Lease takeover question

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inphoenix

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 30, 2015
Messages
287
Location
Phoenix! AZ
Hello fellow members,

I took over the lease of a Leaf a few months back and it has worked really well for us. Now I am looking to take over another lease of an EV (preferably a Leaf but open to SOUL EV and BMW i3). I came cross swapalease.com and saw a Leaf Lease available in Phoenix area. My question is about swapalease.com or similar sites. Has anyone used it and how was the experience?
 
I too am actively in the middle of considering a lease take over. My experience tells me that if you can find someone around your area informally through craigslist/friends etc., that ends up being more cost effective for both parties as compared to going through a service like swapalease. Of course, if a seller is throwing large incentives into the lease giveaway, that is another story....

Most car companies are now spelling out the lease transfer terms very clearly (at least NMAC is)...the paperwork is pretty streamlined....
 
Lease "take overs" are a good deal from the perspective of the person taking over, but a terrible idea for the person holding the lease. That's because NMAC doesn't "let go" of the original lessee, instead making them responsible for the lease for its entire term, even when "taken over" by someone else.
 
Thanks Leftie. Yes, I am aware as I already did one takeover. Everyone has their situation and sometimes this is the best option.
 
A lease take over is like leasing a "used car". As in the case of buying a "used car". Buying pre-owned almost always ends up being financially advantageous to the buyer rather than the seller. More or less, same applies to lease transfers - the person taking over ends up being in a position of advantage...
 
Just curious... did you end up contacting the guy in Phx on swapalease? I don't know how we as buyers are able to tell if the car is even available still without signing up for their service. I'm looking to do a takeover myself but I'd need a car probably thru the end of 2017, so that particular one would come up a bit short. I guess I could always extend it thru Nissan but then it would be out of warranty and I'm still researching maintenence costs for years 3 & 4.
 
Skitch23 said:
Just curious... did you end up contacting the guy in Phx on swapalease? I don't know how we as buyers are able to tell if the car is even available still without signing up for their service. I'm looking to do a takeover myself but I'd need a car probably thru the end of 2017, so that particular one would come up a bit short. I guess I could always extend it thru Nissan but then it would be out of warranty and I'm still researching maintenence costs for years 3 & 4.

No, I found the listing on Craigslist.

There are lease takeover advertisements on Craigslist that come off and on. The San Francisco bay area is a hot bed for these EV leases, since typical commutes are 100 miles or less & when job situations change suddenly, there are people trying to get out of leases and they put them up on Craigslist...

I think, at least 2 listings are currently active..
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/eby/cto/5573888341.html
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/cto/5561618375.html
 
Thanks for the tip about CL in SF. I had looked in Phoenix since that's local for me but didn't find anything.
I've got a bunch of airline miles so I could always fly up there to look at a few cars... I'd just need to factor in the cost of transport since it's not like I can easily drive it 700miles in one shot lol
 
inphoenix was chasing a lease in the SF area (which I ended up getting). Ask him. He must have had a plan on how he would have it transported to Phoenix.

You can also rent a 1 way pickup & tow dolly from u-haul & drive it back yourself. Fly in one way with airline miles & tow back one way.

Frontier Airlines has $39 one way flight deals between Phoenix & SF.
 
mihird said:
inphoenix was chasing a lease in the SF area (which I ended up getting). Ask him. He must have had a plan on how he would have it transported to Phoenix.

You can also rent a 1 way pickup & tow dolly from u-haul & drive it back yourself. Fly in one way with airline miles & tow back one way.

Frontier Airlines has $39 one way flight deals between Phoenix & SF.

The plan was to put it on a truck and have it transported here...... but .. but.. but a "local guy" has to steal that car away forcing me to get a much expensive EV. ;)

On a serious note, the one way flight and U-Haul/dolly idea is not a bad idea but you will have to calculate the costs and time involved and see what works best for you.
 
Lol! Yeah, I happened to nab it minutes before you called in, it seems ;) ...the seller told me, the very 2nd call he got was from Phoenix. I still envy you though for the Tesla...For now I have an old SUV as our long range family car backup...but my plan is to get a Tesla once they have a small crossover variant in the offering...Me & wifey both have 60-90 mile urban commutes...the 2 Leafs are able to handle the commutes quite well. I can never think of going back to gas commuting ever....

