A lease is very much like a long term rental. With vehicles, leases are often meant as a long term way of paying off the car as a whole. With that said, I've always been under the impression that when you lock into a leasing agreement, you're required to pay the amount of money specified over "X" amount of time. If you decide you don't want to do it anymore, you can "sell" your car by getting somebody else to take over the lease payments, but that's really your only way out.

It's no different than if you were leasing an apartment per se. If you decided 6 months in to a 12 month lease you didn't want to live there anymore, you'd still be required to pay all 12 months you agreed upon. You signed the contract and you now have to abide by it, there's nothing upside down about that.

If you're not sure you can afford to pay the monthly lease, or may change your mind down the road, then don't get into a leasing agreement. It's that simple.

__________________