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:  I am interested in a vehicle that’s in another province; can I still take over that lease?

Yes.  If the leasing company is a national company (all factory/manufacturer’s leasing companies are national companies), then all interprovincial Lease-Take-Over (LTO) transactions are perfectly acceptable. For example, LeaseBusters has had several Ontario-leased vehicles successfully taken-over, by residents in other provinces, including: Alberta, British Columbia and Nova Scotia.
To assist you with your shipping needs, Livingston Vehicle Transportation, "The Careful Car Movers" has 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 current lease, you can now expand your market search across Canada.

Q:  What do I need to consider when taking over a lease from another province?

If you’re considering taking over a lease from another province, there are three things to keep in mind: transportation costs, vehicle inspection, and ownership.

Transportation costs
Normally, you can negotiate transportation costs with the lessee. Often, a lessee is highly motivated to transfer that lease. So, in order to have their lease taken over quickly, a lessee is often willing to incur other costs. If you’re considering a vehicle in another province, simply discuss your situation with that customer, and make an offer that includes the costs of shipping the vehicle. Remember; Livingston Vehicle Transportation is available to assist both parties with their vehicle shipping needs.

Vehicle inspection
Since you’re not able to view the vehicle yourself, you’ll want to have the vehicle inspected to ensure it is mechanically sound, and in good physical condition. Ask the lessee to have the vehicle inspected by the original dealership, and fax, or email the results to you, for review. Livingston Vehicle Transportation also conducts a vehicle inspection, prior to shipping. Keep in mind that the majority of the vehicles available at LeaseBusters.com are new, and don’t suffer from problems common with older vehicles; in fact, most vehicles are still covered under the original factory warranty!

Ownership
Be aware that when you take over a lease, the owner of the vehicle doesn’t change; only the legal lessee changes. For example, a Jetta or Passat leased through VW Credit is owned by VW Credit. If the lease is taken over by someone, the lessee changes, but VW Credit remains the owner. Since there is no actual change in ownership, provincial inspections and red tape are minimal, and affordable.

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 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: What is a Cash Incentive?

A cash incentive is the amount of money that the person who wants to get out of a lease is willing to give to someone who will take over his/her lease. Often the cash incentive amount is discussed with the Leasebusters sales analyst in order for the Seller to participate in this marketing decision. A cash incentive often consists of cash paid up-front, a refundable security deposit and or a rebate for unused kilometers that the lease Buyer would be entitled to at the end of the lease. See the Comments section and the Lease Take Over Summary of the vehicle's Details Page to review the cash incentive that is being offered on the vehicle that you're interested in.

Q: What does the term "Effective Payment" mean? How is it calculated?

This payment takes into account either the Cash incentive offered or Down payment requested to calculate your effective payment. For example, if the monthly payment is $500, there are 20 months remaining and there is a $2,000 cash incentive, simply divide the $2,000 cash incentive by the 20 remaining months to establish a $100 per month incentive, which would give you an effective payment of $400. If in the same case there was a down payment of $2,000 instead of a cash incentive of $2,000, simply divide the $2,000 down payment by the 20 remaining months to establish an effective monthly payment $100 higher than the actual payment, which would give you an effective payment of $600.00. The effective payment is an approximate figure that is calculated by dividing the incentive/down payment by the number of months remaining, and subtracting this amount from the pre-tax payment. *****Please note that as a result of variances in sales taxes between the different provinces, this number should be used only for the purpose of approximation. For a more precise calculation, use the payment including your local sales taxes and subtract/add the monthly incentive/down payment using this figure.

Q: What is the Leasebusters listing fee?

Leasebusters only charges a listing fee after the no-charge evaluation has been performed and the lease/vehicle has "passed" the market position evaluation. The listing fee is $299.00 plus GST. Leasebusters offers multi vehicle discounts, loyalty discounts and finance company partnership discounts for eligible customers.