The EVs are only going to get better going forward.....
 
(thread resurrection)
Taking over the lease on an EV (there's a Leaf Plus up not far from me) is a possibility if GM buys back my Bolt for a good amount of $ due to the 8/20/21 recall that expanded the battery fire recall to ALL Bolts.

So, I decided to try contacting the above Leaf Plus driver on Swapalease. Apparently, you can't unless you pay $75 for be part of their "buyer's club". Doh! Otherwise, you can only ask a very limited set of canned questions which are mostly useless.
 
I'm not sure about their rep. Have been too busy to dig around much.

The "good news" about that site is that shortly afterward (on 9/27), I got an email from swapalease about:
SAVINGS SALE FROM SWAPALEASE

All buyer memberships now $54.95 (regular price $74.95).
This is a one-time fee for a lifetime membership!
Then on 9/29, I got this:
Fall Sale
Take Advantage of this Fall Sale Today!

All buyer memberships now $39.95 (regular price $74.95). This is a one-time fee for a lifetime membership!

Call us at 1-866-792-7669 (1-866-SWAP-NOW) to take advantage of this Fall Sale

Sale Terms and Conditions:
Sale starts September 29th at 9 AM ET and runs through September 30th at 8 PM ET
Only valid on new purchases.
Not available online.
Subject to change without notice.

Mention Code: FALL2021
The '19 Leaf I see at https://www.swapalease.com/lease/details/2019-Nissan-LEAF.aspx?salid=1547553 is a bit goofy in that it looks like he wants me to pay him $3500 down in order to take over the lease. To me, that's a bit unusual or unorthodox. It should be 0 or the other way around (which some people do). After all, if nobody takes over his lease, he's liable for the rest of the payments or terminate it early or to do whatever he needs to do to buy it out early... I'd be more inclined to take it if I didn't have to also pay $3500.

Of course, I can't ask unless I have a buyer membership, now $39.95. I wonder if it'll go lower or get umm... extended/offered again.

Things are premature on my side. Haven't gotten any numbers from GM yet.
 
cwerdna said:
I'd be more inclined to take it if I didn't have to also pay $3500.
You don't say.

Definitely a seller's market. I just accepted a Vroom offer for my 40 month/33k mile Tesla Model 3 that is the same price I paid for the car new.
 
Normally I'd say that the multiple price drops for the "membership" are a big red flag. It's possible, though, that they use an automated system that automatically drops the price when someone looks at the same listing multiple times. Still a bit suspicious...
 
SageBrush said:
cwerdna said:
I'd be more inclined to take it if I didn't have to also pay $3500.
You don't say.

Definitely a seller's market. I just accepted a Vroom offer for my 40 month/33k mile Tesla Model 3 that is the same price I paid for the car new.
Nice! What are you going to replace it with?

Lol with the $3500 down, that's like $660 per month to lease a Leaf. Someone has got to be out of their mind to pay that much.
 
Triggerhappy007 said:
Nice! What are you going to replace it with?
Model Y

It was too good an opportunity to pass up. We'll be a bit hobbled with our 19 kWh LEAF for around 6 months until the new car arrives but no big inconvenience for us in our daily lives. If we want to travel we will rent a Prius :D
 
Triggerhappy007 said:
Lol with the $3500 down, that's like $660 per month to lease a Leaf. Someone has got to be out of their mind to pay that much.
Indeed.... that's why I wanted to contact the "seller" about to confirm that's what he actually wants and to let him know my situation (uncertain timeframe). But, thus far, in order to do that, I need to pay for Swapalease membership ($40, $55 or whatever).

At least if I had contact w/him, I could get some idea how desperate he is and how much interest he's getting, if any.
 
cwerdna said:
Indeed.... that's why I wanted to contact the "seller" about to confirm that's what he actually wants and to let him know my situation
Be sure to mention that your choices for now are to either take the bus or be a marshmallow at a campfire.

As an aside, I can see why swapalease would keep people like you at arm's length away from their sellers. You are just an annoyance and a waste of the seller's time until you have money for purchase.
 
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