A few days ago, a friend of mine gave me a call because he was really in a rush to transfer his lease. He is single, no kids, no significant ties here for the next couple of years and had a fantastic job opportunity of work overseas, but he had a big issue: he leased a 2017 Civic back in August (9 months ago) for four years. In fact, one significant tie. So he jumped into multiple websites to gain visibility, but for sure, here are a few bits of advice I gave him on how actually and efficiently speed up a lease transfer/takeover.
Post it Right Now
The first thing: Post it right now in the Lease Takeover Marketplace. You need to gain visibility to later decide how to improve and make your "offer" more attractive.
A Lease Transfer Cash Incentive
Either in the form of "a couple of monthly payments," or a big "lump sum", a cash incentive is the most standard or flat way for speeding up any negotiation. The Cash incentive will basically balance how good/bad your deal is:
- If your deal was "fair" or average, an estimated 1,000 - 2,000CAD may be required to speed things up.
- If you got a terrific deal, you may even not need to put any cash.
- If the deal was terrible (i.e., you are overpaying a car), then the cash incentive will have to be way bigger, sometimes even closer to $5,000.
As usual, things will ultimately depend on the original deal. I've seen outstanding deals with no cash incentives and the person taking the lease willing to pay even for the lease transfer fees! On most of these, the original vehicle was acquired during a crazy $4,000CAD manufacturer discount on the model because of some specific reasons (a demo, a slow season, a rush clearout...). This converts basically any lease into an attractive deal take over.
Is Warranty + Wear & Tear Available?
These two components are vital. No-one wants takeover a lease that will be a problem during the last months. I mention this as, while there is no chance of modifying/adding those after the initial deal, these will represent a negotiation point to any possible person who may be interested in the transfer. If somehow you missed those at the beginning, be sure to figure out/estimate a cash value point for the risk this may represent and come up with an honest and transparent way of compensating it.
A right way may be to say: "As you will be driving the last six months without warranty and no wear & tear coverage, I'll add in an extra 1,000CAD on the deal for you."
And once you transfer your lease, please ensure to never again take a lease contract without Wear & Tear coverage, at least.
Current Kilometres "Count"
The current value of the odometer may play a very significant role in your transfer:
- If you are under, you have an attractive value. You could even promote your "listing ad" by specifying that "Originally, you had 20,000km, but now I'll giving you the car with a total of 24,000 available km per year."
- If you are above, you will have to compensate too and even more if the term is long and there is a lot of time to go yet.
Remember, being honest with yourself and later with your potential "clients" will be the best way to succeed this "car salesperson" role that you will have to play with for a few weeks. A lease transfer is a necessity but can turn into a nightmare if you don't take your time and analyze things clearly.
Additional Assets/Accessories "Count" Too
Up to this point, I haven't mentioned yet the 90% chances that you may have an extra set of winter tires somewhere for the car. Although new, these may represent a perfect average of 1,000CAD + tax, adding a set of tires into the deal will be an excellent way for you to promoting and making your listing attractive.
Describe your ad as best as possible, including the brand of the tires, the size and if these are mounted or not on rims/mags. Offer these initially and see how people potentially react to it before putting any cash advance into the negotiation. If you are in a rush, combine both.
And the same goes if you have any additional accessory on the vehicle: a roof rack, a trailer hitch, an installed remote starter... all of these components add value to your current deal and should be taken into account when promoting and describing your listing.
Overall, I would suggest people use the following formula to come up with a transfer incentive "title" that will help to speed up things with the lease transfer:
Transfer Incentive = [Current Deal] + [Winter Tires & Accessories] + [Transfer Fees] + [1,000CAD Cash Incentive]
