Video explainer: keep, sell or trade in to claim your positive equity

Your leased car is worth more than it costs to buy. That's positive equity — and it's your money, if you claim it. Under a minute, here's how.

Positive equity means the market values your car above your payoff. It happens when the residual guessed low, used prices ran high, or you simply drove gently.

Three ways to claim it: buy and keep a car worth more than you paid. Buy and sell, pocketing the difference. Or trade it in with the equity as your down payment.

The one move that wastes it: returning the car. Hand back the keys and the equity transfers silently to the leasing company. They will not send a thank-you note.

Champion Auto Finance coordinates positive-equity buyouts, subject to lender approval, across New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania. Claim yours at championautofinance dot com.