The reason that leasing took a slide is not that automotive consumers didn’t want it; car manufacturers (especially American manufacturers) lost their shirts by being too agressive with their lease deals. Consumers loved it but many car makers lost millions and millions of dollars.

So they slowed down and even stopped leasing in some cases. Now, in 2010, they are returning — in a big way. Not so much by the American companies yet, but nearly all other car companies are now offering some of the best lease deals we’ve seen in a long time.

Some of the car makers currently offering special car lease deals are Honda, Acura, Nissan, Toyota, Mercedes, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Scion, Subaru, Volkswagen, Volvo, Infiniti, Audi, Hyundai, Jaguar, Land Rover. General Motors is offering a few special leases, but Chrysler and Ford are offering none.

Many people could easily qualify and be paying far less in monthly car payments if they leased their car.

However, they don’t because they 1) don’t understand leasing and are afraid of it, 2) think it’s like throw-your-money-away apartment leasing (which it’s not), 3) think it’s only for businesses and tax benefits, or 4) have gotten bad advice from friends or relatives (who don’t understand it either).

So what are the benefits of leasing?

First, monthly payments are 30%-60% less than car loan payments, for the same car. Second, if you like to trade cars every few years, with leasing, you don’t have the hassle of selling or trading a used car. Third, there’s usually no down payment required. Fourth, in most states, you save on sales tax. And fifth, you get automatic free GAP insurance with most leases (in case your car is stolen or wrecked). 

Car leasing is not renting. It’s simply an alternative way of financing a car if you know you will want another new car in 3-4 years. You pay only for the part of the car you use — the amount that it depreciates in value — rather than the entire price of the car. People who buy cars with loans lose money on trade or sale due to depreciation.

Car leasing works best for people who drive an average number of miles each year (about 15K miles), who have a stable lifestyle (ending a lease early can be expensive), and who take good care of their cars (returning a leased car with damages can be expensive).

Monthly car lease payments depend on several factors. Most important is the price of the car. Many people who lease don’t undertand that you should negotiate the price of the car, or take advantage of rebates, the same as if you were buying the car. The lower the price, the lower your monthly lease payments.

Second, the lease-end residual value is important. This is the estimated value of the vehicle at the end of the lease. The higher the residual value, the lower your monthly payment. Some car brands and models have higher lease residual values than others. See How to Get the Best Lease Deals for more details.

Third, money factor should be as low as possible. Money factor is an expression of the interest rate you pay on your lease financing. It’s a small number such as .0022, which is equivalent to 5.28% APR interest. Just multiply the money factor by 2400 to get equivalent interest rate. The lower the money factor, the lower your monthly lease payment.

Leasing is not right for everyone. But if you are a good leasing candidate, you can save money on your new cars if you lease — especially now that so many car companies are offering incredible lease deals.

To better understand car leasing, we recommend that you visit LeaseGuide.com and check out the free Car Leasing Guide, which is an online aid to understanding how car leasing works. There’s also a Lease Calculator you can use to calculate monthly lease payments for any new car.

Most people who are thinking about buying a new car want the most car for the lowest possible monthly payment.

One way to do that is to use the information on this web site regarding which brands and models have current manufacturers’ incentives — rebates, bonuses, low interest loans.

These deals are only good for a limited time, usually one month, and you have to act quickly if you want to take advantage.

However, if you are looking for even lower monthly payments, you should consider leasing your next new car. Car leasing is often misunderstood and is confused with renting, which it is not.

It’s a fact that monthly lease payments are always lower by 30%-50% than loan payments for the same car, same term, same interest rate ( see Lease or Buy: Which is Better? ).

Car makers often have special limited-time lease deals which make leasing even better. 

But there is an even better, lower cost way to lease that many people are not aware of.

It’s called a lease transfer, or lease takeover.  

Let’s take a look at an example of how a lease takeover works.

You find someone who wants, or needs, to get out of their car lease early. You can take over, or assume, their car and lease for the remaining time on their contract. If they originally took out a 3 year lease and now want out after only 1 year, you can take over the lease for the remaining 2 years. You pay a small transfer fee to the lease company and the deal is done.

