This is the mother of all leasing scams. When closing the agreement, you ask the dealer what would happen if you terminated the lease early and what would be the penalty for it.
“Absolutely, no problem,” he says. “There is a termination fee of $289.” He is not lying, but he purposely omits to tell you that the “Termination fee” is only one of two penalties and is just a small administrative fee. The other fee is an “Early termination penalty” (or something very similar, depending on the company)-- and that’s a few thousand dollars!
How to avoid: first of all, make sure you really want that car for the period of time you are leasing it. Secondly, read the small print and ask the dealer as many questions as you can when it comes to additional costs that he may not tell you about.