The sooner the better. Each leasing company has different terms and they are usually two to four months before expiration. If you miss that window they also have different terms. Some require a 30 to 60 notice to cancel if you missed the original window. Others go ahead and renew the lease for the year which is good for them and the current vendor because it locks out competition. The only person who can get you out of it is the current vendor as long as the new lease is with the current leasing company. There’s not much incentive you give you much of a discount in that scenario.
Another thing to consider is what happens to the copier even if you cancel in time. Whatever vendor was awarded your new business should help you with this. You will get some intimidating instructions from the leasing company telling you to prepare to ship it; insure it; send it halfway across the country; and ask you if you want to pay money to erase the HDD.
Here’s what we did for a new customer recently. We coached them so they got the cancellation in during the window. We encouraged them to deal with the leasing company rather than the local sales rep to make sure everything was done in time. If the sales rep thinks you are shopping around they maydrag their feet.
We found a local IT company that erased the HDD on the copier for a reasonable fee and we paid for it. The new customer was originally quoted a high price by the former leasing company. We also provided them with two phone numbers of companies that return copiers to leasing companies. A lot of people don’t realize that the warehouses are in places like St. Louis; not South Austin and the shipping expense can be high.
Hope this helps.
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