detail and have a plan B if life doesn't go the way you planned

    • 1
  • gezza90 on 05/08/2026 - 12:26

    I would sell the car privately for around $80k-$85k (if possible), payout the remaining balance, cut your losses and move on. Take this as a lesson learnt and try to spend within your means next time. Good rule of thumb is to purchase a car 10-15% your gross annual income. so if you're earning $150k, Purchase a car outright for $15k-$23k. Unless "lifestyle" is up there for you, stretch it a bit to $30k-$35k. Invest money elsewhere.

    • 1
  • Overclocked91 on 02/08/2026 - 16:49

    I think your better off just trying to sell it privately and getting at least the same if not more of your payout figure. List it for sale and see what offers you get. Cut losses and be done with it.

    • 0
  • GuitarXXX on 02/08/2026 - 23:20

    There is not much you can do as you are in a contract with the NL provider, maybe read it again?

    I think the breakup fee can include the remaining interest charge that you have not paid, around $14-16K based on your interest rate. That's probably why it's still same amount.

    Looking the residual value alone won't be useful - it's the total lease payment + the residual value.

    Can your wife negotiate with the company and see what they can do?

    • 0
  • Blackadda on 03/08/2026 - 09:35

    Metro are (profanity)
    I lost my job and wanted to pay it out and the pay out is way over the original purchase price of the car because its a PV of the future payments at a very low discount rate.
    Id wrongly assumed it was a normal amortising loan.
    Felt like throwing the keys in

    I then wanted to sacrifice more to prepay and NLA wouldn't let me do that either.
    Now Im just paying every month the lease payments from my savings for the next few years with then a big balloon due.

    • 0
    • Never Pay RRP on 03/08/2026 - 11:37

      Id wrongly assumed it was a normal amortising loan.

      I was also under this impression as well. I was shocked when told it’s more like a rental with a balloon payment

      • 0
      • Blackadda on 03/08/2026 - 12:48

        The balloon part was always clear .. the part about it not amortising as payout included all future payments was very much hidden away and not mentioned anywhere unless you dive in .. quite shady if you ask me .. the lease companies get kickbacks from the financiers they wouldnt allow me to source my own finance.

        • -2
  • Never Pay RRP on 03/08/2026 - 11:33

    Sorry to hear about your situation.
    I had a terrible scenario where at the end of my novated lease they miscalculated and added an extra month to the end.
    When I questioned why the amount was exactly the same as the previous month, they explained that it wasn’t that I was paying off a loan, but more like I was renting a car, hence the repayments were constant. Luckily it was their mistake so they fixed it, but I didn’t realise that’s how it worked. I only focused on what would happen if I followed the rules exactly.
    So unfortunately that might explain why your break fee is so high.
    Read through your documentation and it should explain in detail.
    Sorry, that’s probably not what you wanted to hear…

    • 0
  • Harrash on 03/08/2026 - 12:36

    unfortunately not many options apart from those mentioned above - the only other pathway is if you run a small business or have a company you can transfer the lease to a self managed NL

    • 0
  • Konjhus on 03/08/2026 - 15:41

    Unfortunately, there isn't much flexibility here. The payout figure is high because it includes penalties, which essentially cover all remaining interest and charges.
    You do, however, have a couple of options moving forward:

    • Keep paying the regular monthly installments from your post-tax salary.
    • If your setup is similar to mine—where your novated lease provider is separate but the finance is with Metro—you can request to remove the bundled extras (such as registration, charging, and servicing). This allows you to restructure the arrangement so you are only paying for the finance component.
    • 0
  • Bludgeman on 03/08/2026 - 16:05

    That's exactly why you shouldn't sign up for a multi-year novated lease. reassess every 12 months, and you have the benefit of the 65% residual each time.

    • 0
    • changyang1230 on 03/08/2026 - 16:36

      The repeated 65.63% is explicitly disallowed by ATO since 2021 in their addendum to TD 93/142 (see example 3).

      https://www.ato.gov.au/law/view/document?docid=TXD/TD93142/N…

      1. A car with an effective life of 8 years is acquired after 30 June 2018 and leased for a period of 1 year. At the conclusion of that lease, a new lease is entered for 2 years. Using the 8-year effective life column in the table in paragraph 3 of this Determination and the total leased period of 3 years, the minimum residual value will be 46.88% of the cost of the car. The table applies the same irrespective of whether the car is leased through the same leasing company or another leasing company.

      If your financier is happy to do it and you are happy to accept the potential legal risk, then by all means go for it and enjoy the higher savings magnitude; however many financiers are catching on the "right way" to structure renewal and are no longer allowing the 65.63% of 65.63% of 65.63% method when you renew 12 months of lease repeatedly.

      • 4
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