Sellers guide The benefits of a lease transfer for sellers Before going into the benefits of a lease transfer, lets review the possible reasons why somebody would like to exit their lease early. The most common reason why other's have exited their lease early; financial problems, moving to another country, larger family, change in taste and personal reasons. What would happen if you just returned the car back to the dealership? In most cases the dealer cant help you much since you signed a contract with the leasing company and promised to abide by the terms of the contract. By returning the car you could face several thousand dollars in termination fees and it may damage your credit. You can probably bypass this nightmare by taking a legal route with a lease transfer. Since most leasing companies allow lease transfers, there are numerous benefits that can be gained. 1) A legal way to exit your lease early 2) Avoid damage to credit from terminating a lease 3) Relief of financial responsibility A simple example: James Brown has 24 months left on his Honda Accord lease. Since he will be leaving the country for a few years he has no reason to keep his car. He doesn't want to return his car to the dealer and be subject to severe penalties and credit damage. His lease payment is $250, so if he decides to keep the car in the garage while he is gone, he will end up paying $6,000 ($250 x 24 months). Then James considers the option of a lease transfer. He calls his leasing company and learns that he can transfer his lease to a credit qualified buyer and he only has to pay the lease transfer fees of $250. He then speaks to his friend Bob (who has good credit) and convinces him to take over his lease by offering to pay three monthly payments. If Bob decides to transfer his lease it will cost him three monthly payments for a total of $750 plus $250 lease transfer fee. The total cost for James to transfer his lease is $1,000 vs. $6,000 for keeping the car in the garage. The example above shows the typical benefits of a lease transfer. In addition, it shows how a cash incentive is used to persuade another individual to take over a lease. Incentives are very important and the amount would vary depending on how attractive your lease terms are. Note that each leasing company sets it's own lease transfer policy and fees. We highly recommend that you contact the participating leasing company for lease details. Next section: Typical cost of a lease transfer