# Buying a car (private party) that is currently a lease --->



## Bill97Z (Dec 20, 2002)

I just want to talk this through and make sure I am not missing anything. This is an out of state purchase. The Seller claims that if they buy out the lease they will have to pay sales tax to register it in order to transfer the title to me and sell it to me. He has a friend that is a dealer and he claims this dealer will do all the paperwork so that he doesn't have to pay the sales tax and can transfer the title to me. I am not sure how this is going to work yet being that my check will go towards paying off the lease, but then the title isn't released for a few days after that. Does this sound legit?


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## AB (Jan 11, 2002)

I don't think there is any way to get around the sales tax issue. I think in any event when you register it, you will have to pay sales tax unless you have documentation that "proves" you paid it at some other point vis a vis your friends dealer scheme. I still don't know how the dealer would be able to do that though.


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## ilkhan4 (Jul 8, 2004)

If the dealer buys out the lease, they do not have to pay sales tax until the car is sold. So, then you would buy the car from the dealer and pay sales tax based on your purchase price. Going through a dealer just saves the seller from having to pay sales tax also if he were to buy it out.


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## iove75 (Sep 10, 2004)

Why don't you assume the lease, make seller pay the transfer fee and if you like it then pay it off when the lease is over.

I personally don't like these complicated schemes, could be a scam and the question you need to figure out is how does this benefit you?


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## Bill97Z (Dec 20, 2002)

I am buying the car for less than the lease payout.....so the seller has to pay the difference.


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## mawana (Nov 15, 2006)

i was searching for a similar topic and came across this post:

The thing is, I found an out-of-state deal I am strongly pursuing but the car, a CPO, is still under BMWFS. I too will be financing and the seller want my financier to offset his oustanding loan then pay the difference to him all before I take delivery of the car. My financier suggested the same, but I'm skeptical what if I end up without the car but a big loan? I was secretely prepared to go along that route, but the seller is displaying convulsive and excessive amount of distrust for/of online buyers that I was left wondering why I was placing trust in him yet he is not towards me?

Is there any other way that this could be arranged? The problem is my financier does not do 'blank checks' and only pay directly to the seller/lien-holder. I feel like I also want to be as careful as he is. How then will we find common ground?

Appreciate your comments.


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## mtbscott (Jul 16, 2003)

I was trying to sell my Audi A3 which is leased for four months to no avail, ended up having to sell my MINI instead. But I did get close to selling it once so got the details of how it would work from Chase Auto Finance, my leasor. First, I would give them the name, address, etc of the buyer. Secondly, he and I would give them the funds for payoff (I was going to have to add $2K to his agreed upon price.) Then, a week to 10 days later, the buyer would receive the title, but would have to pay Texas sales tax to get all the paperwork finished at the local level. The quirk in the deal was Chase told me I should not release the car to him until he had title in hand, so he would have had to wait to pick it up, which he was willing to do. In the end, I decided not to do the deal, it was better for me financially to sell the MINI which was paid for outright. Bottom line, this doesn't necessarily scream of scam, but you should be able to talk directly to the finance company and dealer involved to explain the process.


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