Take over luxury car lease

Let's say you are itching for a new and different car, maybe one with much better gas mileage. But a visit to the dealership turned up a limited selection and a high selling price. Why not stall? By taking over a lease with a year or two until expiration, you can delay your next purchase until the new-car inventory situation improves.

"Production issues in Japan have triggered price increases across the board for all makes, foreign and domestic, " says CEO Jeremy Anwyl of auto information site Edmunds.com. "The average price of a new Honda Civic, for example, has gone up more than $1, 600 since March." Looking at a lease-swapping deal is one of several ways Edmunds suggests shoppers avoid buying an overpriced new car now.

Lease holders frequently need to get out of their current leases, and for a variety of reasons - from financial setbacks to a growing family that won't fit in that sporty convertible. The web site LeaseTrader.com handled 75, 000 of these swaps last year. Traditionally, the leases being offered have been for BMW, Mercedes-Benz or other luxury brands, because leasing is more prevalent among luxury cars. "But now we are seeing more leases [offered] for small, high-gas-mileage cars, " says John Sternal, a vice president of LeaseTrader.com.

For instance, among current offerings are several for the Toyota Prius, one of the cars hardest hit by Japanese supply disruptions. One especially low-payment deal is for a silver 2010 Prius in Miami; the lease is $210 a month, with 22 months left to run. If you needed a shorter lease, a blue 2008 model in the New York City suburbs has payments of $355 a month but just nine months to go.

Beyond the possibility of getting a higher-MPG car now, picking up a lease can be a chance to try out a luxury model you are considering but not yet ready to commit to. There's a 2009 BMW 535 iXdrive sedan in San Ramon, Calif., for instance, with monthly payments of $699 and 13 months to run.