I've been looking at a few cars to lease and their money factor is not appealing at all. Most likely due to the economy, I need a car. Should I wait it out or lease now? Will it get better? When?

In most cases lease rates are up due to the losses banks and OEMs have been taking from residual value differences compared to actual market values.

This is mainly due to what recent fuel prices have been doing to the truck and SUV market.

I think the leasing market will recover soon as we are already seeing strength in the used market for these types of vehicles.

The lease programs out there right now just plain stink - with few exceptions. BMW seems to be the only company with consistantly good residuals and money factors across their line. However, nothing in their line is all that interesting.

Right now if buying a car, I'd go find one of the companies doing 0% financing over 60 months. Payments will look better than most leases will.

However, I agree with Tarry. The market will rebound.. I'd say by late spring/early summer.

I was looking to lease a used car, but almost every bank out there is in the .003xx-.004xx range. Non-starter IMO. Hopefully for leasecompare.com this changes, as this is an excellent company and Tarry is a great resource.

-d