Hello dear readers!! Happy Friday the 13th!
I wanted to take the time to sound off on some of the things that have been going through my mind these past few weeks. Here is what’s going on:
The Auto Leasing World
As you have probably noticed, auto leasing has improved since January. Great news for us folks who not only enjoy leasing, but have embraced it as our way of life. I am anticipating better leasing numbers next month, although I am not a fortune teller and cannot truly predict what the captive banks plan on doing to sweeten lease deals. I can (based on past trends and the state of our economy) make an educated guess. All signs point to lower sales volumes and less profit for the manufacturers, so the only logical way to ramp up sales is to introduce more attractive leases and financing options. Many of the captive bank lease rates are schedule to change come March 3rd, so if February sales don’t improve, I see better numbers ahead for us lessees.
Leasing vs Buying
Right now buying is almost as good as leasing, in some cases, MUCH better. Be sure to consider buying an 08 model and take advantage of their 0.9% financing options. The Infiniti EX35 comes to mind. Leasing is also pretty decent on that ride right now, so be sure to check it out if you haven’t already. Anyway, I just want to remind you to also consider a purchase in order to take advantage of special financing that some banks are offering.
Help Me, Help You
I wont lie to you, this site went from a hobby to part-time job (I spend an average of about 20 hours week between scouring the web for lease rates, finding useful lease information, analyzing number/writing blog entries, answering emails/posts and developing features for the site). Due to the fact that I have a full-time job already, I am thinking of cutting back some of the hours devoted to this blog.
Here are ways you can help me out:
- Not emailing for specific lease rates. Since I just post what I find sending me emails with these types of requests won’t really help.
- Ask questions on the FORUM. Not only do you get me answering your questions, but BouncewithB can too (not to mention other forum members). I give priority to forum questions over email questions, so if you want your questions answered sooner, the forum is the quicker way.
- Share your research. If you find something during your lease research that you find important to share, please do so by posting it in the Forums! That would save me a ton of time.
This will ensure I have more time to focus on the following…
RIDE | Marketplace
I’m in the process of developing the RIDE | Marketplace, so I am looking for dealers to establish a relationship with my blog. The RIDE | Marketplace will basically be a place for dealers to post any specials they have going on at their dealerships. I am looking for dealers that are helpful, informative, upfront and honest. Honesty is key here. The goal is to provide good dealers with referral business and to save lessees some time and frustration. I am inviting 5 dealers across the US to join the marketplace during it’s trial phase (which will begin March 13th, 2009) during RIDE with G’s One Year Anniversary. If you are a dealer interested in participating or know a dealer you will like to recommend them to me, please contact me.
Got comments or questions relating to this Announcement? Post them on the Forum! 🙂