Are there any good car-leasing deals?
Yes — especially those heavily advertised by car manufacturers. Those deals usually offer low monthly payments or a high value for the vehicle at the end (so that you’re not paying for a lot of depreciation during the lease term), and offer to lock-in the price you’d have to pay at lease-end if you want to keep the vehicle. To get these good deals, you cannot deviate from the advertised terms. If you want air conditioning, a larger engine or any other feature that’s not in the ad, the dealer will throw out the entire lease offer and you’ll wind up paying a bundle. Another way to get a good deal is to explore financing your lease through someone other than the dealer. A number of independent companies offer leases — look for these companies in your telephone Yellow Pages under Automotive-Leasing. Also, if you belong to a credit union or AAA, ask about the possibility of financing your lease through them. Such deals are still in their infancy, but are catching on.
