Guides
Selling a car with a lease or loan still running: settlement quote, signed authority and the order of payments
"You can't sell it, the car belongs to the leasing company." Half of that sentence is true. The car does belong to the leasing company, or the bank has a claim on it, but that does not rule out a sale. It sets the order in which things have to happen: settlement first, handover second, change of keeper last. Get the sequence right and a leased or financed car sells as cleanly as any other.
Keeper, but not owner
With a lease you are the registered keeper: your name is in the registration document, you insure the car, you pay for servicing. Ownership stays with the leasing company for the whole term, and the registration document usually carries an entry that blocks any change of keeper without the company's consent.
A car loan is less uniform. Depending on the contract, the bank may have secured rights over the vehicle, and there may or may not be a similar entry in the document. Either way the outcome is the same: the contract has to be settled and the lender has to confirm it in writing before the car can change hands.
The settlement quote
Everything starts with one document, the settlement quote (Ablöseofferte). It is a letter from the leasing company or bank stating the amount that ends the contract in full on a given date. It normally takes into account the remaining instalments, the residual value and any charges the contract provides for early termination; what exactly goes in and how it is calculated is defined by your contract and nowhere else.
Two properties of this document matter for the sale. First, it has an expiry date printed on it, and if the sale drags on past that date a new quote is needed and the figure may move. Second, it is not a valuation. The quote tells you what you owe, not what the car is worth, and the two have to be established separately.
The signed authority
You can request the quote yourself at any time; a call or a short letter quoting the contract number is usually enough. In practice the buyer often does it, because the buyer needs the figure to structure the purchase and will later settle the contract directly with the company. For that the buyer needs a signed authority (Vollmacht) from you, since no leasing company will release contract details to a third party on request alone.
A signed authority is a single sheet with considerable reach, so keep it narrow:
- your name and address, and those of the person or company you authorise
- contract number, vehicle and number plate
- the purpose, spelled out: obtaining the settlement quote and settling this one contract
- the date and your signature
Do not sign anything that leaves the purpose blank or authorises someone "in all matters", and keep a copy. An authority for the settlement does not let anyone take the car. That still requires a purchase contract signed by both sides.
Two figures, one outcome
Once the quote is in, two amounts sit next to each other: what the buyer pays for the car, and what the leasing company or bank needs to release it. If the purchase price is higher than the settlement amount, the difference is paid to you. If it is lower, a balance remains that you have to cover so the contract can be closed. Both situations are normal and both work fine as long as they are written down before anyone pays anything.
The purchase price itself is driven by the same things as for any used car: make, model, model year, mileage, condition, service history and whether the specification is what the market currently wants. Leased cars often score well on service history, because the contract tends to require regular maintenance.
The order of payments
This is the part that protects you. The safe sequence for the seller looks like this:
- Contract first. The purchase contract records the price, the settlement amount according to the quote, the resulting difference and who pays what to whom. Both signatures make the price binding; nothing before that does.
- Settlement. The settlement amount goes to the leasing company or bank, never to you and never in cash to a third party. Usually the buyer pays it to the company directly; the alternative is that you pay it and the buyer reimburses you as part of the price. The contract says which.
- Confirmation. The company confirms receipt, confirms that the contract is closed and releases the blocking entry in the registration document. Until that confirmation exists, the car is not free.
- Difference and handover. Only now is the remaining amount paid to you and the car handed over. At Autoankauf St. Gallen, payment at handover is made in cash against a receipt.
- Change of keeper or deregistration. Finally the vehicle is re-registered to the new keeper or deregistered at the road traffic office. Under Swiss rules the registered keeper remains responsible for the vehicle until that step is done, which is why it must not be postponed.
What to watch for
- Keep paying the instalments until the company has confirmed the settlement. Stopping early invites reminders and can raise the settlement figure; ask the company how any overpayment is handled in the final statement.
- The car stays with you until that confirmation is in hand. A buyer who wants to take the vehicle "while the settlement goes through" is putting you in the worst possible position: no car, a running contract and full responsibility.
- No informal lease takeover. An acquaintance who drives the car and pays the instalments while the contract stays in your name has not bought anything. The contract and the registration document still carry your name, and so does the liability.
- Cancel the insurance after the change of keeper, not before. A car registered in your name needs cover for as long as it is registered.
- Everything on paper. The table below lists what you should hold at the end.
| Document | Issued by | What it proves |
|---|---|---|
| Settlement quote | Leasing company or bank | The amount that closes the contract, and until when it applies |
| Signed authority | You | That the buyer may obtain the quote and settle this one contract on your behalf |
| Purchase contract | You and the buyer | Price, settlement amount and difference, binding with both signatures |
| Settlement confirmation | Leasing company or bank | That the contract is closed and the blocking entry released |
| Receipt | The buyer | That you were paid |
| Confirmation of change of keeper or deregistration | Road traffic office | That your responsibility as keeper has ended |
Mention the lease or loan when you enquire
If you offer us a leased or financed car, put that in the remarks field of the form straight away, together with the name of the company. The process can then be planned properly from the start instead of surfacing at the inspection. For anything you want to clear up beforehand, we are reachable on 079 368 95 26 by phone or WhatsApp and at kontakt@autoankaufsg.ch. Inspection and collection are free of charge, in St. Gallen and across Eastern Switzerland as well as the rest of German-speaking Switzerland.