Can I turn in/ trade in a car lease early?

I have a 36 month lease on a 2012 Honda Fit. In February I will begin my third and final year on the lease.

For months the dealership that I got the car from has been asking me to come in and trade it. But I don't want another Honda. The only reason I got the Honda in the first place was because my dad wanted me to.

What I want to get is BUY a Kia Soul from the local Kia dealer, but I don't have enough money to pay for both cars.

So is there anything I can do? My car is in really good condition and I have NEVER been late on payments. Here is a picture of the car I have above.

Ask the dealership (they may or may not be willing to work with you if you aren't buying another car from them).

Welcome to your education about what a *contract* means.

You AGREED to lease the Fit for three years. Live up to your *agreement* and keep driving and paying on the Fit until that *contract* ends. Even if the dealer allows you to get out of the lease early, it's for sure that they will charge you costs associated with such an early termination.

Once the current lease ends, feel free to get the Kia if you still want it then. That would be the smart, cheaper, and honest thing to do.

You can't just walk away from a lease agreement. Try these sites: www.swapalease.com and www.leasetrader.com. You can try to find someone willing to take over your lease.

You will owe the remaining payments for the lease. If you have great credit, they might be able to roll them over on another car but it would be incredibly stupid.

Honda is better than Kia anyway.

This is a 'be careful what you wish for' moment.
There's no reason to trade in your Fit for a Kia Soul. The Soul is a worse car in every single way except for the new car warranty.
The Soul has horrible resale, less functionality, worse mpg and worse reliability than the Fit.

Now to your question -
You could get rid of the Fit lease early in theory, but it's a horrible financial move.
Somehow, someway, you are going to end up paying the remaining lease payments on the Fit.
For example, say you spend $200 a month on a lease and have 12 months remaining months on the lease.
Honda isn't just going to waive that money, so what will likely happen is that a the Kia finance guy will try to figure out a way to roll it into your new loan. This may include requiring you to make a bigger down payment on the new car, sacrificing any available rebates on the new car, rolling the negative equity into the new car loan or any combination of the 3.

Regardless of what happens, you are the big loser that will end up paying an extra $2400 or more just to get out of a Fit one year early.

My suggestion would be to ride the Fit out until your lease is over, give it back to Honda and then start over the car buying process. By then, you may come to your senses and decide against the Soul!