What’s the advantage of taking over someone’s car lease?

By taking over a car lease, you avoid all the up-front charges normally associated with leasing — no down payment. If the original lessee made a large down payment to reduce the size of his monthly payments, you get that benefit. In many cases, the person wanting out of his lease will even pay you a cash incentive to make the deal even sweeter.

How do you find people who want out of their leases?

A number of online companies specialize in listing cars that are available for lease transfers. They act like a “dating service” between people who have available leases, and people who would like to take over a lease. They charge a fee to the person wanting out of his lease. The company that is the biggest and best is Swapalease. Go to the web site and browse. You can search based on the type of car and the monthly payment you want.

Taking over a lease is a great way to drive an affordable late model car if you don’t have the money for a brand new car. Even if you do have the money, it’s one of the most cost effective ways to acquire a vehicle.

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Among the companies with good lease incentives for December are:

Land Rover – 2009/2010 Range Rover and 2009/2010 Range Rover Sport models

Jaguar – 2010 XF and XK models

Acura – 2009 MDX, 2010 RDX, 2010 RL, and 2010 TSX models

BMW – 2010 1 Series, 3 Series, 5 Series, 6 Series, 7 Series, X3, X5, X6, 2009 and 2010 Z4 models

Honda – 2010 Accord, Civic, CR-V, Insight, Odyssey, and Pilot models

Infiniti – 2010 EX35, 2009 FX35, 2009 FX50, 2009 G37, 2010 M35, 2010 M45, 2010 QX56 models

Volkswagen – 2009 CC, Eos, GLI, STI, Jetta, New Beetle, Passat, Rabbit, Routan, Tiguan, and Touareg 2 models

As we have explained in other places on this web site, car manufacturers create special limited-time good car lease deals to help move vehicles during slow sales periods, as well as to help move out last year’s models as new year’s models are brought in.

Special leases are nearly always genuine good deals. Prices have been reduced, money factors have been reduced, and lease-end residuals have been increased. The combination of all these factors makes for low lease payments.

To qualify for the special lease incentives you must have a good credit score and you usually must make a modest down payment in order to get the low monthly payment.

If you need to better understand car leasing — how it works and how to get good deals — we suggest you visit our sister web site LeaseGuide.com where you will find a car lease guide, advice, lease calculators, and an optional Lease Kit.

Here’s are some of the best deals:

By far, the best deals are on left-over 2008 models (see Leftover 2008 Models for Cheap). We’re not talking about used cars here. We’re talking about brand new 2008 vehicles that are still on dealers’ lots waiting to be sold. Some dealers have a large number of leftovers, some only have a few, and some have none. Of course your choices are limited but the prices are the best.

Next, for 2009 models, Infiniti, Hummer, Saab, Mercedes, Nissan, and Land Rover have the highest factory-to-dealer cash on most of their vehicle models — in the $2000-$9000 range ($13,000 on some Mercedes models), depending on vehicle. This is “hidden” money given to dealers by the manufacturer to help him sell vehicles. Dealers can use the money for advertising, tent sales, or discounts. Most of the money goes back to customers in the form of large price discounts.

For direct factory-to-customer cash rebates, Chrysler, Infiniti, Nissan, Chrysler, Ford, Hyundai, Toyota, and GM are currently offering the best rebates on most models. For example, Nissan has $5000 on the Armada and Titan, $2500 on the Pathfinder, and $2000 on the Sentra. Acura, GM, Mitsubishi, and Subaru also have some very attractive rebates on many 2009 models.

The best 0% APR and low interest loans are being offered by Chrysler, GM, Ford, Suzuki, Toyota, Lexus, and Land Rover. Remember, in most cases, you can’t take the low interest loan AND rebates. You choose one or the other.

The best lease deals are being offered by Honda and Acura (on a select few models and styles), BMW (some models), Infiniti, Mazda, and Mercedes. These deals have highly discount prices, low money factors, and high lease-end residuals — all of which makes for low monthly lease payments. If you are interested in leasing, make you understand how it works so that you don’t make mistakes. See LeaseGuide.com for explanations and advice.

