CarMax does buy leased cars, but not ones leased through any of 21 finance companies it names, among them Toyota Financial Services, Honda Financial, Ford Credit and GM Financial. Check the leasing company on your contract first. If it isn't listed, CarMax asks it for a payoff quote and handles any equity.
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The answer in CarMax’s selling FAQ, read on October 25, 2026, begins “Yes, we do,” and calls the process “very similar to any other financed car”: CarMax appraises the car, asks your leasing company for a payoff quote and will “process any equity you might have.”
Then comes the exception. CarMax says it “cannot purchase a vehicle currently leased through” these 21 companies, listed here exactly as it prints them:
We have no affiliation with CarMax, and a list like this can change, so look at the FAQ again on the day you plan to sell.
The leasing company is the lessor named on your lease contract and monthly statement, which may not be the dealer where you signed. Match the name exactly. Toyota appears four ways on CarMax's list: Toyota Financial Services, Toyota Lease Trust, Toyota Motor Credit Corporation and Southeast Toyota Finance. Mazda appears as Mazda Credit/Mazda Financial Services, and the list also takes in Lexus Financial Services, Acura Financial, Infiniti Financial Services and Lincoln Credit, alongside Ally Financial, World Omni and one credit union.
If your leasing company isn't on the list, CarMax treats the lease much like a car with a loan: it gets the payoff figure from the leasing company and compares it with its offer. Two practical points from the same answer: CarMax can get a lease payoff only during the leasing company's business hours, because it must speak to a representative, and some leasing companies won't allow a sale before the lease expires.
If the payoff turns out higher than the offer, CarMax's FAQ on owing more than the offer says you pay CarMax the difference.
CarMax can't buy the car while it is leased through that company, so the question becomes what you do with the lease. CarMax's trade-in guide says leasing companies typically require you to buy the lease out first, “so you own the car outright,” and warns that this may mean paying more than the car's trade-in value plus fees for ending the lease early.
That leaves three routes. You can buy the car out and sell it once it's yours; CarMax's list covers cars “currently leased,” but its FAQ doesn't say how it treats a car bought out days earlier, so ask the store before you count on it. You can ask a dealer for your car's brand what it would pay. Or you can hand the car back at the end of the term. Our guide to selling a leased car sets out which buyers four lenders' own pages allow, and how to work out whether the car is worth more than the payoff.
A leased car is appraised like any other: CarMax looks at its year, mileage, features, condition and history, and an online offer is verified in person before it is final. If your leasing company isn't on the list, CarMax may well be the simplest buyer you have, because it deals with the leasing company directly, and a private buyer generally can't while the leasing company holds the title.
One cost to check first: CarMax says your car “might not be eligible for trade-in tax savings” when it is leased, and tells you to ask your leasing company for details. If you meant to put the car's value toward another one, get that answer before you sign. For the other limits CarMax sets, see what CarMax won’t buy.
Our buying partner won't buy a car with an open loan or lien. Peddle's help article says “all liens and loans must be paid in full” before it buys a vehicle; its pages don't mention leases. Once the car is yours, compare a free offer with CarMax’s number; you have a week to accept it, and CarMax's own offer stays valid for 7 days, so the two can sit side by side.
Not if the lease is with Toyota Financial Services, Toyota Lease Trust, Toyota Motor Credit Corporation or Southeast Toyota Finance. All four are on CarMax's list of leasing companies it cannot buy from, so check the lessor named on your contract.
CarMax says it contacts your leasing company for a payoff quote and will process any equity you might have.
Sometimes. CarMax warns that some leasing companies won't allow a sale before the lease expires, and it can only get a payoff quote during the leasing company's business hours.
Maybe not. CarMax warns that leased cars can miss out on trade-in tax savings, and it tells you to check with your leasing company.