A new Website, www.swapalease.com, is providing an outlet at which people who want out of a vehicle lease early can be linked with those interested in taking them over, according to a story by staff reporter Ken Stammen in The Cincinnati Post of Nov. 28.
Swapalease.com's founders, Richard Joseph and Ron Joseph Jr., work for the family business, Joseph Automotive Group, owner of 20 car dealerships in the Cincinnati and Dayton areas. It was that experience which spawned the idea for Swapalease.com. "Every day people were coming to us and wanting out of their leases, but we had no way to get them out," Robert Dorger, Swapalease's marketing director, told Stammen. "They were stuck in a car they didn't want to be in. What we've created here is a whole different way to buy a car."
Swapalease posts descriptions of cars for people who want out of their leases. Car shoppers can browse the site and if they find a car they like, Swapalease will arrange a meeting with the seller and process the lease transfer. Dorger told the Post the process makes both parties happy: the seller gets out of a vehicle he or she no longer wants and saves thousands compared to what they would have had to pay the leaseholder. The buyer gets a late-model, low-mileage vehicle for a low monthly payment and for virtually no money out of pocket.
With very little advertising - a couple of billboards in Greater Cincinnati are about it - Swapalease, launched Sept. 20, has already gotten 250 vehicle listings from about 12 states, according to the Post. It has arranged about a dozen lease swaps and another 12 to 15 are pending, Dorger said.
Swapalease just started advertising in newspapers and on radio and billboards in Lexington and Louisville, a move Dorger thinks could double Swapalease's inventory by the end of the month.
Down the road, the Josephs have national aspirations for Swapalease. There are about 17 million leased vehicles on the road, a figure the expected to remain relatively stable. Swapalease only has to capture a small piece of that market to be successful, Dorger told the Post.
A trend that Swapalease believes will work to its advantage is that auto leases are getting longer. As car prices continue to rise, two- year leases are disappearing in favor of four-, five- or even six- year leases to keep payments down, Dorger said. What Swapalease sees happening is people taking five-year leases, getting tired of the vehicle after three years, and wanting out. That means cars listed on Swapalease might have two or more years left on their leases and buyers won't be forced to turn the car in or buy it after just a few months.
