This morning, I got an email from my local BMW dealer, Ralph Schomp, promoting a special lease offer on a 2011 BMW 328xi.  The advertisement suggested that with the all-new, 2012 BMW 3-Series arriving on their lot, now is the time to score big on a 2011 328xi. So, the question is, can my dealer, Ralph Schomp give me a better deal on the 2011 328iXxi than the advertised lease special on the BMW Website? Let us find out:

328xi Lease Offer Through Ralph Schomp

Ralph Schomp tells me that I can lease a 2011 BMW 328iX for just $389.00 per month and nothing down. This is on a 30 month lease for a 328xi with an MSRP for $38,046.00. But it get even better than that: BMW is offering to make your first two payments of up to $500.00 each. In other words, you don't have to make a payment for 90 days after leasing the car. So, basically, with the first two months free, your average car payment is only $363.00. on a $38,000 car, that's a Lease Value Ratio (LVR) of just .95.  This is substantially better than the 328xi Lease offer from the BMW Website as we'll see here:  Read the rest of this entry

If you've been hoping and praying for a lease offer on the sexy, Dodge Challenger, that day is finally here. Dodge financing has made it real easy to calculate lease and purchase payments on all of their cars and the Dodge Challenger is no exception. Simply go to the Dodge Incentives website, and choose available, New Inventory and you will be taken to a page for your own zip code that will show the actual car, equipment, options, MSRP, Sales price, interest rates, down payment and the actual monthly payment for either a lease or a sale. Honestly, I wish all car makers would make it this easy to shop for cars. This is the greatest service ever done for those of us who like to window shop for cars online. Sometimes you want to just get an idea of what and how much car you can afford before you waste your time haggling with a dealer only to find out its way out of your league or that there is not an exact match in inventory for the car you want. When I decided to shop for Dodge Challenger Lease Deals, I actually got a real close up look at the actual cars that are available on my the lots of my local car dealers. Every Dodge Challenger in every city, from coast to coast, is available for you to see along with all of the equipment, options, color and pricing. Dodge financing is also posted, including interest rates, terms, lease mileage, capitalized cost, down payment and monthly payment.
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Though we didn't get the Mini Cooper Lease deal mentioned in our February Lease Ratings, there is a couple of offers from MiniUSA that deserve special attention:

 

 

Mini Lease One:

• Lease the Mini Cooper Hardtop with absolutely 0-Down Payment and no security deposit for $249.00 a month for 36 months. This Mini Lease Deal is based on the Hardtop Mini Cooper with an MSRP of $21,450. That's an LVR (Lease Value Ratio of 1.16%: - $249/$21,450) Not great, but not bad either for a car that is somewhat trendy, novel and catches the eyes of many on the roads. The MINI HardTop is equipped with a 121HP, Fuel Efficent 16-Valve, 4 Cylinder engine that delivers 28MPG in the City and 36MPG on the Highway.

 
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4x4 Leasing is an affordable way to lower your average monthly payment on a vehicle that costs more than your typical 2-wheel drive car. SUVs and 4x4 vehicles are typically bigger, heavier, less fuel efficient and more expensive to maintain than the typical 2-wheel drive sedan or hatchback. Typicall, 4x4 leasing is not as popular as it is with other cars. There are a couple of reasons for this:

 

 

• 4x4 drivers typically like to drive their cars and maintain them for a much longer time.
• Residual value and money factor on 4x4 vehicles is usually not as good as it is with most cars

 
While it may appear as these two factors are exclusive from one another, they actually have much in common. The owner-loyalty mindset among drivers of 4 wheel drive cars is based on  their driving needs and desires which might include lots of annual mileage in heavy duty circumstances like hauling, towing and off-road four-wheeling.   So, under extreme circumstances, 4x4 Leasing might not be an option for some - particularly anyone who drives significantly more than 12,000 miles a year. The way SUVs are used also illustrates why the incentives, residual values may not be quite as conducive to subvented lease offers. On the other hand, one who does require driving under some of these circumstances shouldn't necessarily be dissuaded from leasing a 4X4 or SUV. If  your annual mileage is below 15,000, and you can keep the car in reasonably good shape for 3 years, 4x4 leasing can still save money over the course of a lifetime of driving these types of vehicles. So, with that said - let's see what type of Lease deals are available on 4x4 Trucks and SUVs.