This section defines key terms related to the leasing of motor vehicles. A 'motor vehicle' is one that must be registered, excluding certain trailers sold with boats. A 'lessor' is someone in the business of leasing vehicles, and 'lessee' is a person who leases a vehicle for more than four months primarily for personal use. 'Lease contract' refers to the formal agreement for such leasing, excluding leases for business, agriculture, or government purposes. 'Regulation M' involves rules under the Consumer Leasing Act. The 'constant yield method' describes how rent charges are calculated over the lease term, depending on whether payments are periodic or a single lump sum.

This law is about what you have to disclose when soliciting someone to enter a car lease deal. If you're advertising things like payments, upfront costs, or lack of upfront costs, you also need to transparently disclose additional details. These details include disclosures required under another set of rules (Regulation M), limits and charges related to mileage, and if there are extra taxes and fees. Any claims about specific deals must be genuine, meaning the company should typically offer those deals. If a company doesn't follow these rules, it doesn't make the lease invalid, and media or advertising carriers aren't liable for these disclosures. Some things can be left out from advertised costs according to part of this law, and this law kicks in on July 1, 2024.

This section outlines that vehicle lease contracts in California must be in writing, with specific formatting requirements like 8-point type and bold titles. The contract must include all agreements between the parties and disclose detailed financial information, including costs related to the leased vehicle, insurance, and any additional charges. It must also feature warnings about reading the lease, the lack of a cooling-off period, and the lessee's potential financial liabilities in case of vehicle theft or damage. The lease has to be fully completed before signing, and a copy must be provided at signing. Additionally, lessees have a right to return the vehicle if their credit application is not approved. Special notices, like a GAP liability notice, must be included if applicable. These provisions have been in effect since July 1, 2012.

This law explains that certain documents don’t need to be part of a vehicle lease contract. These include any express warranties, vehicle registration and ownership transfer papers, insurance and service agreements, and any documents showing the sale or lease of goods or services related to the leased vehicle that are separately listed in the costs of the lease.

If a lessor's rights are assigned to someone else, the new party (assignee) inherits the same defenses and claims that the customer (lessee) had against the original lessor. However, the assignee's responsibility is capped at the amount still owed to them under this new arrangement. If the assignee ends up liable because of these defenses, they can go after the original lessor for compensation, regardless of the type of assignment agreement.

In California, it is illegal for anyone leasing a vehicle to entice someone into a lease agreement by offering them any kind of benefit like a rebate, discount, or commission. This particularly applies if the benefit is tied to the condition that the person helps the lessor in leasing or selling vehicles to others.

If you pay any money to a car lessor before signing a lease and the lease doesn't happen, you get your money back. Additionally, if a lease is breached by the lessor and you traded in your car as a downpayment, but it's not returned, you can get back either its market value or the value in the lease, whichever is higher, within five days. You can also pursue other legal options beyond this if needed.

This law states that lease contracts for vehicles shouldn't include certain unfair terms. First, you can't give someone the power to confess a judgment or assign your wages just because it's in the lease, except under separate rules. Second, you shouldn't be pressured to give up your right to sue someone if they do something illegal when collecting payments or repossessing the car. Third, the lease shouldn’t protect the lessor from being accountable for issues under the contract. Lastly, the lessor can't require you to start legal proceedings in a place that's different from where you signed the lease, live, or keep the car.

This law requires that when a lessee acknowledges receiving certain lease documents, such acknowledgment must be clearly written in at least 10-point bold type and placed directly above their signature in the contract. If they sign this acknowledgment, it is presumed they received the documents, unless proven otherwise, in legal actions involving third parties. If a third party provides these documents or a related notice and the lessee doesn't notify them within 30 days about not receiving them, it is conclusively presumed the documents were delivered correctly.

You can't lease a used car for driving in California if it doesn't have all the proper equipment required by the Vehicle Code. If you're extending or renewing a lease with the same person using the same vehicle, this rule doesn't apply. Also, if the lessee gives the lessor more money than needed for licensing or title transfer, the lessor must refund the extra amount, even if the lessee doesn't ask for it.

This law states that in a vehicle lease agreement, you cannot use other property—like your home or other belongings—as collateral for the lease, except for the car and related equipment itself. The exception is for things like security deposits or advance rent payments, which are okay to include as part of the lease agreement.

