We started the Lease Takeover Marketplace about 3 and a half months ago and we cannot definitely complaint :) Things have been going great since:
- Almost 400 vehicles listed, with an average of 20-25 new listings per week.
- Around 120 have been transferred so far.
- Our average transfer rate is about 30% for listings during the first two months of publishing.
- The average daily visits of LeaseCosts Tools is between 2,800 to 3,300 visitors.
- Our customer support lines receive a dozen phone calls a day while we help, most of the times, people looking for takeovers of short-term that we eventually lead out to the marketplace.
But the core problem, the main issue a lease takeover client need to solve, is basically completing the entire process as soon as possible. This is why we have been studying different options to offer a more complete service where, the critical problem, comes up with a fast output.
A 30 Days Transfer Service?
The first thing you may say is: "How these guys can guarantee they will do the transfer in less than a month? How is that possible?"
The fast answer is: "We cannot." There is no way we can guarantee we provide this kind of service unless we sign off the vehicle by ourselves.
Doing a lease takeover has two main variables in consideration, and this is something I invite you to analyze carefully:
- #1 Your location: If you are in the far north area of Ontario, there won't be as much audience or potential clients interested in your deal, as if you were in the GTA, right deep in North York, Markham or Mississauga. Obviously, the more populated your area is, more chances that your deal results interesting for someone looking for a lease takeover.
- #2 The nature of "your numbers": This is the most important part of your deal. If you didn't get a good one, when you initially signed the vehicle, then you are offering a "problem" to the market that can only be balanced with a cash incentive. Think yourself: "Would you rather lease a brand new vehicle for 500CAD/month or the same vehicle from 2 years ago and the same price?" There is no doubt, the only thing that will make you change your mind will be an incentive, considerable enough to make you switch your attention. It will make people drive from the GTA to Sudbury to get it before the opportunity leaves. Believe me, I've seen pretty good deals here that had made me thought on transferring my car to jump into it. And so, most of our clients.
So, how do we actually speed all this up? How can we actually provide the value a customer, wearing your shoes, can trust of and we can actually make it work?
The response is straightforward: Reach and a Common Purpose.
Reach: LeaseCosts is the #1 Car Leasing Resource in Canada
And it is, just, the place where people interested in leasing a vehicle, either brand new or a takeover, come to, every month. It is a massive website with dozens of inner sections with directories, brands, vehicle comparison, and price explorers. Articles, experiences, services provided by third parties, a vast mesh of data and mathematical tools that is centered on the sole purpose of helping people understand the complicated math associated with the costs of leasing.
This is our platform, and this is where we can help people reach as far as possible with their needs. This is the platform that helps us achieve a massive audience in needs of information and simplification of the numbers.
And this is where the 30 Days Transfer Service came on. If we have such a huge audience, we can help people to find the right person faster than if they were just listed on a general classifieds website.
The process is very simple: When someone lists a vehicle (let's say a John has a Nissan Rogue at 295CAD/month in Vancouver, BC) in our Marketplace:
- We review, publish and show the listing on the Lease Takeover Explorer.
- The Rogue will also list as the most recent lease takeover listing in the Vancouver market page.
- Will also list as the most recent on the Nissan Canada (brand specific) page, where our customers search by make.
- It will also display on all Nissan vehicle pages, under the "Recent Nissan Lease Takeovers."
- Also, it will do in all Nissan Dealer pages from our Directory, right before the new car listing estimates.
These sections of our website are visited thousands of times every single day to an audience that specializes and breathes car leasing culture. This is how we get so high transfer rate numbers just with a regular listing.
Common Purpose: The Payment Lock
"OK, so you will charge." Yes, we will. But we are not here to make a profit on the transaction. We are here to make it happen.
And it is pretty simple. With your payment, we guarantee the following first:
- If we don't get it done in 30 days, you get a FULL REFUND.
- If you decide to opt out, you get a FULL REFUND.
- If you transfer your vehicle elsewhere, you get a FULL REFUND.
Why? Because we will use your payment to improve your listing visibility and as an incentive to the potential buyer.
It is pretty simple, let's say, John, the same guy from the previous example pays the 699CAD + tax that the service costs for vehicles under 400CAD/month. This is how we will split the funds:
- 590CAD (295 X 2 or 2 monthly payments) will be given in a check to whoever takes the deal in less than 30 days.
- 46CAD will be to run the CarProof/CarFax Canada Accident Report of the Nissan Rogue (having these reports result in a way better conversion rate, even if the vehicle had an accident as the level of transparency of the deal facilitates all communications and concerns about the car)
If you do the math, the remaining 63CAD is nothing compared to upgrading a listing to our Premium listing plan (350CAD), and that requires an active work to help the listing maximize the number of views and audience reach.
If we want to make this work, we definitely need to benefit the people involved and not be seen as intermediaries or charge a commission for it.
This is what we do, and this is the purpose of LeaseCosts Canada.
