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End a Car Lease on Deployment — and the Spouse Can Do It Too

Michigan’s Military Personnel Motor Vehicle Leasing Act lets a member deployed for 180 days or more, or that member’s spouse, terminate any motor vehicle lease — and it reaches state active duty ordered by the Governor.

Verified August 23, 2026

What this benefit is

What it's worth: A motor vehicle lease ended early on deployment of 180 days or more

What this saves is the remaining lease payments, which depends entirely on how long was left and what the lease charged for early termination. No single figure would be honest.
The Attorney General describes the state Act as permitting termination; the federal comparison it draws — 15 days to return the vehicle, no early-termination fee, but charges for excess wear, use and mileage — is stated for the federal right rather than for the state Act.

Who is entitled to it

You are the servicemember, or the servicemember’s spouse.
Your home is in Michigan.

Not sure whether that describes you?

Answer a few questions about this benefit specifically — we only ask what this one actually depends on, and we stop as soon as we know.

How to claim it

Deadline: On receiving the orders — the lessor sets the return arrangements

1Write to the lessor and attach the orders. Every version of this right runs on a written request with a copy of the orders, and nothing happens without them.
2Check the length. The Act is described as applying to a service member deployed on active duty for a period of 180 days or more.
3If you are the spouse, you can do this yourself. The Attorney General states the Act permits the service member OR the spouse of that service member to terminate the lease — which the federal right does not.
4If your orders come from the Governor rather than the President, this is the route to use. The Attorney General states that, unlike the SCRA, the Act extends the ability to terminate to service members on state active military duty by order of the Governor.
5Ask the lessor in writing what it will charge for excess wear, use and mileage. Termination without an early-termination fee is not the same as termination without any bill at all.
6Keep the vehicle insured until the lessor confirms it has taken it back. A gap between your last payment and their collection is where disputes start.

File with: Your lessor, in writing
No renewal: Once granted it does not need renewing.

CorrectionThe spouse is named in the Michigan Act. A dealership that tells a spouse only the servicemember can terminate is describing the federal right, not the Michigan one.

Worth knowingThe Michigan Act reaches state active duty by order of the Governor. That is the same gap the utility and civil-suit protections fill, and it is worth checking your orders once and then knowing which set of rights you have.

Known gapThe Act’s own notice period, its treatment of a lease signed after the orders, and whether it caps end-of-lease charges are not stated on the page we could read, and we could not read the Act itself. Ask the lessor to put its position in writing and get advice before signing anything they send back.

Sources

authority · published policyMichigan Attorney General, Consumer Protection — Military: Right to Terminate Auto Leases (MCL 445.1011 et seq.)
operating · published policyMichigan Attorney General, Consumer Protection — Military (index of legal protections)

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