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Anything to know about buying off lease?

Joined
5 November 2002
Messages
3,487
Location
MN
I am looking to buy a car that is currently leased. Is there any weird measures that need to be taken to buy a car thats coming off lease? This will be handled thru a dealership, so I assume not. Just want to cover all my bases.

Thanks.
 
I am looking to buy a car that is currently leased. Is there any weird measures that need to be taken to buy a car thats coming off lease? This will be handled thru a dealership, so I assume not. Just want to cover all my bases.

Thanks.

Leasing is just another way of financing....the lease has a payoff w/a date that is good to XXXXX. You pay the dealer the purchase price and he pays off the lien holder (American Honda?). If you are doing a cash deal he also provides you with the registration document showing you as the legal owner - if you are financing he shows a lien holder and the lien holder gets the title from your state- you still get the registration.

You take the dealer paperwork to your state's DMV and pay the sales tax (if applicable) and license plate fees when you get home. You'll get your real registration & title in the mail from your state- usually within 30 days (or maybe on the spot in some states) You'll receive a temp sticker for your back window w/an expiration date from the selling dealer to get you home.

Are you driving it home if all checks out? Make sure you get a proof of insurance with the Vin# of the vehicle in case you're stopped. Take your V-1
and some CD's........

I think that's it.
 
you don't need to get a dealer involved.

you can deal directly with american honda and get the payoff info and then send the money to them and get the clear title
 
You can also negotiate the final price on a lease.
 
You can also negotiate the final price on a lease.
this is true in some cases. Typically not on cars that hold there value though especially these cars. Honda is about as good as it gets when it comes to leasing, and are usually spot on when it comes to residual values. they know they can sell an nsx for the residual with no problem. not saying its not possible, it's usually the case though.
 
FYI, Honda has been willing to extend the $799/mo lease for the original lessee or a new assignee for an additional 2 years.

A mechanic buddy of mine called because he new a friend who was about to turn in her 2005 blk/blk NSX to the dealer soon because the lease was ending. When he told her about me, she wanted me to buy the car out as a fellow NSX owner. The buy out price was $60k. Her car has just under 30k miles. I thought those were a lot of miles for a 2005 but that is less than average. I never went through with it though. I wasn't aware that the lease could be extended. I may have jumped on that opportunity.
 
FYI, Honda has been willing to extend the $799/mo lease for the original lessee or a new assignee for an additional 2 years.

Unless policies have changed recently, AHFC will never transfer a lease to another party. They'll do a brand new one but no assuming or taking over. Also as far as negotiating the buy out price....they will not do that either- NSX or otherwise- either the lessee buys the car; the dealer who takes it in on trade or as a lease return buys it outright for the residual; or it goes to auction.

The lease can be extended beyond it's original term to the "original" owner up to a total of 60 months I think.....so if your original lease was 36 months you can go on a month by month basis up to 60.

Possibly "The Kid" can confirm.......
 
Funny but why would a finance arm of a manufacturer want to take a chance on price by sending it to an auction.Plus if they sell it to the dealer(the dealer) has to resel at some sort of profit.I hear you though about the rather small depreciation of the nsx vs other cars.As stated above 60 k for a 05 could be a good deal.
 
I extended my lease for 6 months, called AHFC and tried to get them to lower the buyout price and they told me no way. If I turned it in the selling dealer would have first crack at it, and then just like said above, if they passed, it would go to auction. That's there process. Needless to say, I bought if off of the lease and 1 1/2 years later it's still worth what I paid for it!!
 
Unless policies have changed recently, AHFC will never transfer a lease to another party. They'll do a brand new one but no assuming or taking over. Also as far as negotiating the buy out price....they will not do that either- NSX or otherwise- either the lessee buys the car; the dealer who takes it in on trade or as a lease return buys it outright for the residual; or it goes to auction.

The lease can be extended beyond it's original term to the "original" owner up to a total of 60 months I think.....so if your original lease was 36 months you can go on a month by month basis up to 60.

Possibly "The Kid" can confirm.......

Nope, hasn't changed. The original person leasing is the one who qualified for that lease, not jo blow down the street. You can't transfer your lease through AHFC. You can sell the car or trade it at anytime, but you can't transfer your lease.

And yes, you can still extend your lease. I've known people that have done it for up to 2 years, past the 3 year mark.
 
This owner states he needs to run it thru a dealership so he can avoid paying tax. His lease is up now, I think. Will this add an owner to the CarFax listing?
 
Greetings

A dealer will charge you more, but should certify the car and extend the already good warranty out beyond the factory original. Black Beauty was a 3 year lease return when I purchased last year.

Martin
 
if the owner is in california, he doesn't have to run it through a dealership to avoid tax. California has a 10 day (not business day) grace period for the car to be registered to the new owner. So if you register the car in your name within 10 days the owner is not responsible for sales tax. This is trickey, you have to pay off american honda to get the title (and your bank won't give you a loan unless you have the title, so you need to have the cash).. you then need to get the title from honda and register the car all within 10 calander days. This can be done in california or a neiboring state, but for someone far away this would be logistically not feasible.
 
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