# swapalease.com



## k2chad (May 13, 2008)

*Disclaimer* I have no financial or other interests in swapalease.com. But I thought I would post my experience with them for others who may be interested.

We needed a second car, have a 2007 X3 on lease that overall is a great car for the Northeast. Goes well in the snow, plenty of power, and handles pretty well. Moving out of the city, so really need two cars now. No more subway . I am in a position where I will soon be in a new job making significantly more money, some of which I won't see for a month or two (graduation, finally). My options seemed like: 1) buy a beater with my limited funds, and then dump it in a few months. 2) Take out a loan on a cheaper car and keep it for probably longer than I'd like. 3) No money down lease, but the monthly payment, tax, deposit still more than I'd like to spend right now. 4) Assume someone's lease. I went with #4.

There are a few big sites online for lease assumption. Swapalease, leasetrader, and others. Those two seem to be the biggest. I couldn't really find any reviews besides testimonials on the sites. Leasetrader required a credit check before starting, though you can search what's in your interests for free. I seemed to find more in my general area on swapalease, so that's what I went with. I paid $35 for 45 days membership. You can search the site and even ask the leasees questions without this, but they make it impossible to actually get a phone number or further contact info without registering. Everything is a check box question like "does it have any damage, do you have more pics," etc.

I wanted a 3 series, had to be an xi, preferred 328. I knew 335's would be out of my price range and for the most part, they were. Searching is very easy as you can limit by distance and model. There were plenty to choose from, especially since I was willing to travel up to 4 hours from my home in Boston. That gets you into New York, New Jersey, and other highly populated areas that happen to have a lot of BMW's. Most are around the same price, no surprise there. Where they differ, obviously is the mileage remaining. There are truly some ridiculous deals out there, people offering up leases with 100 miles/month remaining for a year. I doubt these actually re-lease. Some people were getting out due to job loss, sad by product of our economy. Others divorce.

I narrowed my choices down. I was able to choose only 2007 xi's with leather and still had some strong choices, all with 1000 miles/month or more. I contacted several leasees. Most sent further pictures, many quite detailed, before I decided which ones to look at. This is where it gets kind of interesting. Like I said before, prices are basically fixed to whatever people were paying monthly. Doesn't vary a whole lot, really. But "incentives" are offered by the leasees who really want to move their vehicles. That also lets them list their prices as lower on the website, so they go near the top. The incentive is simply cash money to offset the monthly payment. This is totally negotiable.

I found what I wanted and started the process. The current leasee contacts BMW (they have a lease assumption dept.) and the paperwork begins. Initially, they give you a website to log on to. It asks some questions, and they give you email approval within 24 hours. In a week I had some paperwork to send back that had to be notarized. It then took another 2 weeks for the assumption to be complete. Everything was handled with minimal trouble from BMW. A nice tidy packet came with the title, power of attorney, and letter to the RMV. I took everything to the RMV expecting the worst as there was no dealer involved. I did have to talk to a supervisor, but it wasn't too bad. I'm guessing that they don't do this often. From there on it was mine.

Here's what I got: 2007 328 xi. Sparkling Graphite, black leather. Premium and cold weather, active cruise, steptronic, all weather mats new in package. $471/month, nothing up front. I get 1200 miles/month for the remaining 17 months.

I was quite pleased overall. The process is well handled by BMW. My insurance company had a bit of trouble figuring it all out, but it worked out fine. The whole time period was about a month, so it's not for the impatient. If you're near a major metropolitan area your selection will be that much better, and if you're careful at looking at mileage I think this can be a nice way to go for some people.


----------



## chris325ci (Nov 24, 2002)

I considered this option before I decided to lease new. My experience was with leasetrader.com. I concluded that this website was a complete scam and unethical with it's business practices. Swapalease enables you to at least contact the seller to ensure the car is still available. Leasetrader requires you to pay the monthly fee up front before you can contact the seller. After doing this, I realized that the cars I was interested in were already taken off the market. The company would not refund my money. My guess is that they keep cars on their website to lure customers into paying the initiation fee. I was pissed to say the least.


----------



## erdoran (Feb 29, 2008)

The reason I didn't consider assuming a lease seriously was that I was concerned there would be hidden damage that I wouldn't see but I would be stuck for when I turned in the car; also not having the car the full term but most likely having to replace tires. k2chad, were either of these issues for you?


----------



## sharmabmw (Feb 21, 2005)

I found my Lease assumption on craigslist. There are plenty of offers here on BF too. I didn't want to deal with Leasetrader or swapalease. I did use them as price comparison.

Easy experience. Great way to get short term affordable Leases. Plus with bmw's residual value drop, by lease assumption, you still get the old lease rate.


----------



## k2chad (May 13, 2008)

erdoran said:


> The reason I didn't consider assuming a lease seriously was that I was concerned there would be hidden damage that I wouldn't see but I would be stuck for when I turned in the car; also not having the car the full term but most likely having to replace tires. k2chad, were either of these issues for you?


Clearly the best option is to look at the car first in person to look for any damages hiding. Tires, I don't know. I will put most of the mileage on these run flats for a total of 30,000. I really hope I'm OK and don't have to replace them!

One thing I forgot to mention is that BMW charges $450 to assume a lease. A motivated seller will cover this. Others may not, or opt to split it.


