BMW

They’ve just announced some of the best leases we’ve seen this year that are good during November and through the end of 2011.

Deals are especially good on 2011 3-Series models. Here are some examples, all for 36 months, 30,000 miles:

2011 BMW 328i Sedan – $349/month, $3574 cash due at signing, plus $1500 allowance

2011 BMW 328i xDrive Sedan – $369/month, $3594 cash due at signing, plus $1500 allowance

2011 BMW 335i Sedan – $409/month, $4134 cash due at signing,  plus $1500 allowance and $1305 option credit

2011 BMW 335i xDrive Sedan – $429/month, $4154 cash due at signing, plus $1500 allowance and $1840 option credit

2011 BMW 335d Sedan – $429/month, $3654 cash due at signing, plus $1500 allowance and $3500 ECO credit

There are similar good lease deals on 50 different 2012 BMW models, in every model line from the 1-Series to the Z4. Depending on the Series, there are credit allowances that range from $500 to $2500, in addition to option credits for most models of up to $3500.

All of the current BMW lease deals have been evaluated by LeaseGuide.com using its unique Lease Value Calculator that scores and rates any car lease as Poor / Average / Good / Excellent / Outstanding when compared to average leases. Generally, all the current 2011 BMW lease deals rate Outstanding —  as good as it gets. Nearly all of the 2012 BMW lease deals rate Excellent. All of the deals are well worth considering and are much better than a customer could negotiate for himself.

Folks, if you have been thinking about leasing a BMW, now is a good time to do it. It just doesn’t get any better. Also know that BMW provides free scheduled maintenance on these vehicles for 4 years or 50,000 miles, along with free roadside assistance. 

Of course these special deals are available only to “qualified” customers, which means customers having a good credit score. If you are interested in taking advantage of one these deals, it’s a good idea to know your latest credit score before you visit your dealer. You credit score is available online at services such as FreeCreditScore.com. You can see your most current score immediately.

For information and details about finding $0 zero down car leases, visit LeaseGuide.com.

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For example, you can get 2011 models of the Chrysler 200, 300, and Town and Country with large factory-to-dealer cash, which as you may know is money given to dealers by car manufacturers that is usually given to customers as a price discount. There are also customer rebates on the same models, which makes for some very good deals.

Let’s take a look at the details:

2011 Chrysler 200 – up to $1000 rebate and up to $3000 factory-to-dealer cash, depending on style

2011 Chrysler 300 – up to $1000 rebate and up to $4500 factory-to-dealer cash, depending on style

2011 Chrysler Town and Country - $1000 rebate and $3000 factory-to-dealer cash

2012 Chrysler 200 – up to $2000 rebate, depending on style

2012 Chrysler 300 – up to $1500 rebate, depending on style

2012 Chrysler Town and Country – $1000 rebate

In addition to the rebate and factory cash incentives for November, you can also get 0% APR loan deals for 36 months. However, you probably already know that you can’t take a rebate and a 0% loan deal at the same time. You must select one or the other. Here’s an article that can help you decide which to choose: 0% APR Loan Deals – Good Deal or Not?

You may also know that 0% APR loans are only available to “qualified” customers who have good credit. You should already know your latest credit score before you visit a dealer to get one of the deals. Your credit score is available online at FreeCreditScore.com with a quick signup.

Also know that you can get free price quotes on any of the above Chrysler vehicles from Edmunds.comThe quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.

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However, that’s about to change.

Car deals are about to get even better.

You see, Toyota and Honda had been market leaders until the devastating Japanese earthquake and tsunami in March. Production was impacted, inventory dwindled, and sales suffered. There was little need to offer aggressive sales  incentives if their cars were in short supply. Taking advantage of the situation, American (GM, Ford, Chrysler) and Korean (Hyundai/Kia) car companies have been offering some attractive incentives to capture customers and maket share.

Other Japanese brands such as Nissan, Mazda, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Suzuki, Lexus, Infiniti, and Acura have also been impacted in varying degrees.

