Swapalease.com Releases Lease Trends Report for Third Quarter

Acura & Hyundai See Quarterly Demand Fall from Unfavorable Lease Policies

Swapalease.com, the nation’s largest car lease marketplace, announced today its latest lease trends report with highlights from the third quarter of 2018. According to the report, search traffic is up significantly year-over-year for most brands with the exception of brands such as Acura (-7%) and Hyundai (-11%), which continue to struggle in lease marketplaces due to their unfavorable lease policies. Click here to download the full report.

Many brands saw a large jump in traffic during the last three months as consumers continued to seek alternate shopping channels for lease deals as incentives continued to dissipate on lease offerings in the showroom. Opposite of its year-ago trend, Acura saw a 108% jump as shoppers searched for vehicle inventory, but many were unsuccessful due to the brand’s unfavorable lease policies which make it difficult for a person to take over an existing lease. This was similar for Honday (+68%) and Nissan (50%), all of which make it difficult for drivers to transfer due to antiquated lease policies. Conversely, GMC (+68%), Chrysler (+67%), and Mercedes-Benz (+32%) all have high success rates on transfers and continue to enjoy large transfership and brand retention.

BMW grew its total share of the Swapalease.com market, increasing from 11% in the second quarter to 15% in the third quarter. Mercedes-Benz was second growing from 8% to 12%, respectively.

The average monthly lease payment according to vehicles in the Swapalease.com marketplace during the third quarter was $510.22, up from $487.51 during the second quarter. What’s more, months remaining grew from 26.3 to 28.1, signaling that drivers continue to look to escape their leases earlier in the contract, and incentives dropped from $625.05 per vehicle down to $610.83, as lease sellers took advantage of higher buyer demand from people avoiding dealerships seeking alternate channels for lease deals.

The largest gender gap in type of vehicle driven belongs to luxury types, with 66% of men reporting a luxury lease in the driveway compared with just 34% of women.  

“The lease trends we saw during the third quarter were in line with what we expected coming out of the second quarter, particularly as it relates to the increase in search demands on the Swapalease.com marketplace,” said Scot Hall, Executive Vice President of Swapalease.com. “Going forward we believe our marketplace will continue to grow especially as incentives at the dealership continue to fall and OEMs continue to push aggressive offers toward financing.”

Click here to download the full report.

About Swapalease.com: 
Headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, Swapalease.com is the world’s largest automotive lease marketplace and the pioneer in facilitating lease transfers online. More specifically Swapalease.com matches individuals who want to get out of their lease with people who are looking for short-term lease agreements. Prospective buyers can search the listings for the exact vehicle they want, and then register for a nominal fee, allowing them to use Swapalease.com’s safe online system to contact the prospective seller and close the deal. For more information about Swapalease.com or how to exit your lease early, call 866-SWAPNOW or visit www.swapalease.com.