Best Car Lease Deals

If you’ve checked out other articles on this LeaseGuide web site, you would have learned that the best car leases are made by finding or negotiating the best price on which the lease will be based, as well as choosing those vehicles that have the highest future resale values (lease residual value).

However, there is a better and easier way.

Car manufacturers such as Ford, Honda, Hyundai and most others regularly offer special monthly lease deals on selected models. The deals are time-limited and have specific conditions and requirements but are generally better than any deal you might attempt to negotiate with a dealer.

Where to find special manufacturer car lease deals

All car company web sites list current limited-time special lease deals. The deals are usually found in a section of the site called “Special Offers” or “Current Offers.”

Be aware that these deals change from month to month and new deals are generally posted a few days after the first of each month. Some deals are carried over from a previous month. Others are offered for only one month.

Also be aware that these lease deals can vary or not be available in every area.  Furthermore, the deals are only offered on selected makes and models and not all car companies have such deals every month. Deals on one model cannot be extended to another model.

Why are these such good deals?

A good lease is made up of a good price, a good finance rate (money factor), and a good lease-end residual.

Special limited-time lease deals from car companies already have discounted prices, very low promotional finance rates, and artificially boosted residual values — all of which combine to make a deal you would not be able to put together yourself.

What’s the catch?

There are several things that you might want to be aware of when looking at special manufacturer car lease deals.

First, you might not find a deal at this time on the specific vehicle you want. If you do, you should jump on it now because it might not be available next month.

Next, the terms of the deal are generally not negotiable — lease months, mileage limits, fees, cash due at signing, or vehicle model. You might be able to makes some changes, for example, in the up-front cash required, but it’ll change the monthly payment and might just void the special deal.

Since most such offers have a very low finance rate, the deals are only available to “highly qualified” customers, meaning those with excellent credit.

Are these special leases legitimate and not a scam?

Yes.

Car companies are interested in selling vehicles. They use promotional marketing to help improve sales and win customers from competition. One way to do it is to offer incentives that make their vehicles more attractive to potential customers. Special lease deals are one form of incentives. The deals are almost always genuinely good deals and worth considering. They are not dealer tricks or car company scams.

Make your own deal if you can’t find a deal on the vehicle you want

You can make your own deal by negotiating a good price on which your lease will be based but you have little control over the finance rate (money factor) or residual value., neither of which is negotiable.

You can improve your odds by selecting vehicles that historically have shown to have high residuals (see our Lease Kit for vehicles with highest residuals). But you won’t get a promotional residual.

If you have an excellent credit score, you’ll get the best money factor available from the lease company, although it won’t be a promotional rate and you won’t be able to bargain for a better rate.