However….Japanese car makers are rapidly recovering. Manufacturing production is growing steadily month to month. Supply is increasing at dealers. Between now and the end of 2011, full recovery is expected.

The Japanese are going to be very eager to regain lost sales and customers. As a result, we expect to see some of the best new car deals and incentives of the year starting as early as September and rolling past the end of the year into the first months of 2012. The companies will not only be competing with other Japanese car makers but with the American, European, and Korean companies who have tried to take business away while they were incapacitated. Everybody will have to rachet up their ante to stay in the game.

The result could be an all-out food-fight with dueling rebates, low interest rates, and special lease deals, the likes of which we haven’t seen in a long time — maybe ever. Some experts discount this idea, saying it won’t be as significant as all that due to the repressed economy. We’ll have to wait and see.

However, there is no doubt that we’ll see some of the best car deals we’ve seen this year during the coming months of 2011. These deals will be on leftover 2010 models (best deals), new and leftover 2011 models, and even new 2012 models.

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Honda

The catch, as always, is that the deals don’t apply to all models and styles. The lease deals only apply to selected styles of certain models, usually the middle-of-the-line LX styles.

If you can be a little bit flexible and not be too particular about the style, you can take advantage of these great incentives from Honda. 

Here are some of the current Honda lease deals. All are for 36 months, 36,000 miles and are good through November and December, ending on January 4, 2011.

2011 Honda CR-V LX – $219/month, $1999 due at signing — or $270/month, $0 due at signing

2011 Honda Civic LX sedan – $169/month, $1999 due at signing — or $220/month, $0 due at signing

2011 Honda Civic DX-VP sedan – $159/month, $1999 due at signing — or $210/month, $0 due at signing

2010 Honda Fix Base – $139/month, $1999 due at signing — or $190/month, $0 due at signing

2011 Honda Odyssey LX – $319/month, $1999 due at signing — or $360/month, $0 due at signing

2011 Honda Pilot LX – $299/month, $2999 due at signing — or $380/month, $0 due at signing

These are genuinely good lease deals made possible by reduced lease price, low money factor (finance charge), and boosted lease-end residual values. However, if you don’t understand how leasing works and don’t know to determine if leasing is right for you, you should read the Lease Guide at LeaseGuide.com.

Old incentive programs must expire before new ones are revealed. Most current incentives end on November 1. Some new programs will be announced as soon as November 2 but most will come about a week later.

Dealers aren’t told about new programs ahead of time.

However, our experience and knowledge of how car makers have worked incentives in the past can tell us with a great deal of certainty what new incentives will look like.

For November 2010, dealers will still have plenty of leftover 2010 models as they begin receiving and selling new 2011 models. Therefore, the 2010 models will have nice rebates, 0% APR interest rates, special lease deals, and good factory-to-dealer money.

The factory-to-dealer “marketing support” money is a ”hidden” rebate to dealers to help them offer price discounts to customers. When dealers kick in with their own discounts, customers can easily walk away having paid less than dealer invoice price. These are genuinely good deals.

By taking advantage of dealers’ oversupply of last year’s models, customers can often get some incredible bargains. The best deals are on those models that dealers have the greatest leftover supply of. There’s no good way for us as customers to know exactly which models those are, except to shop around. One dealer might have plenty of leftover cars; others might have none.  

To get the best deals, customers must be a bit flexible. Dealers who have inventory might not have the exact model, style, options, or color that customers want. You must be willing to take what the dealer has in stock. 

Of course, there will be some good incentives on brand new 2011 cars as well, but we don’t know specifically what will be offered at this time.

You can get free price quotes on any new cars from Edmunds.com.The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates, incentives, and discounts that are currently available.

Instead, we typically see more subtle forms of incentives such as low-interest loans (rarely 0%), leases on certain models and styles, and hidden factory-to-dealer rebates on some models. Factory-to-dealer cash rebates are almost always used by dealers to discount prices to customers.

