Lease Options
 

I have a friend who just accepted a job in Seattle and will be starting in 2 months or so, and he currently owns a lease on a Honda Civic. I've been helping him evaluate his options as he's not a car guy, but I don't know everything there is to know about leases, so I'm hoping some one here can chime in. He will most likely need a car in Seattle as housing in Downtown Seattle is retarded.

What we understand is he can probably drive his car for about a month in Seattle while he settles down before he runs into issues with ICBC/CBP/DMV/Honda, etc. The car is 2015, lease runs until 2019 May/June-ish @ ~$240 a month and will be well under mileage.

I'm pretty sure we can't just keep the current lease and plate it in Washington.

option 1. Buyout the lease, import to states. I'm not actually a fan and I don't know what the import process would be.
option 2. Return the lease and lease a new car in the states. We aren't sure what the penalty is if there is any.
option 3. Try and find some one to take over the lease, and lease a new car in the states. Ideally the best option, but timing is a bitch and you can't stop insurance on a Honda lease(they don't allow it).

Other questions are, how hard would it be to get credit in the states? He brought up that credit is separate in the states to Canada and it doesn't carry over. Though I am in the camp that car credit is the easiest credit to get, and he'll have a good job/proof of employment and residence. Please chime in?

Is he going for good? If not, just let ICBC knows that he's temporary re-locating and he can keep his insurance and plate as long as he makes one trip back every once a while. And seeing it's just Seattle, this shouldn't be too hard.

I've had relatives relocating to US for a year on a contract work and he kept his insurance and plate the entire time, only drove back around 8mth to renew his insurance and that's all.

Does he have to call into customer service, or just go to an autoplan agent? At this point he's not sure whether if he's staying or not. It's a decision he'll make after the first year.

I don't recall the details, but my best guess is just giving ICBC a call, telling them that you'd be moving temporary to a new location with your vehicle for school/work and wanted to make sure of your coverage stays intact.

I'm pretty sure they can guide you from there as this is hardly new for them.

The main point ICBC would want to make sure is that one isn't relocating permanently. So, make sure you tell them the approximate time that your buddy would be gone for.

Territory Z :fuckyea:

Thanks, will be looking into it

I don't think you have to buy out the lease to export it. Just contact your leasing company and us customs I'm sure you're not the first person to have done this.