In our opinion, the best overall deals are now on Honda, Infiniti, and Mazda vehicles. Surprisingly, the American brands, GM, Chrysler, and Ford are offering only so-so deals, not great deals.

You can get free price quotes on any of the above cars from Edmunds.com. The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.

Leases are especially attractive to people who need to finance a car at the lowest possible monthly payment. Leases are always less expensive than a similar loan. Why? Because you pay for only part of the car’s value — the part you “use up” — and you return the car (with it’s remaining unused value) back to the lease company. It sounds like renting, but it is not.

If you don’t understand how car leasing works, you are advised to do so before you lease. Leasing is a little more complicated than buying with a loan, which makes it easier to make mistakes if you don’t know what you are doing. To learn everything you need to know about car leasing, visit our sister web site, LeaseGuide.com.

Now, on with the good lease deals for June. These deals end June 30, 2009. Deals may vary by dealer and region.

Although there are some great lease deals currently being offered on high-end cars such as BMW, Mercedes, and others, we are showing you the absolute lowest cost leases now available, which tend to be on low-medium-priced cars.

Honda has a number of good leases right now. The best lease is on the Honda Civic DX-VP 1.8 sedan – $ 149 a month, 36 months, 12K annual miles, and $2699 due at signing. You can get the Civic Hybrid sedan for $199 a month, $2299 due at signing. Or the Civic LX sedan for only $199 a month, $1999 due at signing.

Honda has lease deals on a few styles of the Accord model. The Honda Accord LX sedan comes with a nice $199 a month payment, 36 months, 12K annual miles, and $2699 due at signing.

Nissan is also offering a similar deal on the Nissan Sentra FE+ 2.0 SR – $149 a month, 39 months, 12K annual miles, and $$2499 due at signing. The similar Sentra FE+ 2.0 sedan is $159 a month, with $2449 due at signing.

Mazda offers some excellent leases on the sporty MAZDA3. You can get the MAZDA3 iSport sedan (4-speed automatic transmission)  for only $169 a month, 36 months, 12K miles a year, and $2764 due at signing. The same car with 5-speed automatic transmission goes for $189 a month, and $2784 due at signing. The slightly higher cost MAZDA3 iTouring sedan has a lease deal at $196 a month, $2791 due at signing.

Subaru is also offering some good limited-time lease deals. You can get a Subaru Impreza 2.5i sedan with manual transmission for $179 a month, 36 months, 10K annual miles, and $1120 down payment (cap cost reduction). The same car with automatic transmission goes for $188 a month. The Subaru Legacy 2.5i Special Edition sedan is being offered at $191 a month, 36 months, $1800 down.

Finally, coming in among the “under $200-a-month” crowd is Volkswagen with the Volkswagen New Beetle 2.5 hatchback and the Volkswagen Rabbit S hatchback, both at $199 a month, 36 months, 12K miles per year, and $$2699 due at signing.

Remember, before you lease you should learn how leasing works. See LeaseGuide.com where you will find tips, expert advice, easy-to-understand explanations, and even a lease payment calculator.

Not true. Except for the American car makers, leasing is very much alive.

In fact, many car companies such as Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes, BMW, Nissan, Infiniti, Toyota, Subaru,Volkswagen, and Volvo have increased their leasing activity to take advantage of the opportunity and are currently offering special “subvented” lease deals for June 2009.

For example, you can lease a new 2009 Volkswagen Jetta sedan for only $179 a month, 36 months, with $2499 due at signing, and no security deposit. There is a similar deal on the Jetta Wagon for $239 a month.  These are fantastic deals.  

Another good deal: a 2009 Honda Civic LX sedan for only $199 a month, 36 months, $1999 due at signing.

Or lease a hot new 2009 Hyundai Genesis 3.8 sedan for only $399 a month, 36 months, $2599 due at signing. This is a special promotional lease only on this particular model.

BMW has a lease deal on the BMW 335i coupe for $489 a month, 36 months, $5214 due at signing, and a $500 security deposit. This deal expires at the end of June.

