While automakers continue to offer lease deals on certain models, cheap down payments and low monthly payments are fewer. Some automakers have lost money from cheap lease deals and bad forecasting of what a vehicle would be worth at the end of the term. Retrenching by banks. Like automakers, many banks have lost money by overestimating the resale value of lease vehicles they financed. The losses prompted some banks to stop backing leases.
Some manufacturers say they are committed to leasing.
But Terry Sullivan, a General Motors spokesman, says most automakers have cut their subsidized leases. There has been more merchandising dollars in cash incentives and low-interest loans.