Honda is going to start offering a leasing program for its certified pre-owned vehicles because new car prices are just way too high at this point. The program is beingvaimed at buyers who want to keep their monthly payments low and don’t have the upfront cash for a big down payment, according to a statement from Honda.
The Japanese automaker said the program is aimed primarily at young and first-time buyers. It’s also going to make well-equipped Hondas with higher starting prices more affordable because, you know, they’re used cars. The expanded CPO lease offer makes it “simple and easy to consider and purchase a high-quality Honda,” Dan Rodriguez, Honda’s senior manager of auto remarketing, said in a statement.
As it stands right now, current model year CPO’ed Hondas are eligible for leasing, and that will expand to vehicles dating back all the way to 2018. That’s right, you can now lease a nearly six-year-old car. This is just the world we live in. The vehicles can be purchased for a preset price at the end of the lease or returned to a Honda dealer.
The new program is the latest expansion of the automaker’s HondaTrue Used program, which applies certain benefits like a limited warranty, complimentary first oil change, roadside assistance and a three-day exchange policy on Hondas that are six to 10 years old. This program was first launched in March of 2022 when it was struggling to build cars to get on dealer lots during the global microchip shortage.
“Higher new-vehicle prices make the ability to lease Honda certified used vehicles an even more critical gateway to vehicle ownership for young and first-time buyers,” Rodriguez said in a statement.
Honda says its CPO sales are up 16 percent through October when compared to 2022 — making it the number two top-selling CPO brand in the U.S. Undoubtedly, this new program will boost those numbers even higher.
If I am being honest, I was a little bit skeptical of this program when I first read about it, but I played around online and found out you can lease an FK Civic Type R. That is a mighty tempting thing when you consider how much a new CTR costs. Would I rather live in a world where new cars are affordable for most people? Sure, but I do, so I suppose this is the second-best choice.