Swapalease.com, the nation’s largest car lease marketplace, says its customers continue to escape their car leases at a near-record pace. According to data from April listings, car lease drivers in April planned to escape their lease contracts 15.3 months into their lease, slightly off the record pace set back in January of 13.9 months.

Based on lease contracts with an average term of 36 months, the current pace of exit continues to expedite in pace. Prior to 2014, the average person…

The majority of consumers shopping for a new car lease are frustrated with the disconnect between advertised automotive deals and the cars they end up looking at inside the dealership. These findings were part of a joint online study between Swapalease.com and Wantalease.com from April 10 – April 24, 2014, presented to more than 1,000 drivers across North America. Complete results of the study may be found by clicking…

Here is this week's Used Car Market Report with the latest data from Black Book. It has been an extremely busy week for the Editors at Black Book attending physical auctions and watching other auctions online, while also analyzing thousands of records from remarketing data feeds from all across the country, We even had the opportunity to get hands on insight into a couple of significantly refreshed models that are soon to be hitting the new car market through the franchised dealers. Getting…

No doubt, Tesla has become a highly successful car brand with a growing roster of fans. The company recently introduced a new, guaranteed "buy back" program that offers to buy back a Model S between 36 – 39 months at a guaranteed residual.



On the surface this is positioned as a lease program. But it's really not a lease because you have to finance and pay taxes on the full vehicle.



Why can't you just lease a Tesla? Government regulations mean the $7,500 Plug-In Electric…

Despite growing supply challenges, profitable portfolio growth opportunities remain for automotive lenders according to a new white paper from Black Book Lender Solutions. The new white paper: “Finding Portfolio Growth Amidst Changing Supply Levels” may be downloaded by clicking here.



Increasing supply has become more of a focus in the automotive industry causing concern over accelerated…

Yes, there are car shoppers in 2014 that still look for a cassette deck in a vehicle. Swapalease.com analyzed more than 20,000 vehicle searches on its popular car lease marketplace to find items and features people still seek in a car or truck. Some items were popular decades ago, while others have traditionally been only for select tastes.



T-Tops: If you’re old enough to be a fan of “Smokey And The Bandit,” you’ll realize why T-Tops are still a fan favorite for some. These car…

According to Black Book data, the average price of a used vehicle for model years 2008-2012 overall increased in price during April, capping a strong spring selling season. Average segment prices saw +0.9% retention in value compared with the previous month (-0.3% depreciation in March). Domestic cars gained +2.7%; import cars gained +0.2%; domestic trucks gained +2.2%; and import trucks gained +0.5%. Average pre-recession depreciation is historically between -1% and -2% monthly, and Black…

Welcome to this week’s edition of Beggs on the Used Car Market, with the latest valuation data from Black Book. Now that we have reached the fifth month of the year, unless you are in Dutch John, Utah, or some other location of 8,000 feet of elevation or higher, we are probably through with the winter type weather, finally. We may also be past the peak of spring used car activity and overall strength…