What is Lease Buyout?

A lease buyout is the purchase of a leased vehicle by the lessee, either during the lease term or at its end. The buyout price is usually the residual value stated in the lease contract, plus any applicable taxes and administration fees, and minus any remaining payments already covered. Lease-end buyouts let a customer keep a vehicle they know well, while early buyouts may be driven by exceeding the kilometre allowance or wanting to sell privately. For Canadian dealers, buyouts are a valuable retention and equity-mining opportunity: if the vehicle's market value exceeds the residual, the customer has positive equity that can be applied toward a new purchase or lease. Tracking maturing leases in your CRM lets you reach these customers before a competitor does.