Car Lease Deals
People trying to find car lease deals generally fall into two categories. The first is comprised of "Specific Shoppers", or people who have narrowed their choice down to a few makes and models or know the exact car they want, while the second category contains "Price Shoppers", or people who are less concerned about specific wants and needs and more concerned about monthly payment or total ownership cost. Naturally, the process will differ for these two types of shoppers.
Category 1: Specific Shoppers
- For those that are looking for a specific make and model, the best place to start checking for car lease deals is your local newspaper. Just keep in mind that various manufacturers and dealers will target their buyers by placing ads in different sections of the newspaper. For instance, Volvo might advertise in the Lifestyle section while Mercedes-Benz might advertise in the Business section. Therefore it's important not to solely rely on the automotive classified section.
- Another great place for specific shoppers to look is the Internet. Start by visiting the manufacturer's website. Look for a "Specials" section or a banner ad on their pages. If you don't have any luck there, then navigate to your favorite search engine and type in the make and model of the vehicle you're interested in together with the keywords "leasing," "lease," or "leases." If there are lease deals to be had, they should be listed at the top of the search results, often as a sponsored link. If you don't have any luck with that or are getting irrelevant data, you can also try narrowing your search by adding the name of your city and state to the search keywords as this will bring up more specific local results.
- And if all else fails, either call or visit your local dealerships. There will be times when manufacturers are unable or unwilling to offer lease deals on their cars, but that doesn't mean their dealers won't. Just remember that's it's important to visit multiple dealers as offers can often vary widely.
Category 2: Price Shoppers
Price shoppers can often be pleasantly surprised when they begin shopping for the best lease deals. Because of the complicated and seemingly counter-intuitive factors that go into calculating vehicle leases, there are often incredible deals to be had. At times, it can be very possible to find cars with higher MSRP's leasing for less per month than their cheaper counterparts.
- Start by logging onto a vehicle consumer site like Carsdirect.com, autos.com or Edmunds.com. Manufacturers like to advertise on consumer sites because they know most of the people using them are motivated buyers. If you don?t find what you're looking for at first, navigate around to various pages and see what comes up. It could be well worth the time you invest.
- Check your local newspaper. But don't stop at the automotive classified section. Look at every single page. As mentioned before, manufacturers tend to intentionally place their ads in different sections of the paper for varying considerations.
- Watch for lease deals advertised in TV commercials, on billboards or even on the side of your city bus. Anywhere is fair game for motivated manufacturers to get the word out quickly.
Lease deals can often come and go very quickly. If you're in the market for a new car, it's best to keep your eyes and ears open at least 30 days before you intend to make your purchase. You'll find that a little research and vigilance can pay off in spades.
