BMW lease transfer

My lease trasnfer experience is GM but same rules should apply. Get the buyout price for your lease. Advertise the car privately. If you can get more than the buyout price for it, the dealer sells it to your party at the price you negotiated and cuts you a cheque for the difference. If you get less, you must top it up to the difference to complete the sale. Title passes from the dealer (finance company) that holds it, to the new buyer. It's never in your name.

-Russ.

That's not a lease transfer though. That is a sale that pays off the lease. I think this man is wanting to transfer the lease for the remainder of payments and miles agreed upon in the original lease.

To the OP, yes....if an actual lease transfer takes place BMWFS does hold you responsible for the damage and payment responsibilities. All car makers

*offer* the same terms. Bottom line, these are very much like the old non-qualifying assumable FHA/VA mortgage used to be. You hold legacy exposure unless you pay off the original lease.

I don't know what your situation is, but you might want to consider the buyout Russ is talking about. There are times when the lease exposure can be covered by a private party purchase. I just depends on the values the car you have is carrying in your community.

Thanks for your post. Yes, I am trying to end my lease prematurely by transfering the car to someone else.. who will continue paying the lease that i had taken 1 yr back.

I had called up BMW FS after posting this message. The lady I spoke to told me that once the transfer takes place (it takes about 30 days) my name will be taken off the car and, then on, I will not be responsible for any fault the new owner of the car -- whether it is damage he/she causes to the car or any payment he/she misses. Is there any fine print I am missing here? What exactly is legacy exposure?

Right -- buyout seems a much better option. The creditworthiness of somebody that can only handle a transferred lease rather than the debt of the whole residual should be carefully considered.

-Russ.

You aren't missing fine print, but be careful of what sounds good but is not explained fully. It is seldom that BMWFS will transfer the lease to someone else without maintaining your signature as collateral. You would have to find someone whose credit-worthiness is, at a minimum,equal to yours for this to happen. And as things go in this world that person is probably already in leases or loans for cars. Remember, your payment amount is very similar to what this credit-worthy person could get on a *new* car. So it isn't a slam dunk that someone who would qualify for a clear lease transfer is going to want to make the same payment amount for a used car. Therefor many lease transfers are to people who don't have the best qualifications. It isn't as clean-cut as it seems.

The rate of default on lease transfers, just like used car loans, is quite high compared to original leases, and for that reason BMWFS, and most finance arms, keep a lot of ammo in the file. And in that effort when someone who has "close-to" qualifications for the lease applies to BMWFS, they make the lease transfer but cover their exposure by keeping you on as secondary collateral.

Think about it. Someone who fully qualifies to assume your lease without you staying on it, is also fully qualified to secure a lease on a new car. And because this is a lease there isn't any monetary incentive, on a monthly basis, to go used rather than new. The bottom line is that most lease transfers are to the secondary market, and for that market most finance arms require you to stay on as a signer.

That's assuming that Driz orrigionally had no trade in or down payment. The savings to a new leasee could be quite substantial.

Thanks Ross.

for 'lease transfer' are with low monthly payments. For instance, someone may have paid a 7K upfront and paying $250 monthly and want to get out of the lease when he has 12 months to go. The buyer has all reasons to take up the lease because he need only pay $250x12 to enjoy the cool car. My point is, the buyer doesn't have to be a person with not-so-good financial qualifications..

In the case of BMWFS, the process apparantly is: Buyer (i.e., the person who is going to take over the lease) submits a credit application to BMWFS; if it gets approved then the transfer process begins. Your argument would hold if BMWFS decides to be lenient on the credit check of the buyer .. but what does it stand to gain?

If i decide to do this lease transfer, would it be sifficient to make sure that I am not in the lease transfer agreement as a collateral for anything??

See my point above. The buyer may just want to enjoy the Porche experience for 9 months before settling on a family car like Volvo or Passat. A lease transfer from someone who paid a big downpayment is an ideal option for him/her.

I am still confused. Has anyone gone through the process of lease transfer out there?

qualifications.

Why not just sell it? Are you very far offside the lease km? Are you upside down on the car residual? Give us some numbers to work with.

-Russ.