Lindsay R. was recently transferred to Toronto from Manhattan, New York and needed a vehicle to use for personal and business purposes. The company that Lindsay worked for used to provide company vehicles but that policy was eliminated three years ago in favour of offering employees, managers and executives car allowances in lieu of company vehicles. This policy change did not cause a great deal of challenges for the local employees of the firm however; it did cause some problems and nuisances for employees that were transferred from other countries and for those employees that did not have an excellent credit rating.

When Lindsay arrived in Toronto she was referred to Leasebusters by one of her new colleagues; Lindsay immediately went online and began shopping for a vehicle that made the most sense for her. She narrowed her choices down to a Ford Explorer or a Honda Pilot that were conveniently located and within her budget.... Lindsay described herself as an outdoors person and she really liked the similar ruggedness of both the SUV’s. Lindsay decided to call the Explorer customer first but got the Seller’s voicemail; she then called the Pilot Seller and made verbal contact on the first telephone call.

NOTE: An interesting phenomenon often occurs that is consistent amongst lease-take-over Buyers; if they cannot make telephone contact with a Seller they do not leave voicemail messages. Lindsay did the same; she simply went to the next vehicle on her shortlist. Leasebusters encourages Sellers to try to answer their telephone and not to rely on voicemail messages when re-marketing their vehicles with Leasebustes.com.

Lindsay and the Pilot Seller arranged a meeting the next day at the original selling Honda dealership. Lindsay was very impressed with the Seller who explained that he wanted out of the Pilot in order to get a smaller SUV (or Crossover) because the Pilot was bigger than he and his wife wanted or needed and “heavier” on fuel than expected. The Pilot was in excellent condition and the Seller had the vehicle washed and had a file folder consisting of all the maintenance and warranty invoices. Within an hour, Lindsay and the Seller had an agreement in principle for her to take over the lease which was conditional upon her being credit approved by Honda Canada Finance.....this is where the challenge began.

Lindsay was immediately turned down (declined) by Honda Canada due to the fact that she was not a citizen or landed immigrant of Canada. This decision is consistent amongst all the major Canadian leasing companies and the rationale is simple; if a customer is not a citizen or landed immigrant, they are not “obligated” to stay in the country any longer than their work permit allows. Honda Canada did suggest that they would reconsider their decision if she had a co-lessee or guarantor that would qualify for the credit approval needed for this vehicle.

Lindsay didn’t have any very close friends or family members living in the Greater Toronto Area so she had to approach the Human Resources department of the company that she works for to get their thoughts. As it happened, her employer has run into this type of situation in the past and agreed to act as guarantor on her behalf. The company sent Honda Canada Finance the information they requested and within 1 business day, the lease-take-over was approved with the employer acting as guarantor. Lindsay was ecstatic with the process and how helpful the dealership personnel was in making this transaction a reality. She also discovered that the Seller had agreed to lease a brand new Honda CRV from that same dealership if they were successful in getting out of the Pilot lease.

The Seller paid the Honda Canada lease transfer fee, certified/serviced the Pilot through the original selling dealership and gave Lindsay the balance of the month at no-charge; Lindsay followed the Leasebusters “Process Checklist” to the letter and was very satisfied with the professionalism of all the participants involved in the transaction. Lindsay has always been a leasing customer in the USA and has never heard of this type of lease-take-over transaction; she will definitely be spreading the word.

 The Leasebusters “Real Life Real Lease Story” is a regular feature on Zack Spencer’s www.motormouth.ca, Leasebusters.com’s LeaseBlog and will also be an on-air feature on Zack Spencer’s Driving Radio Program aired nationally on the Corus Radio Network.