Here are a summary of the current Acura incentives for November and December 2009 (ending 1/04/2010):

2009 Acura MDX – $2000 factory-to-dealer cash, low-interest loans (1.9% APR for 24/36 months, 2.9% for 60 months), and a special lease deal on the Base model — $469 a month, 36 months, 10K miles per year, and $3299 due at lease signing.

2010 Acura RDX – Special lease deal on Base model — $399 a month, $3599 due at signing

2010 Acura RL – $2000 factory-to-dealer cash, and a special lease deal on the Base model — $569 a month, $3999 due at signing

2010 Acura TL – Special lease deal on Base model — $399 a month, $3299 due at lease signing

2009 Acura TL – $1500-$2000 factory-to-dealer cash, depending on style,

2010 Acura TSX – $1500 factory-to-dealer cash (on certain styles), and a special lease deal — $299 a month, $3599 due at signing

You may already know that you must have a good credit rating to get the low interest rates or the special lease deals. If you think you might want to lease, make sure you understanding how car leasing works first. We recommend reading the free Lease Guide at LeaseGuide.com.

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

There are few deals which we’ll mention below but we feel that other incentives are coming, albeit a little late in the month. However, when the incentives are announced, we expect them to cover the remaining part of November as well as December.

What we see are a few special leases and factory-to-dealer rebates on some models, as well as a few low-interest loans. All the current incentives end on 11/30/2009.

As you probably know, the factory-to-dealer rebates can, and usually are, used by dealers to offer customer price discounts.

On the 2009 Toyota Highlander SUV, there is a $1500 factory-to-dealer rebate and a $319 a month lease deal (48 months, 12K miles per year, $3204 due at lease inception).

The 2010 Toyota Corolla gets a special 0% APR loan rate for 36/48 months and 0.9% for 60 months, as well as a $750 factory-to-dealer rebate which cannot be combined with a low-interest loan. The LE style gets a special $149 a month lease (39 months, 12K miles per year, $2964 due at inception).

The 2010 Toyota Matrix (Base style) gets a special $199 a month lease (48 months, 12K miles per year, $2869 due at signing)

The 2010 Toyota RAV4 gets low-interest loan rates — 0% APR for 36 months, 1.9% for 48 months, 2.9% for 60 months — $1000 factory-to-dealer rebate, and a special lease deal on the Base model — $219 a month, 39 months, 12K miles per year, $2779 due at signing.

The 2009 Toyota RAV4 gets $1000 factory-to-dealer rebate.

The 2010 Toyota Sienna gets a $1000 factory-to-dealer rebate and a special lease deal (LE model) — $299 a month, 39 months, 12K miles per year, $2974 due at signing. 

The 2010 Toyota Tundra gets $3000 factory-to-dealer cash and special low-interest loan rates — 0% APR rate for 36 months and 1.9% for 48/60 months.

The 2009 Toyota Venza gets a low-interest loan deal — 0% APR for 36 months, 2.9% for 48 months, and 3.9% for 60 months.

The 2009 Toyota Yaris gets a $1000 direct factory-to-customer rebate and a special low-interest loan rate (which cannot be combined with a rebate) — 0% APR for 36 months, 1.9% for 48 months, and 2.9% for 60 months

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

Honda

In addition to its now-traditional excellent special leases on certain models and styles (see Honda Lease Deals), three are also some good low-interest loans (unfortunately no 0% loans however) and a number of healthy factory-to-dealer cash deals. As you might know if you read this website often, factory-to-dealer cash is a “secret” rebate that dealers can use to discount prices. In most cases, the discounts can be combined with low-interest loans, whereas a direct factory-to-customer rebate would not. Furthermore, a price discount is better than a rebate in that sales tax is not due on discounts, but not so for rebates.

Currently, the 2010 Accord and 2010 Civic get special loan rates of 1.9% APR for 24/36 months and 2.9% for 48 months. The 2010 S2000 gets 3.9% APR for 24/36 months and 4.9% for 60 months.

