Any risks in taking over someone else's lease?

Before you take over a lease you need to make sure of several things before you sign the papers.

Make sure how many miles are currently on the car before you take a lease over. The reason is many people try to get out of leases because they have already driven too many miles allowed for the term of the lease. If you take over the lease with too many miles on the vehicle you will have to pay for the overage when you turn the vehicle back in. Check the lease to see how many miles per year are allowed like 12,000 etc and multiply this times the term (in years). Example would be 12,000 miles times 3 year lease is 36,000 miles. If you look at a car that has say a year to run on the lease and the vehicle has 30,000 miles on it now you can only drive the car 6,000 miles over the next 12 months without paying a penalty for excessive miles. The lease will spell out how much the charge is for excessive miles over the allowed miles like 20 cents per mile etc. If the car is over the total allowed miles already I would not take over the lease.

Secondly, you need to see how much the monthly payment is and multiply that times the term that is left on the lease to know exactly what the total of payments will be for this vehicle. If this total amount exceeds the value of the vehicle at the end of the lease I wouldn't take over the lease. There is a residual value of the vehicle that is stated in the lease. This value is what the Manufacturer or leasing company says the car should be worth with a certain amount of miles per year put on the car.

An example would be a $25,000 vehicle is leased and in the lease it says it has a residual value at the end of the lease of $10,000. The payments would pay for $15,000 of depreciation and whatever interest that is charged on this lease will be in addition to the $15,000.

Leases sometimes have hidden costs like reconditioning for tire wear scratches, dents etc. so make sure the car looks almost brand new and is really clean or you might have to pay for the excessive wear and tear. Good luck.

Taking Over A Car Lease

If you were looking at a site such as Swapalease or Leasetrader, they help arrange lease takeovers for a fee.

It's safe as long as the car doesn't have damages and excessive mileage that you would have to pay for at the end of the lease. Some very good deals can be had this way.

The lease company has to change the paperwork and approve you, the new lessee. And there is sometimes a small fee for the paperwork and credit check.

The risk is more on the "seller" than on you. Most lease companies hold the original lessee responsible if you stop making payments.

There is no risk. All you have to know is how many miles you are going to average per year, how long do you plan on keeping the car and what do you want your monthly payments to be. Once you find a car that meets all your needs you can either check it out for your self for damages if its near your area or you can arrange something were the dealer or the website company checks it out for you. I'm not sure but i think the car goes to the dealer first then to you once your approved. If thats the case than the dealer will check it out for you.