Yes.  All vehicle lease packages can be paid out prior to the expiry date.  In order to determine how much it would cost to buy-out an existing lease, simply call the original lessee and request they call the leasing company for the pre-tax current buy-out of the lease.  Upon receipt of the buy-out, you can start the negotiation process with the original lessee.  Here a couple of important notes to remember:

Q:  How come there are listings with new-car dealerships as the contact; I thought your leases were private lease-take-overs?

Leasebusters has partnered with several new-car dealerships in an effort to enhance our business model.  Our website and service remains a very "private-sale" and private individual model, however, the dealer program provides the following benefits:

Q:  How much does the new-car dealership or the leasing company charge for the  lease transfer fee?

The transfer fee varies from leasing company to leasing company (and dealer to dealer).  If you are looking to get-out-of you lease, call the business manager of your original selling dealership and request a lease-transfer-fee quotation.  If you are looking to get into a lease and the lessee is requesting that new-lessee pay the transfer fee, simply speak to the lease-owner (lessee) directly and request the amount.

Q:  The vehicle that I am interested in is in another province; can I still take-over that lease?

If the leasing company is a national company – (and all factory/manufacturer’s leasing companies are all national companies) – then any and all cross-provincial Lease-Take-Over transactions are perfectly acceptable.

Leasebusters have had several Ontario leased vehicles successfully taken over by residents of Nova Scotia, Alberta and British Columbia.

To assist you in your shipping needs Searail "The Careful Car Movers" have recently partnered with Leasebusters to bring an added dimension to the Leasebusters experience and product offering. Whether you are searching for a lease-take-over or trying to get-out-of your lease, you can now expand your market search to all of Canada.

Q:  How do I register (pre-register) to get out of my lease??

Simply click on the “Get A Free Evaluation of Your Lease” link on the home page.  Upon opening of the page; thoroughly fill in all the details required about you, your vehicle and the lease package attached to your vehicle.  After completing the required information, press submit and the information will be sent directly (electronically) to one of our Lease-Take-Over (LTO) Specialists.

Your LTO Specialist will completely evaluate and assess your lease package – providing both the market position of the car and its lease as well as historical data and the pros & cons attached to your complete deal.  Your LTO Specialist will then call you (by telephone) to relay and convey their findings.  After your discussion with your LTO Specialist, you will both mutually decide whether or not to retain Leasebusters to get you out of your existing lease package.

Q:  I’m looking for a specific vehicle that I cannot find within your inventory; how can I find out if one becomes available?

Go to our Hot-Buyers-List link and sign yourself up under both the Lease-Take-Over and Used car section.  This way you will always be informed (either by email or by telephone) of the vehicle(s) that match your desires.

Signing up on the Hot Buyers List will allow you to always be sure that you will not miss out on a great deal offered by Leasebusters and/or Leasebusters.com

Q:  Can you explain to me the process of taking over a lease from another Province?  Wouldn't there be substantial transportation costs, provincial inspections etc?

The transportation costs can be negotiated with the original lessee; most original customers are very motivated to move their leases and may incur other costs in order to have their leases taken over – a perfect example of this is the significant cash incentives that several customers are currently offering.  If you find a vehicle that you like and would consider, you simply discuss your geographical situation with that customer and make an offer that includes the shipping of the car.  Remember; Searail is available to assist both parties in all their shipping needs.

Secondly, in terms of vehicular inspections, once again, have the original customer get the car inspected (physically and mechanically) by the original selling dealership; Searail also has an inspection service available.  Have the results of the inspection faxed or emailed to you for your review.  The majority of the vehicles available at Leasebusters.com, are very new and are not suffering from typical older used car problems (they are still under the factory warranty as well).  

Lastly, the owner of the car does not change; only the legal lessee.  For example, a Jetta or Passat currently being leased through Volkswagen Credit is owned by VW Credit; if that lease is assigned to someone else; VW Credit remains the owner – only the lessee changes.  Therefore, provincial inspections and red-tape are minimal and not costly.

Q:  Can I put a down payment or trade-in on a Lease-Take-Over?

Lease-Take-Over deals cannot be re-worked to accommodate a down payment or trade-in.  If you have a trade-in you can wholesale the car or sell the vehicle privately.  After successfully selling your trade you can apply the cash proceeds (resulting from the private sale of your personal vehicle OR your personal cash) and deposit it directly into your car payment bank account.  Divide the proceeds by the months remaining in the lease and what you have done is effectively lowered the payment of the lease on your own.

For example:  If you got $4,000.00 for the private sale of your car OR your personal cash and the term remaining on a Lease-Take-Over is 30 months.  You divide 30 into the $4000.00 and come up with a monthly subsidization of $133.00.  This way, if the monthly payment of the Lease-Take-Over is $585.00 per month, your effective payment becomes $585.00-$133.00 = $452.00 per month.

