Take Over Someone’s Car Lease & Save Money

There are several reasons why a consumer should consider taking over someone else’s lease.

“You’ll get a short-term lease contract, usually 24 to 30 months,” says Scot Hall, executive vice president of operations at Swapalease.com. “Taking on less commitment makes sense for a lot of people in this dicey economy.”

“You’ll also benefit from someone else’s down payment or vehicle trade-in when the lease was first negotiated,” Hall says. “Consumers put money down or trade a car in to keep their lease payments low.”

“There is also very little up-front costs with taking over a lease. It’s usually only several hundred dollars, versus several thousand dollars when you get a lease from a dealership. Sometimes there is also a financial incentive from the original lessee to get you to take over the lease.”

If you’re in the market to lease a Lexus SC, for example, you may find that taking over someone else’s Lexus SC lease will save you more money than negotiating the deal yourself.

To take over someone’s existing lease, you’ll need to know a few things.

“If you have decent credit or better, you shouldn’t have a problem,” Hall says. “It doesn’t take perfect credit to take a lease over.”

Hall explains that although you’re just taking over someone’s lease, you still need to meet the standards set forth in the beginning of the original lease.

“If I want to take over your lease, I need to qualify for what you qualified for up front,” Hall says. “The lease terms, conditions and money down don’t change. I’m just taking over the remainder of the contract.”

“Most leases are written by the captive lessor (manufacturer), and there is that additional push to keep selling new cars. This is why it’s slightly easier to set-up a new lease as opposed to taking over an existing lease.”

On Swapalease.com, Hall says there are available lease payments ranging from the $350 to $500 range, which is the core leasing market, to the low $4,000 a month range for a Spyker car, which was the highest the site has listed.

Monthly lease payments differ on the site for various reasons.

“Maybe that person rolled over negative equity into their lease, which would make their payment higher,” Hall says. “Or, the original person was a better negotiator, which would make their payment lower.”

“Monthly payment is one of the best comparison factors on our site. Miles remaining and remaining term are also important to those looking to take over a lease. There are some restrictions, but having at least six months left on a lease is the norm.”

Do your research to find the best fit for your budget and driving habits if you’re considering taking over someone’s lease. There are several popular lease trading/lease swapping Web sites you can browse to see what’s available in your area.