Soldiers and Sailors Relief Act/Car Lease

[dv3andrs]

Hi all,
I am going to be deploying in the next couple of months and have been reading on the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act as it pertains to Car Leases. It states you have to be deployed for 6 months or more and that the company is required to take the car back upon faxing a set of orders or deployment letter. Has anybody on here done this? If so, did you owe the company anything upon turning in the vehicle? What if you are negative on the lease, as in, I financed the negative from the previous vehicle when I signed the lease. Will I owe anything when it gets turned in?
Thanks for any info.
Ande

 

[HH-60H]

Hi all,
I am going to be deploying in the next couple of months and have been reading on the Soldiers and Sailors Civil Relief Act as it pertains to Car Leases. It states you have to be deployed for 6 months or more and that the company is required to take the car back upon faxing a set of orders or deployment letter. Has anybody on here done this? If so, did you owe the company anything upon turning in the vehicle? What if you are negative on the lease, as in, I financed the negative from the previous vehicle when I signed the lease. Will I owe anything when it gets turned in?
Thanks for any info.
Ande

This seems to give some additional information http://www.dix.army.mil/LegalOffice/files/LEASETERMINATION.pdf

If you are thinking that you can get out of the lease with out owing any money, I think that is wishful thinking.

 

[AQ-AT-NAVCIV]

I broke out of a Condo lease when PCS orders came a few months early. Seemed the law allowed me to legally break the lease, but I lost my deposit of one months rent. So basically I lost one month of rent as opposed to 3 months of rent I was required to pay.

I would assume you would escape the legal and credit score ramifications, but still be liable for cost to settle the deal you made.

 

[Spekkio]

Seemed the law allowed me to legally break the lease, but I lost my deposit of one months rent. So basically I lost one month of rent as opposed to 3 months of rent I was required to pay.

The security deposit is for damages and cannot be taken because you broke the lease from the SSRA.

Note: This assumes that you gave adequate notice of at least 30 days. For example, if your orders have you executing a PCS in June, you have to tell the landlord before May 1 that you are moving to not be charged for June under the law. So if you gave late notice and agreed to pay for the last month out of the security deposit, that's your choice.

 

[nittany03]

The security deposit is for damages and cannot be taken because you broke the lease from the SSRA.

This. Any landlord that says "we'll let you use SSCRA, but you'll lose your deposit" is playing bullshit landlord games. Unless, of course, you forgot to give notice, didn't clean the place, broke something, etc.

 

[mdubs]

Myself and a bunch of my fellow JOs did this between deployments during my first sea tour (2009ish). I leased a BMW 328i. 5 years, No money down, only 10,000 miles allowed per year, etc. Basically a terrible lease. But I turned it in 10 months later to the BMW dealer with a set of orders gen'ed up by Admin saying I was deploying for 180 days. Dude at the BMW dealer didn't even blink. Took the keys and said thanks, have a good one. They didn't even care that I have 12,500 miles on it. Sweet deal-lots of my other guys had similar experiences.

 

[webmaster]

Myself and a bunch of my fellow JOs did this between deployments during my first sea tour (2009ish). I leased a BMW 328i. 5 years, No money down, only 10,000 miles allowed per year, etc. Basically a terrible lease. But I turned it in 10 months later to the BMW dealer with a set of orders gen'ed up by Admin saying I was deploying for 180 days. Dude at the BMW dealer didn't even blink. Took the keys and said thanks, have a good one. They didn't even care that I have 12,500 miles on it. Sweet deal-lots of my other guys had similar experiences.

Brilliant!!!!

 

[villanelle]

Hmmm. This may have just solved my "PCS to the States for 8 months before going to Japan; WTF do we drive?" issue. I feel morally conflicted about doing it, knowing we'd keep the car only about 7 months. Should I not? Because this would solve a lot of logistical problems for me.

 

[Spekkio]

Why not just buy an old used car in good condition and flip it 7 months later? An older car would probably sell for equal or slightly lesser value than you purchased it for in 7 months, assuming you don't bang it up in that time.

 

[villanelle]

Why not just buy an old used car in good condition and flip it 7 months later? An older car would probably sell for equal or slightly lesser value than you purchased it for in 7 months, assuming you don't bang it up in that time.

This move (or really "these two moves") is going to be such a bear logistically that I'm really hoping to avoid any complications I can. Being on the spot to get the car sold in a short time period isn't ideal. It's possible, but not preferable. It's definitely an option though.

 

[Spekkio]

The few times I've sold a used car on the market, it has gone pretty quickly. It will especially go quickly if you find one in good condition.

Have your husband go post a flyer or dozen around a ship that just got back from deployment. The car will sell.

 

[Flash]

USAA's car buying service has a sale section as well, you can opt to put it on sale to everyone or just dealers who then bid on it within 24 hours. Both times last year I sold to dealers both cars sold at a pretty good price (one within $300 of my asking price on the lemon lot at base of over $10k). Dropped the cars off and within 15 mins I was out the door, check in the mail. Easiest experience I ever had selling a car for a good price, it will be my default whenever I sell a car again.

 

[villanelle]

I didn't know USAA offered that. Thanks. I'll file that. We'd likely buy something fairly cheap (think 6+ year old Ford Focus type, as an example). I wonder if there is a market for that via the USAA service.

 

[Flash]

I didn't know USAA offered that. Thanks. I'll file that. We'd likely buy something fairly cheap (think 6+ year old Ford Focus type, as an example). I wonder if there is a market for that via the USAA service.

I didn't either until I heard an ad about it, one of the few of their thousands that I have seen/heard that I paid attention to. I had to dig a little, it was listed under their car buying service and you had to go into that to find it, and I had my doubts but after listing it 24 hours later I had a decent offer in both instances. There was no haggling or discussion when I dropped them off either, only paper work to sign. I was explicit about what was wrong with both and included them in the pics I posted so if there are issues you hide there might be haggling but none for me.

They list cars through the service as well that you can buy so it would be worth a look.

 

[ltedge46]

When you PCS overseas, govt will store your car at no cost. Indoor heated/cooled storage, they claim to start and move it once a month. Delivered to your next homeport or you can pick it up and drive it. So even if you buy a beater, you'll have something to drive when you get back stateside until you have time to get something more permanent.

I did it for 2 1/2 years and had zero issues upon return. Just had to put in a new battery after I picked it up.