Q:  At the end of the lease, am I responsible for any damage or excess wear and tear which occurred before I took over the lease?  What can I do to protect myself against being assessed for damages that I did not cause?

Please follow the following generally accepted practices and you will protect yourself right from the beginning:

Prior to signing any lease-assumption documents; you as the new lessee must ensure that the subject vehicle’s integrity is intact.  You do this during the negotiation phase of the transaction with the original lessee.  Any Lease-Take-Over (LTO) should be subject to an independent inspection performed by the original selling dealer.  The original selling dealer will inspect both the mechanical fitness and physical integrity of the vehicle; this includes an inspection for any previous accidents or undisclosed problems.  This inspection will act as your assurance policy.  If the vehicle has sustained damage from a previous accident but was repaired properly by an accredited body-shop; you must get copies of the original repair orders.  In terms of maintenance; you should request the maintenance records from the original lessee in order to confirm the vehicle has been looked after.  Regarding the vehicle’s service history; simply have the original selling dealer print out a warranty repair history.  This history will let you know if the vehicle has had several warranty problems or if it has been virtually problem-free.

Q: What process do I follow if I want to take over a lease?  What legalities should I be familiar with?

All lease transfers are credit-approved legal transfers sanctioned by the Leasing Company.  Typically, the original selling dealership must participate in the transfer as they are the selling agent for the Leasing Company.  The following is the order of operations:

• Go see the vehicle (inspect, test-drive and discuss the vehicle with the original lessee)
• Make a deal-in-principal with the original lessee (included who pays for transfer fees, inspections, security deposits, cash incentives and/or down payments).  The deal is subject to credit approval.
• Complete a credit application and submit it to original selling dealership.
• The dealership will submit to Leasing Company and wait for credit decision.
• Upon receipt of credit approval; the dealership and the two retail parties (original lessee and new-lessee) coordinate a delivery and signing date.

Q:  My leasing company indicated that my obligation must remain on the lease should someone else take-over my lease…what should I do?

If your leasing company (the lessor) has that particular draconian policy (I say "if" because GMAC and other major companies have rid themselves of that policy); you can proceed forward keeping the following in mind.  Leasebusters has witnessed every major leasing company relax that policy after they have reviewed and approved the credit of the prospective assignee.  If the new customer's credit is as good as or better than yours, the leasing company will release you (they will claim on an exception basis).  The bottom line consists of two final points; (1) If the new customer could qualify for a new lease from that leasing company; why would the leasing company want your obligation to remain on the lease and (2) If the leasing company approves the new customer, they would not stand a chance at getting any money from you in court because they (the leasing company) approved the credit of the assignee originally.  This fact is why GMAC and other companies removed that policy.  Furthermore, as Lease-Take-Overs become more popular, the other companies will have no choice but to remove this policy - especially for the sake of customer service.

Q:  How come there are cars on the website that have been sold?  Is your database not pure?

Leasebusters both sympathizes and apologizes for the frustration and annoyance resulting from sold vehicles still being posted as available on the website. We have experienced this issue for some time and have built and deployed software to automatically update and delete old files. The problem, however, is that the purification process is ongoing and sometimes flawed due to the participation required by the "sellers"  

Furthermore, our marketing department has been mandated to continuously make “data-purification” follow up calls with our all listed-clients.  Our mandate is to have a well maintained and pure database.

Q: Upon completion of the lease-take-over, do I need to take the car back to the original leasing dealership if I do not want to exercise the purchase option? If so, does this typically mean shipping the car back across the country if this is where it came from?

Every factory leasing company will allow you to drop your leased vehicle at an associated new car dealership that is closest to your home or place of business.  You must make contact with the leasing company at least thirty (30) days in advance and one of their customer service representatives will provide you with a dealership name and telephone that will be most convenient to you.  If you are considering a lease from an independent (non-factory) leasing company, you must attain their “end-of-lease” protocol prior to assuming the vehicle lease package.  Be sure that this protocol from the independent leasing company is in writing and that you fully understand all the terms and conditions.

Q: I have a vehicle that is Financed, not leased…can Leasebusters help me find someone to take over the finance payments?

At this point in time, Leasebusters does not have a module that assists in purchase-financing assignments/take-overs. Clearly there is a market for this service however there are “ownership” and “sales-taxes” implications that must be investigated and sorted out prior to launching that business model.  In purchase-finance scenarios, the customer actually OWNS the vehicle, whereas the leasing company owns a leased vehicle and that does not change during a lease-take-over transaction.  When there is customer ownership attached to an assignment/take-over of a contract, an actual sales transaction must be consummated and therein begins the sales tax implication challenges.  Leasebusters has been researching this business model and hopes to have a solution to bring to the market in the very near future.  The only advice that Leasebusters can give you is to do some research on the retail value of your car and compare it the amount that you still owe and attempt to sell the vehicle at the private level.