Again, other car makers such as Acura, Audi, Mitsubishi, Kia, Mercedes, Volvo, and Land Rover also have limited-time lease deals being offer right now – until June 30, 2009.

What’s the catch?

The special lease deals are only for certain models and styles. If you don’t like those particular models, you can still get normal non-subvented leases from those companies. You also need to make sure you understand how leasing works and how to determine if you make a good leasing candidate. For that, you can visit our sister web site, LeaseGuide.com.

Mazda

The Mazda3 lease deal is for $189 a month, 36 months, 10K miles per year, and $2784 due at signing. The due-at-signing amount includes 1st month’s payment and lease acquisition fee. No security fee is required.

If you can handle the due-at-signing amount, drive no more than 10,000 miles per year, and like the model being promoted, this is a great deal. You won’t find a similar deal being offered by any other car manufacturer right now.

If you don’t want the Mazda3 i Sport 4-door, there are other lease deals available on other styles of the Mazda3. For examply, you can get the 2010 Mazda3 s Sport 5-door for $229 a month, the 2009 Mazda5 Sport for $269 a month, the 2009 Mazda6  i Sport for $239 a month, the 2009 CX-7 Sport FWD for $309, the 2009 CX-9 Sport FWD for $369 a month, 2009 MX-5 Miata Sport for only $259 a month, a 2009 RX-8 Sport for $339 a month, and a 2009 Tribute i Sport FWD for $349 a month. 

These Mazda lease offers expire on June 1, 2009 so you don’t have long to make up you mind.

If you decide not to lease, you can also get a nice 2.9% APR loan rate for these same cars.

If you need to understand how car leasing works and how to decide if it is right for you, we suggest that you visit our sister site at LeaseGuide.com.

General Motors

However, keep in mind that current incentives can change at any time, even in the middle of the month. So keep a watch here on this web site for later improvements. Chrysler is expected to announce some agressive incentives this week and GM might possibly be waiting to see what it looks like before making any further moves.

The incentives apply to all vehicles in the General Motors stable — Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac, Hummer, GMC, and Cadillac — and expire on June 1, 2009. All are for 2009 model vehicles.

In general (no pun intended), GM’s incentives are in the form of modest cash-back rebates and semi-low APR loans.

The rebates come in the range of $750 (Saturn) to $1000 and $15000, to $2000 for some models such as the Cadillac DTS.  A couple of exceptions: $7000 cash back on the Chevrolet Suburban and $5000 cash back on the Hummer H3.

There are also some “hidden” rebates that apply if you want to lease. GMAC no longer leases, but most dealers have alternative lease companies (large national banks) through which they can lease. The bank lease deals are not that great, so GM is sweetening the deal with the hidden rebates, which reduces lease prices, which lowers monthly payments and makes for some decent, although not great,  lease deals.

The “low” APR loan deals are not so low — only 6.9%. It’s certainly better than the near 8% normal rate (depending on the customer’s credit score) but nothing to write home about. There are some 0% offers on some selected models in some parts of the country however.

You can get free price quotes on any General Motors vehicles from Edmunds.com. The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.

Volvo

The reason the lease deals are so good is that nearly all include a hefty factory-to-dealer rebate as well as some dealer discount. The result is a low lease price, which significantly reduces the monthly payment amount.

All the deals require a moderate cash-due-at-signing amount which includes a down payment, first month’s payment, and other required fees. And most of the deals are restricted to a particular style within a model line, as shown below.

All the Volvo lease deals for May are based on 36 months with 10.5K annual mileage allowance. These are genuinely good leases for the models being promoted. If you are interested, make sure you like the particular model and style, and that the mileage restriction and cash-due-at-signing requirement is agreeable to you. Also make sure you understand how leasing works if you’ve never leased before. The following web site will provide the information and advice you need: LeaseGuide.com. 

If you decide not to lease, the large factory-to-dealer rebates can significantly reduce your purchase price, assusming your dealer is willing to part with some or all of his money. The rebate amounts are shown below with the lease deals. To repeat, you do not have to lease to take advantage of the dealer’s “hidden” rebates.

Here are the current Volvo lease deals. All are available until June 1, 2009.

