As car prices remain high, some consumers have turned to leasing, but a new report shows that drivers could save money by buying out their leases instead of taking on new lease payments.

Lease buyout company Lease End based its 2026 Annual Lease Buyout Report on lease buyout transactions last year. It said the average monthly lease buyout payment was $563 while new-auto lease payments were $659, based on Experian data, for a roughly $100 a month in savings.

The report also highlighted more favorable financing conditions. It indicates that over the course of the year, the average lease buyout annual percentage rate dropped 40 basis points to about 9%. But drivers increasingly stretched their loan terms to an average of 72.3 months.

SUV popularity is strong in lease buyouts, those and and crossovers controlling 65% of the market. But the Ram 1500 was the most popular model among lease buyouts.

Honda, however, had the most models among the 10 most popular lease-buyout vehicles with an average monthly buyout loan payment below $600. The brand had the strongest equity retention, its CR-V at the top with an average equity of $7,886.

Dealers can either benefit or lose out in buyouts, as they absorb loss when drivers return a vehicle at lease-end with negative equity.

Hybrids showed continued popularity among American consumers in comparison with fully electric vehicles. They made up 7% of lease buyouts, up from 5% in 2024, while EVs held steady at about 2%. Tesla's Model Y was the most popular EV lease buyout model and the Jeep Wrangler 4XE the most popular hybrid.