I heard through the grapevine today at work that a popular leasing company amongst new-car dealerships in Ontario is starting
a program which involves the installation of a remote immobilizer and GPS system during the PDI process of any car that is leased
through them. This allows the company to remotely disable your vehicle and locate it for repossession , should you 'forget' to make
payments on your car. Now I realize that certain vehicles have systems like ONstar which can apparently do the same thing, but
those cars always have it as an option, correct? I also know that there are companies that install these same units as a vehicle theft
recovery system, but again that's at the car-owners' will.
I don't know if this has been going on for a long time since this is the first I'm hearing about it with any of the leasing companies that
our dealership deals with, but I was a little shocked. I mean, I know that when you're leasing a vehicle it's never really "yours" the same
way that I own my Rx-7. I've always thought of leasing as a long-term rental car. But I just can't wrap my head around having a car
that I would consider "my car" for 3-,4-,5+ years with one of these things installed the entire time. Are they letting their customers
know? And are lease non-payment losses (hence: vehicle thefts via non-payments) really high enough to justify the $300+ that is costs
to install these on the thousands of cars that are leased through these companies yearly?
I was just shocked when I first heard about it today, but I'm sure someone on here has some examples of similar systems/processes that
maybe I'm not making the connection to.
Thoughts?

 

That is nothing new, that system is used by all the "special finance" companies that do car loans for "sub prime" buyers and has been in place for at least 5 years that I know of. Toyota Credit is not one of the companies doing that. If you lease a car you dont own it and i think the leasing company has every right to protect their asset. There are people who will lease or finance a car, ship it another country along with themselves lol and never pay for the car. The leasing/fiance company is really powerless to recover anything at that point.

If you are a good boy/girl and make your payments you will have nothing to worry about lol.

 

Yeah, the key point is that when you lease a car, you don't own it. The vehicle's ownership is clearly in the name of the leasing company. You are merely being allowed to drive the car.

Liability for damages is transfered from the leasing company to the owner through the OPCF 5 form on your auto policy.

Because you don't own a leased car, they can (without your knowledge or approval) install a tracking device on the vehicle to protect their financial interest.

Then again, I don't have any sympathy for someone who isn't going to make their payments.

-Geoff

 

See I had no idea this wasn't something new. I completely understand why they're necessary though since people can't or don't always make their payments, but still feel they are entitled to the cars.