Getting out of a car lease on clarkhoward.com

CLARKONOMICS: Clark was recently talking to a radio station manager who was very upset that he routinely trashes auto leasing. As it turned out, leasing was a great idea for this guy.

In fact, if you're the kind of person who gets "new car fever" every couple of years, leasing may be the perfect option for you -- especially if you like luxury cars.

Yet auto lease defaults are way up. For most people, they're really just a financial noose around the wallet.

So what can you do if you're over your head in a lease? You may want to try getting approval for a qualified person to take over your lease. Clark suggests LeaseTrader.com as one website where you can begin your search.

Here's one caveat, though: If you have a giant gas-guzzling SUV, you probably won't find many takers willing to get you out of your lease!

Finally, car buyers may be able to steal a deal on vehicles that are returned to the dealer after being leased. Again, this is especially true when it comes to luxury cars. You may even find that a 3-year old luxury ride that's already been leased once will be a better deal than a brand-new mid-priced model.

What others are saying

Trouble with Lease Trader
While I agree that taking over a lease may be a good option for those who want to get into a lease for no money down and for a short term ... I don't agree that Lease Trader is a good option.

We found that they did not disclose the fees that they charge in an up front fashion. There is a gotcha where they charge 250.00 to initiate a lease transfer. However if you want to inspect the vehicle first you run the risk of losing the deal if the vendor backs out -- which ours did.

We had opted to inspect the vehicle first instead of committing to 250.00 to initiate a transfer -- in case we inspected it and found out the vehicle was not as represented.

After accepting the vendors offer we ordered a vehicle inspection but the vendor who had agreed to the deal -- reneged on his offer. We canceled the inspection which had not been done yet.

We were told that we'd called in time to cancel and thought no more of it until we found the visa charge on our bill for an inspection that we'd never received.

Next we made several calls to leasetrader but they would not put us through to the inspection department. Nobody from the inspection dept would return our calls.

Next we called Visa to dispute the charge. Lease trader threatened us with 200.00 fee for disputing the fee, plus legal action even if Visa agreed with us, plus they threatened to report us to every credit agency and ruin our credit rating by registering their so called delinquent account with us.

While the concept of taking over leases is a good one -- do your research on leasetrader before thinking of dealing with them.
By Douglas Bamlett @ 02/24/09 11:27:10 PMreport abuse
Assume someone's problem
I assumed a lease from someone who wanted to get out of his lease. This is a great way to get in a new car. I got into a 5 month old BMW 335 for $400 per month with 19 months left on the lease. NO DOWN. I will be doing this from now on!!!
By yangster @ 10/13/08 12:07:37 PMreport abuse
getting out of new lease
we leased a new car 7/29/08..after a couple of hours driving time, we don't want this car...pd two thousand down and the lease is less than 24hrs old...thanks, tom
By tom hodgin @ 07/30/08 07:36:26 AMreport abuse
Car leasing
I am currently leasing a 2005 Equinox and the lease is over in August I don't want the car anymore but we are over the mileage and I don't have good credit for another vechicle what would you sugguest.
By Erika Ruffin-Mosley @ 06/17/08 02:16:22 PMreport abuse
trade my lease
how to sale my lease no money back
By louis ordonez @ 06/16/08 05:01:51 PMreport abuse
leasing can be great
Made money on last two leases. I owned the equity[if any] and sold the car before turn in. If no equity it is turned to the Dealer.
By joseph @ 06/03/08 01:31:15 PMreport abuse
Leasing
Keep it up, Clark. Car leasing is rip-off. A very expensive rental and stuck to it for 36 months or longer. Oh, when your situation changes, start paying the overage in miles.

"Most" people that lease are driving a car they can not afford.
By Kales @ 06/02/08 07:26:26 PMreport abuse

Trouble with Lease Trader

While I agree that taking over a lease may be a good option for those who want to get into a lease for no money down and for a short term ... I don't agree that Lease Trader is a good option.

We found that they did not disclose the fees that they charge in an up front fashion. There is a gotcha where they charge 250.00 to initiate a lease transfer. However if you want to inspect the vehicle first you run the risk of losing the deal if the vendor backs out -- which ours did.

We had opted to inspect the vehicle first instead of committing to 250.00 to initiate a transfer -- in case we inspected it and found out the vehicle was not as represented.

After accepting the vendors offer we ordered a vehicle inspection but the vendor who had agreed to the deal -- reneged on his offer. We canceled the inspection which had not been done yet.

We were told that we'd called in time to cancel and thought no more of it until we found the visa charge on our bill for an inspection that we'd never received.

Next we made several calls to leasetrader but they would not put us through to the inspection department. Nobody from the inspection dept would return our calls.

Next we called Visa to dispute the charge. Lease trader threatened us with 200.00 fee for disputing the fee, plus legal action even if Visa agreed with us, plus they threatened to report us to every credit agency and ruin our credit rating by registering their so called delinquent account with us.

While the concept of taking over leases is a good one -- do your research on leasetrader before thinking of dealing with them.

By Douglas Bamlett @ 02/24/09 11:27:10 PMreport abuse

Assume someone's problem

I assumed a lease from someone who wanted to get out of his lease. This is a great way to get in a new car. I got into a 5 month old BMW 335 for $400 per month with 19 months left on the lease. NO DOWN. I will be doing this from now on!!!

By yangster @ 10/13/08 12:07:37 PMreport abuse

getting out of new lease

we leased a new car 7/29/08..after a couple of hours driving time, we don't want this car...pd two thousand down and the lease is less than 24hrs old...thanks, tom

By tom hodgin @ 07/30/08 07:36:26 AMreport abuse

Car leasing

I am currently leasing a 2005 Equinox and the lease is over in August I don't want the car anymore but we are over the mileage and I don't have good credit for another vechicle what would you sugguest.

By Erika Ruffin-Mosley @ 06/17/08 02:16:22 PMreport abuse

trade my lease

how to sale my lease no money back

By louis ordonez @ 06/16/08 05:01:51 PMreport abuse

leasing can be great

Made money on last two leases. I owned the equity[if any] and sold the car before turn in. If no equity it is turned to the Dealer.

By joseph @ 06/03/08 01:31:15 PMreport abuse

Leasing

Keep it up, Clark. Car leasing is rip-off. A very expensive rental and stuck to it for 36 months or longer. Oh, when your situation changes, start paying the overage in miles.

"Most" people that lease are driving a car they can not afford.

By Kales @ 06/02/08 07:26:26 PMreport abuse

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Jun 02, 2008 -- Getting out of a car lease

What others are saying