If you're renting (or leasing) a car, you can end the lease early, but there are certain fees and charges you might have to pay. These include unpaid lease payments, any other owed amounts except for wear and mileage charges, and an early termination fee that can't be more than a reasonable disposition fee noted in your contract. If the car's a total loss, like after a theft or accident, insurance may cover some of this cost. The car's value in various situations helps figure out what you owe. If you return the vehicle early and pay everything you should, your credit shouldn't be hurt. When ending a lease, you get back any leftover deposit after covering what you owe. You can also choose to buy the car instead of just ending the lease. This law applies to leases made after January 1, 1998, and 'Rule of 78' can't be used for calculating charges.

This law provides protection for people who lease cars and might face unfairly high costs at the end of the lease. It mandates that the company leasing out the vehicle must accurately estimate the car's value at the end of the lease and act in good faith. If they estimate the car’s value too high, making the lessee pay more, it should be reasonable, and there's a specific calculation to check this fairness. If the estimated value is more than three times the average monthly payment of the lease, it’s presumed unreasonable unless the damage is due to excessive use or damage beyond normal wear and tear. 'Fair market value' means the selling price in the usual market setting.

This law explains what happens if a landlord, known as a lessor, doesn't follow certain leasing rules. If they slip up, they might need to pay the person affected for any damages, plus additional penalties. In individual cases, penalties range from $100 to $1,000, while class action cases have different limits. If the landlord figures out their mistake within 15 days and fixes it before being sued, they might avoid penalties. Also, accidental mistakes due to honest errors may not lead to liability if the landlord had efforts in place to avoid such errors. Any lawsuit against the original landlord can be applied to any new person who takes over the lease, unless the handover wasn't their choice. Mistakes made under honest reliance on faulty laws won't lead to penalties. You can sue for multiple mistakes in the same lease but only get paid once, unless they keep making new errors. Finally, any lawsuit must be filed within a year after the lease ends.

This law says that if a leasing company does not follow a certain rule (Section 2985.8) on purpose, or if fixing the mistake would make the cost of the lease go up, the person leasing the item can cancel the contract. However, if the company decides not to charge the extra cost, the contract can't be canceled for this reason.

This law states that if there's a legal case about a lease agreement, the winning side can be awarded their lawyer fees and court costs. It doesn't matter who started the case—the landlord or the tenant. If the defendant claims they offered the plaintiff all the money owed before the case, and this is proven true by depositing the amount in court, then the defendant is considered the winner in terms of getting their legal costs covered.

If someone has already filed a civil lawsuit in federal court about the same issue against a landlord, you can't file another civil lawsuit for the same reason in state court under this law.

This law covers situations where someone leasing a car is responsible for its value loss by the end of the lease. If the company leasing the car out wants to sell or find a value for it, they must do so in a fair and standard manner for that kind of car. If they're going to sell the car, they have to give the person leasing it at least 10 days' notice. This notice must clearly state any charges and inform them they can offer their own bid to buy the car. The notice has to be sent to the address on file or one the lessee has provided in writing, and it must be sent via certified mail or delivered in person.

This law states that a vehicle leasing company (lessor) must do a few things. First, they need to make sure the leased vehicle is properly registered as per the lease contract. Second, when advertising a vehicle for lease, they must include either the vehicle identification number or license number in the ad. Third, they cannot refuse to lease a vehicle to someone who has good credit, at the advertised price, not including certain fees like taxes and registration. Additionally, the law clarifies that lessors will not be held civilly liable for breaking these specific rules.

If someone complains about a car lease, the car lease company must show the DMV their records about the deal, unless a special rule says otherwise. If the DMV thinks there’s a pattern of similar problems, they can get records about those too. If the lease company refuses, the DMV can ask a judge to make them hand over the records, and if the DMV wins, they can also get their legal costs paid back. For banks or related companies, the DMV must tell the right government agency if they see issues, and that agency must respond in 20 days. If they don’t, the DMV can ask the court to make them get the records.

This law allows the Director of Motor Vehicles to make and enforce rules needed to put this chapter's provisions into practice. Whenever these rules are made, changed, or removed, they must follow a specific process outlined in another part of government rules.

If someone intentionally breaks any rule outlined in this chapter, they’re committing a minor crime called a misdemeanor.

This law does not apply to transactions that are covered by another specific set of rules, which start at Section 2981.

If a company or person provides a lease contract form to a landlord, they must also give a Spanish translation of the form if the landlord asks for it.

If someone wants to assign a lease to another party and provides a preprinted lease form to the person originally leasing the item, the form must have enough space to include all necessary disclosures and costs. It also needs a separate area where both parties can note custom agreements about trade-ins or returns.

If you've leased out a vehicle and received a specific legal notice, you can't ask someone to track down or reclaim the vehicle without also updating them with the details of that notice at the same time and in the same way you make the request.