Volvo C70 convertible – $499 a month, $2998 due at signing (based on $4500 factory-to-dealer cash)

Volvo C30 (manual transmission) – $299 a month, $2999 due at signing (based on $1750 factory-to-dealer cash and $1000 direct dealer discount)

Volvo C30 (auto transmission) – $319 a month, $3019 due at signing (based on $1750 factory-to-dealer cash and $1000 direct dealer discount)

Volvo S40 2.4i style – $299 a month, $2999 due at signing (based on $2500 factory-to-dealer cash)

Volvo S80 3.2 style – $449 a month, $2948 due at signing (based on $6500 factory-to-dealer cash)

Volvo XC60 (2010 model, T6 sytle) – $495 a month, $2994 due at signing (additional $2000 rebate for current owners of Acura, Audi, BMW, Lexus, or Mercedes)

Volvo XC90 3.2 style – $499 a month, $2998 due at signing (based on $4000 factory-to-dealer cash) (additional $1500 to current Volvo owners/lessees)

Note that some of these deals are not available in some regions of the U.S. and that most deals require customer to have good credit.

You can get free price quotes on any of the above Volvo models from Edmunds.com. The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.

The Subaru Tribeca gets the best deal with a $2500 rebate or 2.9%-4.9% (depends on loan term) low-interest loans.

The Subaru Outback gets a $2000 cash-back rebate or 2.9%-4.9% APR loans.

The Subaru Legacy gets a possible $1000 rebate (depending on region of U.S.) or a 2.9% APR (12/24/36 months).

The Subaru Impreza and Forester get 2.9%/4.9% APR loan rates but no rebates.

All Subaru models have new lease deals, which are genuine good deals. All the leases based on 10K miles per year and only require $999 down payment (cap cost reduction). Taxes and official fees may be required as part of the amount due at signing.

Here is an example of the lease deals for the 2009 Subaru Outback:

$366 a month – 39 months

$377 a month – 36 months

$380 a month – 42 months

$388 a month – 48 months

$510 a month – 24 months

All of these deals expire at the end of April 2009 and require a good credit score to qualify.

You can get free price quotes on any of the above Subaru vehicles from Edmunds.com. The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.

They’ve lost so much money in the last few years due to over-estimating lease-end residuals that they can’t afford to continue.

However, foreign carmakers haven’t been hurt as badly and are taking advantage of the situation. If you’ve seen Honda’s commercials on TV they are reminding viewers that they are still leasing and have great deals.

In fact, Honda has sweetened the pot by putting some outstanding lease deals on many of their models, including the Accord, CR-V, Civic, Odyssey, and Pilot. The deals range from a low $149 a month on a Civic DX-VP sedan, to $199 a month on an Accord LX sedan, to $239 on a CR-V, to $269 on the popular Odyssey minivan, and $299 on a Honda Pilot LX SUV.   

Most of these deals require upfront cash for down payment, first month’s payment, and fees. However Honda is also offering alternative deals on all the above models that have higher monthly payments but only require upfront cash equal to a single monthly payment. Wow.

When these deals are analyzed, we find that not only have prices been reduced, but customers are also getting very good lease-end residuals and low money factors (finance rates).

If you like the car model and it’s options, and you like the payment, you just can’t go wrong with a Honda.

Find out more about these Honda models with retail prices, invoice prices, TMV prices, incentives, and get free online price quotes.

There are actually two different lease deals on the same car, which we’ve never seen done by Honda before.
 
Deal #1: The first lease deal is $249 a month for 36 months, 12K miles per year, and a low, low, low $249 due at lease signing (plus official state tag and registration fees of course).  This is incredible.

Deal #2: The second deal for the same car is $189 a month for 36 months, 12K miles per year, and $1999 due at lease signing, of which $1215 is down payment and the rest is first month’s payment and an acquisition fee (that is rolled into the lease on the other deal above).

These very nice lease deals on the ever-popular Honda Civic will expire on May 5, 2009. We don’t know if the deals will get any better than this.

Research this car, get actual invoice and true market values (TMV) with rebates, and request free online price quotes.