Honda lease return, buyout and every other lease-end option

Every Honda lease includes an excessive wear-and-use or damage waiver, and buying or leasing another new Honda or Acura within 30 days of turn-in can add to that waiver and waive the turn-in fee.

Your options when a Honda lease ends

• Return it to an authorized Honda or Acura dealer and pay any end-of-term bill.

• Buy it at the price fixed in your contract. Honda says that price isn't negotiable.

• Trade it in at a Honda or Acura dealer. Dealers of other brands can't buy it from Honda.

• Extend, if you qualify.

• End early by buying the car before maturity, or by asking the Lease Maturity Center for your early-return figure.

The general rules are in every lease-end option explained, and My lease is ending sorts them for your dates and miles.

How a Honda lease return works

1. Six months out. Your account moves to Honda's Lease Maturity Center, which handles lease-end options and inspections from then on.

2. Two to three months out: call the center. The number is (800) 708-6555, Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. local time. Ask how the return works and whether you qualify for Honda Loyalty Benefits.

3. Book the free inspection. Honda's authorized inspection agents do it, not the dealer. Book online or at 1-800-340-4080 with your finance account number and VIN. Honda says to have it done in the last two scheduled months of the lease; it takes about an hour or less. Be there, because you sign the Vehicle Inspection Report and get a copy.

4. Call before you repair. Honda says to check with the Lease Maturity Center before paying for repairs, because the waiver built into your lease may already cover the damage. Repairs must use Honda or Acura Genuine parts. You can also return the car as it is and be billed for the excess.

5. One week out: make the appointment to return the car to a Honda or Acura dealer.

6. Turn it in clean. Bring all keys, the owner's manual and maintenance records, the Vehicle Inspection Report, receipts for completed repairs and the Vehicle Return Receipt. That receipt also serves as the odometer statement; you and a dealer representative sign it. Keep your copy.

7. Call the center again. Honda asks you to phone the Lease Maturity Center to say the car is back. If every payment is made, that call starts the closing of your account. Payments still due are yours to make, even if a dealer agreed to make them.

8. End-of-term bill. The car gets a final inspection after turn-in, and Honda can bill for a problem that appeared after the first one. The bill, sent later, can include wear or damage above the waiver, unpaid payments, excess mileage and the turn-in fee, with sales tax added where it applies. Questions about it go to (800) 351-6510.

The return receipt says of itself that it shows only that the car was handed back, not its condition or what you may still owe. More on turn-in day: returning a leased car. Honda's own steps are on its End of Lease page.

What Honda counts as excess wear

Every Honda lease includes an Excessive Wear-and-Use or Damage Waiver for a set amount, and you pay for wear above it. Honda's inspection guide sizes damage with a credit card or a ruler. What it lists as chargeable:

• Scratches: longer than 3 inches, any scratch that catches a fingernail, or more than two on one panel.

• Dings and dents: a ding is a small dent under 1.5 inches across. Four or more on one panel are chargeable, and so is the fourth and every further panel that has dings. Anything larger than 1.5 inches counts as a dent.

• Touch-up paint: Honda treats it as unrepaired damage, not as a repair.

• Windshield: all cracks, stars and bull's-eyes. Damage larger than a dime means a new windshield; smaller damage is charged as a repair.

• Tires and wheels: less than 4/32 inch of tread at the lowest point, and broken or bent wheels or rims.

• Interior and glass: any burn, hole, stain or tear, and cracked or broken lenses, glass or mirrors.

Honda notes that these examples aren't the full list. On miles, the allowance can't be changed once the lease is signed: extra miles can only be bought up front, and miles over the allowance are billed at the rate in your lease agreement. Whether to repair first: excess wear and tear on a leased car. What going over costs: lease mileage overage.

Buying your Honda at lease end

Tell the Lease Maturity Center you plan to buy. Your purchase quote is in your HFS online account, which can estimate the amount for a date up to four weeks ahead, and on the automated line at 1-800-708-6555. The lease-end price was fixed in your contract at the start, and Honda says it is not negotiable. You can also buy before the lease matures; the price is then the outstanding contractual balance.

• Pay online, by mail or at a Honda or Acura dealership. If you want Honda Financial Services to finance the purchase, that goes through a Honda or Acura dealer.

• Paperwork. Honda releases the title only once it has your signed Odometer Disclosure Statement and Title Release Information form.

• Title. Honda's answers give two to four weeks by standard mail once all documents are in, depending on the state.

• DMV. You then put the title and registration in your own name at the DMV and pay any sales tax and fees due there.

California treats a lease buyout as a taxable purchase. When a dealer handles it, the dealer collects the tax. Honda says a mailed payment is the full purchase amount including state sales tax, if any, so ask whether your quote includes it or whether you pay use tax to the DMV when you transfer the registration (CDTFA guide for vehicle purchasers). Financing and the DMV steps are in buying out your lease in California.

Can a third party buy out a Honda lease?

No. Honda's End of Lease page says lease purchases are only available to the lessee or an authorized Honda or Acura dealer, and that vehicles must be returned to Honda or Acura dealers if not purchased. Its help answer on the question, dated October 9, 2025, says Honda is unable to conduct third-party sales. Honda announced the rule on July 8, 2021, and it is still on its site in October 2026.

• CarMax, Carvana and dealers of other brands can't pay off your Honda lease.

• A Honda or Acura dealer can buy the car or take it in trade. The dealer that takes a returned car gets the first chance to buy it from Honda.

• You can buy the car yourself and then sell or trade it anywhere. CDTFA presumes your buyout is a sale for resale, so it isn't taxed, if you transfer title and registration to the buyer within 10 days of getting the title and don't use the car yourself in between.

Payoff quote types and each lender's rules are in third-party lease buyouts.