Lease Assumption
People on the lookout for a bargain on a slightly used vehicle still under warranty might want to consider the idea of lease-assumption, as it lets them drive the vehicle without the benefit of a down payment.
Lease-assumption might also appeal to people looking for a quick and fairly painless way to get a new vehicle, since it doesn't require any visits to dealerships or discussion with salespeople or any of that.
Also, it might attract those folks who suffer from an acute case of so-many-cars-so-little-time syndrome, providing as it may the opportunity to operate one vehicle for a few months before going on to another.
It may sound complex, tricky, shady, risky or something else worrisome, but in reality it's actually quite simple, quick and easy to do. Most of the companies that hold the leases allow it, there are outside agencies willing to help for reasonable fees, and at least one of the car companies (Ford) has an active program to make lease-assumption happen.
The hitch, if you can call it that, is that you must have the kind of credit rating that will convince a big, smart company like GMAC or Ford Credit to let you drive away with one of its vehicles.
There may also be a problem for those folks who don't like taking advantage of another person in a bad spot, since bad spots are where many of the lease-assumption opportunities come from.
After all, someone must want or need to get out of a lease before another person gets the chance to take it over, and that can put them on the weak side of any transaction.
This can be helpful for the person offering to take over the lease, since there's no rule that says the new lessee can't ask the original lessee for some kind of financial sweetener to help with the payments. But that's up to the parties in each individual case.
For someone taking over an existing lease, the primary economic charm is that the original lessee may already have put money down on the vehicle in question, since the bigger the down payment the smaller the monthly lease payment.
Each case is different of course, so anyone looking to take over an existing lease will want to examine the terms carefully.
As for finding a lease to take over, you could ask dealers who sell the car you're looking for if you have something specific in mind, such as perhaps that Corvette you've always wanted to drive.
If you're simply looking for a bargain or something that you can get quickly and without too much fuss, there are those companies that serve the dating service role and answer a lot of the follow-up questions you probably have, for a fee of course.
In Canada, the most famous operation is undoubtedly the LeaseBusters operation in Mississauga, which can be reached at www.leasebusters.com. A US firm at www.swapalease.com is also getting ready to help facilitate lease assumptions.