# Who owns the customer – the dealership or the leasing company?

> The customer is not an exclusive resource – the dealership and the leasing company each own their part. The dealership owns the relationship, the dialogue, and the car delivery. The leasing company owns the contract, the financing, and the residual value risk. The party that owns the relationship wins the repurchase – therefore, the dealership should always manage the customer relationship and dialogue, not the leasing company's call-center.

**Source:** https://carruslink.com/en/answers/hvem-ejer-kunden-forhandler-eller-leasingselskab
**Hub:** Dealer ↔ leasing
**Last updated:** 2026-06-22

Experience from both Danish and European leasing markets is unambiguous: when the leasing company contacts the customer directly at the end of the term, the repurchase rate drops to 15-25%. When the dealership contacts the customer through the same car relationship as at the time of sale, the repurchase rate is 35-50%. The dealership has the physical contact — the car, the test drive, the delivery, the first service. That is the relationship that converts.

Conversely, the leasing company must have a full overview of the portfolio, residual value, and credit risk – that is their balance sheet responsibility. Conflict arises when both parties try to own the entire customer. The solution is a shared platform where roles are codified: relationship for the dealership, contract for the leasing company.

- Dealership owns: relationship, dialogue, test drive, delivery, first service
- Leasing company owns: contract, financing, residual value, credit risk
- Repurchase rate via dealership contact: 35-50%
- Repurchase rate via leasing company direct contact: 15-25%
- The winner owns the relationship – not the database
- Shared platform codifies roles, so no party undermines the other

— CARRUSLiNK · https://carruslink.com/en/answers/hvem-ejer-kunden-forhandler-eller-leasingselskab