Edit: So I’ve done the research- lease transfer is easy. Leaving topic in case anyone wants to comment, but it’s also ok to close this one.
I did a one-pay lease on my Lexus RX450h. Love the car, but dying to get a Tesla. I have about 9 months left on the lease. Assuming I can find a willing buyer, can I transfer a one-pay lease in the same manner as a monthly lease? In this case, I suspect I would need to get a lump-sum payment from the transferee to make myself whole for the 9 months, but wouldn’t expect Lexus to require anything other than a lease transfer fee.
Separately, if someone just wants to outright buy my car (i.e. for the residual plus approximately 9 months of lease cost), what are the mechanics regarding sales tax? I seem to recall that it’s hard to sell a leased car to a third party since I would effectively have to first buy the car for the payoff amount, incurring sales tax, then sell it, which would then also be taxable.
In my case, my lease-end buyout is $34,917 and my effective monthly payment excluding tax was about $427/mo exc. taxes and registration, so I’m not even sure that the math works for someone to buy it, but it’s a good deal for someone who wants to take over the lease since I’m under on the miles.
Hi @riles. Curious to know what you found regarding whether it’s possible to transfer your one pay lease to another? I’m in the same boat - have a 2020 Chevrolet Bolt EV with 27 out of a 36 month lease that I paid upfront. Way under mileage due to the pandemic and not sure how to go about the process. Since I paid cash, would the transferee owe me the monthly payments or GM? Did you end up going with Swap-a-lease? How was your experience? Any learning opportunities?
My transaction went great. The only thing that concerns me about yours is that GM financial is known as harder to work with in lease transfers; I was with Toyota financial.
The transaction was really easy- you’re essentially “selling” your ownership interest in the car for the remainder of the lease. So you just need the “buyer” to write you a check to make you whole, effectively a refund of part of your one-pay. I can’t remember my deal specifics but maybe my buyer gave me something like $6k. That’s the only transfer of money in the transaction, except for a small transfer fee to the leasing company. And the “buyer” never gives any money to the leasing company after the transfer either; it’s like they step into your one-pay shoes.
I ultimately found the buyer on this site. My lease was closer to the end than yours, so I had an extra complication in anything that might have worn out on the car, like tires, and any damage during my ownership. So we had a clause in the agreement that I would be on the hook for any pre-transfer damage, which we verified through high-res photos, and that I would be on the hook for the pro-rated cost of tires if they charged for tires at the end. Also since it was so close to the end I agreed to cover the turn-in fee if there was one. In my case, there were no extra charges at all at the end because the buyer got another Lexus so they waived everything. In your case I wouldn’t think you’d need to worry about any of this since it’s so early in the lease.
So all in, you just need a buyer to pay you 27/36ths of what you paid. If you got a good deal, that’ll be it, but if you didn’t get a great deal you might need to negotiate a little. But that’s really the whole thing. The lease transfer fee is the other thing you might need to negotiate on but it’s small.
I think that’s all I can think of but feel free if you have any more questions!
Thanks for the follow up @riles. I would just add that @Humaira‘s ability to get a buyer to pay X is influenced by what else is on the market, just like selling a house or a car you own. She might be able to get more or she might have to settle for less.
Depending on what state she lives in she might be able to get some taxes prorated and refunded
