Everything about a lease takeover

A lease contract usually runs for 48 or 60 months. A business changes faster than that. Transferring it to someone who can actually use the car is almost always cheaper than terminating — but it does not happen by itself.

Ending a lease contract early is expensive, and usually more expensive than people expect. This is how that bill comes about, and what you can set against it.

Taking over a running contract means: a car that is already on the road today, at a price fixed earlier, for a term shorter than a new lease. That is attractive — provided you check what you are taking on.

Two companies agreeing on a car have nothing yet. The leasing company owns that car and is a party to that contract, and without its signature nothing changes. This page explains how that approval works — because no leasing company explains it publicly.

Returning is the word everyone uses, but a lease car is not something you simply hand back. Giving up the keys does not end your contract. Here is what actually happens, at the end and in between.

If an employee swaps their company car for a mobility budget, the lease contract on that car does not stop with it. It carries on, and the car stands still. Here is what changes and what you can do with such a contract.