lease question

[trance247]

say you leased a car for 2-3 years and you have to relocate soon overseas, what are the options of getting out?

 

[vi edit]

Not many options.

1) Pay up in full and turn it in.
2) Buy out the lease and keep the car.
3) Sell the car outright and pay up the balance and any early termination fees.
4) Get somebody to assume the lease and continue payments.

 

[DeviousTrap]

Unless it's a military issue and the leasing company has some sort of exception for members of the armed forces, you're stuck. Either you buy the car at the current payout amount, or if your leasing company allows it you can find someone to take over the lease. A 3rd option might be a early lease termination fee, but that fee will usually be so excessive that it'll make more sense to buy the car and then sell it.

 

[spacejamz]

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Get Out of Car Lease? Break a Lease? End a Car Lease? Terminate a Lease? Exit a Lease Early? It's All the Same Thing

As you probably already know, getting out of a car lease is not as easy as getting in. Quitting a lease means backing out of an original agreement that provided for low payments over a fixed number of years. Those low payments are only possible if the lease is completed as agreed.


There are a number of ways
In order to end your lease ("early termination"), you can return your car and pay the lease company what you still owe, which could be substantial. At least, that's one way to do it but not necessarily the best way.

The reason that this might not be the best way to get out of your lease is that the amount you owe on your lease can be much more than you might have anticipated, due to the way in which the lease company calculates your early termination costs (read the small print on the back of your lease contract). Most people are very surprised when they learn just how much they owe. They quickly learn how little of their lease balance has been paid off.

There seems to be a common misconception that, to get out of a lease, one simply returns the car, pays some kind of penalty fee, and it's all over. Not true. This is not the way it works, unfortunately. The actual cost of early lease termination can be thousnads of dollars, depending on how much of the lease remains.

Actually, you have a number of possible options for getting out of your lease, some of which will be better for you than the others. You're looking for the option that will save you the most money and trouble, and protect your credit rating.

Lease transfer is the best way
One your best options may be to transfer your lease to someone would like to pick it up and take it off your hands ? a lease assumption. There are significant advantages for this method. It is low cost (no penalties, no payoffs, but transfer fees), it is relatively easy, and it does not affect your credit score..

There's a whole set of potential buyers out there who are looking for short-term leases without going through dealers and the associated extra costs.

However, to get our of your lease using this method, you need to follow the correct process and check to see if your lease company allows it. You can't simply let someone assume your lease without the lease company's knowledge and involvement. The new "lessee" must get approved and sign new lease papers.

The good news is that help is available, online, on the Internet.

Where to get help getting out of your lease
There are a number of specialized lease transfer companies on the Internet who will list your car and help and find "buyers" who are interested in taking over your lease. These companies help with the lease assumption process and paperwork. They charge a reasonable fee for their services -- a fee that is much smaller than a lease company's early termination costs. Since these companies work directly with the lease company and handle all the details, the process is easy and painless.

Although there are a number of good lease transfer companies out there, the company that we recommend is Swapalease . They are very reputable, have been in business for years, and have helped thousands of people get out of their car leases. We've recommended them for years and continue to get good feedback from people who have used them.

You can get an instant free quote from Swapalease regarding the cost of listing your car so that interested "buyers" might see it. You'll also be told immediately if your lease company or bank allows lease transfers so that you'll know right away if this technique is going to work for you.

You can get a "buyers" viewpoint on this topic by reading our article, Short Term Leasing.

There are other ways too
Since the lease transfer solution is only one way to end a car lease and it doesn't always work out for everyone, we have provided a comprehensive how-to article, "Lease Termination Guide" in our popular Lease Kit that contains a detailed explanation of all the other ways to exit a lease, with examples, and instructions on how to determine the best option for your particular lease situation.