----------



## 1985mb (Apr 2, 2008)

Thanks for starting this thread. I've been curious about SAL and LT. I guess the former is the better of the two


----------



## Z4luvr (Jun 23, 2006)

I have used leasetrader with excellent results. I assumed the lease on a 2005 CLK 320 that the original lessee paid up front to get additional miles. It was a 39 month lease at $893 per month and I assumed the last 7 months. He paid the assumption fees. Leasetrader helped guide us through the process with MBFS and it took about 2 weeks. 

Sounds like a bad deal? Not really. The car was under miles so far that I was able to drive it over 20,000 miles (3000 miles a month for 7 months) and at the end of the lease, I got paid cash for the 16,000 remaining extra miles he purchased, lowering my cost $2200 or over $300 per month. $593 per month for a car I drove 3000 miles a month.

If I was selling, I would use leasetrader since they require the credit check before allowing direct contact (both companies require something to be paid before any dirct contact). 

I am looking for my next lease assumption on leasetrader as we speak.


----------



## SystemR (May 31, 2006)

i found my car on swapalease and then found it on craigslist, contacted the guy directly so i didn't have to pay the fees. but in theory it worked well for me


----------



## SailinSand (Aug 24, 2007)

Currently looking at Craigslist, Swapalease and leasetrader.com for either a z4, z4m or SLK 350.

Any tips/pointers things we should be aware of...

If anyone knows of any vehicles fitting that description with ~year left 1200-1500miles/month left approx. under $500 a month (after incentives is fine).


----------



## dsb (Jan 2, 2007)

SailinSand said:


> Currently looking at Craigslist, Swapalease and leasetrader.com for either a z4, z4m or SLK 350.
> 
> Any tips/pointers things we should be aware of...
> 
> If anyone knows of any vehicles fitting that description with ~year left 1200-1500miles/month left approx. under $500 a month (after incentives is fine).


Look at my SLK55  Much more car. 
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/sfc/cto/857308604.html

Anyways, I also just placed an X3 on Swapalease. So far, I am not impressed by the lack of calls. I made it more than fair with a net payment of $449. I would even cover the transfer fee. However, it just seems like I paid $200+ for an ad that gets zero results. Now, if I were a buyer, there ARE great deals to be had. Just keep in mind the transfer fee. You can always negotiate to get it paid by the seller. Also, you may benefit by getting the securtiy deposit back at the end of them term. There's yet another reason to assume one's lease.

Good luck!


----------



## SailinSand (Aug 24, 2007)

Looking at this one... http://swapalease.com/VehicleSearch...t=3&page=1&ResultsPerPage=10&vehicleID=330486

SAL Vehicle ID # 330486


----------



## LeaseCompare (Mar 3, 2005)

LeaseTrade.com is another good option.


----------



## kashrahman (May 10, 2004)

just to add my .02, I used swapalease this past summer. found a 2006 325 convertible (premium) only 100 miles away from me, just under $500/mth with 7 months left. I did email and phone calls with the owner, went through the whole lease transfer process (relatively easy, took about 7-8 business days), and overall am very pleased! Love having the convertible! She did tell me about a windshield crack -- in return for me fixing it, I get to keep her security deposit. (we negotiated all this before the lease transfer). the funniest part was I couldn't get plates until I showed the car to the local DMV, so I had to drove it home without plates! (had the title and bmw paperwork with me). seeing the other threads, I should probably contact bmw before I return it to make sure I can return it locally. 

BMW financial was great to work with -- called them several times with questions and they were always prompt and pleasant and helpful. would definitely do it again if i needed/wanted a short-term lease, but for now looking for one to buy (perhaps an 05-06 330i convertible with sport package) after I return this one . kash


----------



## kgifford51101 (Jul 7, 2008)

I used leasetrader to get out of my 2007 335 coupe after I ordered the M3. Someone else mentioned the lack of activity and I felt the same way in the beginning but after a few weeks, I started to get alot of interest. Also since leasetrader prequalifies the potential leasee, it cuts down on a lot of wasted time with people that wouldnt be able to get financing anyway.
BMWFS and leasetrader was excellent thru the process and keeps both parties keep you informed. I agreed to pay the assumption fees and even though BMW charges you an assumption fee ($450 plus tax) and leasetrader wound up getting about $300 out of me, this is nothing compared to the original offer from BMWFS to charge me $14K plus to end my lease.
I wish I had discovered them years ago and I can't imagine how much money I re-leased into other new vehicles when I ended the other leases early.
The other aspect I like the idea of taking over a lease that has 6-12 months left on it. It can become an "extended test drive" on a vehicle that you are considering for purchase.


----------



## zgrmnz (Nov 20, 2011)

*Tax on Swapalease transaction*

k2chad et al,

I'm planning on picking up a lease here in NYS. Did you have to pay sales tax when you assumed the lease? If so, at what point in the transaction? At the time of picking up plates and registration at the DMV?

Thanks for all of the great feedback so far.


----------



## quackbury (Dec 17, 2005)

Thread is 3 years old. Unlikely you are going to hear back from the OP as his last post on BF was January of 2010. G/L


----------



## kgifford51101 (Jul 7, 2008)

The sales tax is figured out based on your state. I took over a lease from Colorado and the payment went up a few bucks because NJ has a higher tax rate. I know some states require taxes to be paid up front. If this is the case and the car stays in the same state the tax was already paid. I have used leasetrader twice and was happy but you can avoid all their charges by going thru BMWFS direct. BMWFS still has a bunch of fees but you cut out the middle man.


----------

