If you don't mind taking advantage of other people's misfortune ...

[JimDandy]

... and you need a newish vehicle, check out this Craiglist category:

https://vancouver.craigslist.org/search/cta?query=lease+take+over
And I suspect that as the Covid 19 crisis causes more financial havoc, more and more deals will become availalble.

JD

 

[johnnydepth]

Were you looking at any specific vehicle or all the ads in general. I'm not sure if you are taking advantage or helping them out. If they don't get rid of the vehicle they are on the hook for the payments. I honestly never look at lease breakers so have no idea if there are more vehicles or better deals since Covid. I bought a vehicle a few months back for what I thought was a great deal, but that was from a dealership. Really don't know if Covid had anything to do with pricing.

 

[appleomac]

... and you need a newish vehicle, check out this Craiglist category:

https://vancouver.craigslist.org/search/cta?query=lease+take+over
And I suspect that as the Covid 19 crisis causes more financial havoc, more and more deals will become availalble.

JD

Granted I've never leased a vehicle before, but if someone doesn't/can't make their lease payments don't they just take the vehicle from the leasee? Now, many times in the past I have purchased a used vehicle, and even prior to Covid there were ads for lease takeovers. It's like anything else in life, if situations arise (financial hardship, company transferring someone overseas, whatever) some people might need to unload their vehicle(s) - whether the vehicle was leased, financed or paid in cash. Why do you think that it is a "taking advantage of someone" scenario?

 

[Beasting]

Does anyone have actual experience with how this works? If it's just a take over of the original lease, than how is it a good deal?

Wouldn't you be better off just buying an used car that you know is a good deal?

 

[angry anderson]

Good deal. Pay $800 a month to drive back and forth to work in a used car.Mostly stuck in traffic.

 

[johnnydepth]

Does anyone have actual experience with how this works? If it's just a take over of the original lease, than how is it a good deal?

Wouldn't you be better off just buying an used car that you know is a good deal?

It's hit and miss. Depends how much was put down originally, how many payments were made, and what the residual/ buyout is on the vehicle.

 

[JimDandy]

Does anyone have actual experience with how this works? If it's just a take over of the original lease, than how is it a good deal?

Wouldn't you be better off just buying an used car that you know is a good deal?

When you take over a lease, you essentially are buying a used car. If the person who is trying to get out of the lease paid a significant down payment and other extras ( you neeed to look at ad specifics ) then I believe that it can be a good deal for you. Also, if you were planning to lease to begin with, taking over a lease would allow you to step into a shorter term lease than when you buy a new car with a lease.

Also, if the leased car you are taking over has extra unused kms, it means you can drive more kms in the remainder of the lease. For example, if a 5 year lease with 2 years remaining on the lease and the original lease allowed 20k kms per year or 100k kms over the 5 years, but only 50k kms are on the vehicle, this would mean you could average 25k kms per year for the 2 remaining years on the lease.

You would need to look at the buyout price at the end of the lease and think about whether you would be likley to do the buyout. If not, then taking over the lease would be less attractive, unless again, you can write off your vehicle expenses and were intending to lease regardless.

Lastly, if it is a slightly exotic car and the original owner is paying all transfer fees, etc., it would allow you to drive a car you might normally never own for a few years and then walk away from it without any hassles when the lease ends. Here is an example. $700 a month and this vehicle is much much nicer than my Hundyai Elantra which I am paying almost $500 a month:

https://vancouver.craigslist.org/van/cto/d/north-vancouver-bmw-lease-takeover-take/7156681407.html
Somone above asked why someone would just not walk away from a lease rather than try to get someone to take it over. Walking away from a lease would, at the very least, affect their credit rating negatively and they could be sued by the dealerhsip they got the lease from for the remainer owing on the lease.