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Hi, hopefully I can provide you with an authoratitive response on this as we do these agreements on a daily basis for our customers.
Firstly, it sounds like you have a Contract Hire Agreement, not a Contract Lease Agreement (the agreement probably says 'Leasing Agreement (Contract Hire)' across the top (there is a difference and it matters if anyone thinks I'm being a pedant).
If you have a Contract Hire agreement, then unfortunately you are tied into said agreement rather inextricably as Contract Hire agreements do not provide for early exit under any normal circumstances. Even emigrating would not attract any leniency on this I'm afraid.
You may still have some light at the end of the tunnel though. Did you take this agreement out with Audi directly (i.e in a showroom) or using a broker?
If using a broker, chances are it was all at arms length and whilst they should explain the contract etc you will have had plenty of time to read through the statutory information provided.
If at a dealer then I ask this as you will need to check if you were properly explained the terms and the nature of these terms when signing the contract. Did you at any point ask if there were any early exit options and how were these questions answered? Were you given any pre-contract information, was this shown to you or were you just asked to 'sign here' with little opportunity to observe the terms or not explicitly shown the Key InformationResponsibiities form. If that is the case you MAY be able to go back to them sayign you were not made aware of the expensive early termination fees and had you been made aware you would not have chosen that financial product and that it would not have met your needs as a customer. Resolving this could take a fair bit of time though.
Otherwise, you only have a few options.
1) Pay up
2) See if you have a friend/family member you trust who could unofficially take on the balance of the lease and pay you and you continue paying the monthly bill (not allowed in the T's & C's but many people do it and far more 'legitimate' if a family member).
3) if you plan on never coming back to the UK (or not least within the next 6 years), then drop the car off at your local Audi showroom with all keys etc and simply go. Terminate the DD, close your UK account and don't look back. This WILL trash your credit history but if you are gone for 6 years then by the time you come back it will be as if it never happened.
(I do not condone this course of action however it is an option and legal, as you will be merely breaching the terms of the contract, they will seek to pursue you, realise they cannot and request a judgement in default (CCJ)).
4) Have a crack at fighting this in court claiming this is a punitive damages clause (this would take a long time).
If you want to chat this through any more, please request my contact details/pass yours on to admin who will pass them on to me.
Good Luck,
TheBroker
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