The divide between your monthly payment on a vehicle lease, compared to your monthly payment when financing a vehicle continues to widen, particularly as MSRP and estimated sales prices continue to grow. In fact, it’s one of the top reasons why 1/3 of every vehicle sold today is in a lease program.

Swapalease.com, the nation’s largest online lease marketplace, analyzed monthly payment offerings on some of today’s most popular leased vehicles, and compared it to monthly payments in a 60- or 72-month finance program (at 3.50% and 3.75%, respectively). The payments include average down payment offers already baked into the deals for both the lease and finance offer.

For example, if you leased a Volkswagen Passat 1.8TS you'd pay $149 per month (36 months). However, financing the same car for 60 months would cost $360.94 each month, and even at 72 months you'd still pay $308.16 each month.

Lease Payments vs. Vehicle Finance Payments

“Leasing has always been known as an alternate form of financing where you typically get to drive more of the vehicle for your dollar, especially in luxury transactions,” said Scot Hall, Executive Vice President of Swapalease.com. “However, we’re seeing this gap widen further as a result of increasing MSRP, and as such the gap in payment affordability is noticeable even on many of today’s most popular cars and trucks, not just luxury.”