My personal opinion (though I haven't paid attention for long enough). * Lease mileage seems to be trending downward. * Overall reliability is trending upwards

My personal opinion (though I haven't paid attention for long enough). * Lease mileage seems to be trending downward. * Overall reliability is trending upwards (easy to get 200k+ miles) * This places a lot of 1 to 2 year old vehicles in the "almost new category" Combine this with certified pre-owned program, you can pretty much get a "new" car for 30% less. This is inflating the price of cars with low miles since they seen as nearly the same as new cars.