Dealers get factory-to-dealer cash rebates for several 2009 models. As we mentioned, these rebates can, and usually do, end up as customer price discounts. The best deal is for the 2009 Ridgeline with a $3000 factory-to-dealer rebate. The 2009 Accord gets $1500. The Odyssey and Pilot get $1250. The Civic gets $750 and the CRV gets $500.

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

Honda

If you’ve been following, Honda always puts its special lease deals on the LX style within most of its model lines — Civic, CRV, Accord, Insight, Odyssey, and Pilot.

The good news is that the deals are always excellent leases. The bad news is that you have to want the exact model and style that is being offered in the deals.

The Honda leases are excellent deals because they have combined the three main lease factors — price, money factor (form of interest rate), and residual (lease-end value) — in way that makes for a very low monthly payment for the vehicle.  If you don’t understand car leasing and how it works, we suggest you see LeaseGuide.com.

The current Honda lease deals are all for 2010 models, LX style, 12,000 miles a year allowance, and 36 month lease term.  In each deal, an amount of money will be due at the time you lease. This amount covers a down payment, the first month’s payment, and a bank fee (lease acquisition fee). You may also have to include your state’s official tag and registration fees.

Here are some examples of the deals :

Honda Civic – $199 a month, $1999 due at lease inception

Honda Accord – $209 a month, $2799 due at lease inception

Honda CRV – $239 a month, $2499 due at lease inception

Honda Insight – $199, $2199 due at lease inception

Honda Odyssey – $299, $2999 due at lease inception

Honda Pilot – $349, $2999 due at lease inception

If you want to lease another model or style, or modify one of the above deals, make sure you understand leasing first. Our sister website, LeaseGuide.com can help.

General Motors has announced some very generous new incentives, which expire November 30, on all its brands — Chevrolet, Buick, Cadillac, and GMC as well as on its discontinued brands — Hummer, Pontiac, Saturn, and Saab. The incentives vary across the board from heavy factory-to-customer cash rebates (especially on 2009 models), 0% loans, low-interest loans, and a few cases of factory-to-dealer cash.

Zero percent loans are plentiful in the new GM incentives, especially on 2009 models for which 2010 models are already available. Of course we all know that in the case a vehicle has both a 0% APR or low-interest loan deal and a customer rebate, that you have to choose one or the other, but not both. All Saturn models, as do all Pontiac models, get 0% loan deals for 12/24/36/48/60/72 months, which is very unusual. Many 2009 Chevrolet and some Buick models also get 0% APR loans, but for shorter term loans, generally 24/36/48 months.

Some examples of the excellent rebate deals are: 2009 Buick Lacrosse – $2500, 2009 Cadillac DTS and STS – $3000, 2009 Cadillac CTS – $2000, 2009 Chevrolet Avalanche – $3500, 2009 Chevrolet Malibu – $1500, 2009 Pontiac G6/G8 – $3500, 2009 Pontiac G5/Solstice/Torrent/Vibe – $2500, 2009 Saturn (all models) – $4000.

If you want a Hummer, which GM will no longer be producing, you can get some great deals. Hummer dealers get as much as $6000 in factory-to-dealer cash on each vehicle that they can use to provide customer discounts.  The H3 model gets $6000, the H3T gets $3500, and the H2/H2 SUT get $5000.

Although GMAC is back in the car leasing business now, there have been no special lease deals announced (so far) on GM vehicles.

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BMW has also just announced new incentives for November and December (see Good BMW Deals). In fact, these are some of the best deals we’ve seen from the company this year.

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Ford has announced some outstanding deals for November and December. See Great Ford Deals.

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Other intentives for November, as well as December in some cases, have also been announced by Acura, Honda, and Toyota.

You can get free dealer price quotes on any 2009 and 2010 vehicles from Edmunds.com. The quotes will automatically include any cash-back rebates or discounts that are currently available.