Lease swaps are win-win deals for car shoppers and leased car drivers!
Lease Trading for Buyers
Another reason to consider lease trading is that buyers get some nice benefits too. For example, you can take over a car lease with no money down, since you don’t go through a dealer. You can also find a shorter-term lease, if you don’t want to commit to a typical three to five year agreement. You browse through the online car listings to find something that interests you. Once the company that holds the lease approves you to assume it, you sign the paperwork, and work with the seller to transfer the vehicle.
Lease Trade Considerations & Costs
You can even trade a car lease with someone who lives in a different state; long-distance transfers are not uncommon. You can arrange to have the vehicle inspected by a dealer or a mechanic close to the seller and have it delivered to you by a shipping service. Most online trading sites offer resources for the different services you might need to get the deal done.
If you want to trade your lease, always do it with the leasing company’s knowledge and approval. It’s best to contact them first to make sure that they allow lease transfers—otherwise you could end up being responsible for the payments anyway. You can find the basic transfer policies, restrictions, and fees, for many leasing companies at leasetrader.com.
Listing a leased vehicle online offers no guarantee that you’ll find someone to take it. But there usually are many people in the market for short-term, affordable car leases. Paying for transaction fees and advertising costs associated with doing a transfer will be much less than buying out your lease and paying an early termination penalty.
Be sure to check out my Quick Tip about cutting the cost of your auto insurance for more information.
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