I think I know the answer to this, but I’ve been wrong before so I figure it is worth checking.
An extended family member passed away and she recently leased a Subaru Crosstrek only about 5 months ago (Chase bank as lender). The family (her kids) just want the car gone and wondering what is the easiest way possible.
The car literally has under 150 miles on it, so it’s as close to new as you could get. I checked a Carvana and Vroom quote and based on the payout, Carvana is the closest with $3k in negative equity.
Subaru told the family (it seemed very haphazard which is why I’m not trusting of the info) that they would only owe about $1500 to terminate the lease. I told them to be prepared for them to get to the dealership and have that number magically inflate once they get inside.
Other than being prepared with the other two quotes, can any one suggest any other ideas besides just driving it for another 30 months?
I am so sorry about your loss But good on you for attempting to help them out.
Was there a co-signer on the lease? If not, can’t the family just turn the car in with a death certificate and it voids the lease? I don’t believe the family is liable at all for any costs if the car was solely in the deceased persons name. I could be wrong but if the car was only in one persons name, I can’t imagine legally anyone else is responsible for any remaining payments or fees.
I’m wondering about the same as @asorr91. Why would anyone be responsible if there was only one person on the lease? Shouldn’t be any different from an apartment rental agreement, for example.
No Cosigner, my understanding through Googling is that the car becomes property of the estate, so even though no one else is named on the contract, it’s part of the property that goes on (just like a mortgage or other liens would) and it’s the next person in lines problem. I read a few lease companies have death clauses but it didn’t seem like Chase is one of them or I suspect Subaru would have told them as such.
Ugh, find the lease contract. I just read that some banks just treat deaths as any early termination. If that’s the case, they’re going to sell it and charge the negative equity. Saw on an article that Toyota Financial did this to a widow. I guess worst case scenario they could ask for the entire lease amount.
Maybe it doesn’t, I have no idea. But one wouldn’t be responsible for an apartment rental lease break up, would they?
If a grown son lives in a different state and his parent die - why would he be responsible?
I had a friend whose dad leased a Volkswagen and passed away a few years back, I remember him telling me VW was trying to come after him for money because he was the next of kin. I believe his exact words were “I dropped the car off and told them if they called me again I’d drive the car through the showroom wall” and they walked away from it.
The car is a Crosstrek. And it was a terrible deal (literally zero discount except some accessories thrown in for cheap) so not something anyone really wants.
I don’t have their contract obviously, but for reference I just looked at my own previous lease agreements (Mazda, Acura, Jeep, VW, BMW) that I had on file and only the BMW paperwork mentions death which puts the lease into a defaulted state. I’ll ask them to review the contract again, but I know both Mazda and Subaru are through chase so I’d figure they might have similar language?
They may try to go after next of kin, but what grounds do they have if that person did not sign anything? The contract where they may stipulate death conditions was with the deceased person.
Dealt with this a few months ago. A few leasing banks do have death clauses. Most do not. The car is part of the estate. One of the family members can assume the lease, ally offered that free, you can turn it in and pay the entire lease off. Or you can try and sell it or transfer it.
I went through this when my dad died. The estate becomes responsible for the amount owed to satisfy the contract. If you have an estate attorney, let them handle it. If the estate doesn’t have the funds, the bank would write it off.
Thank you, yeah her kids are both retired so I think they they just want to be over it with as little headache as possible which is why I suggested Carvana may be slightly better than the dealership itself. But given they sold her at least 2 leases at MSRP maybe they’re willing to take this one on the chin since the car literally hasn’t turned through a full tank of gas since it left 6 months ago.
