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Need to resolve skill issue. 
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Damn the roasting follows me no matter what!
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It doesn’t help when we stack 25% tariff on top of that inflation.
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Part of it is just how you weigh different goods. Fo example housing has gone up more than consumer electronics.
Either way, the commerical side of our country runs on diesel and it is fast approaching its all time high. Diesel hitting a record high is going to lead to higher prices as that works it’s way down to consumers.
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Everyone should be lucky that nobody was around to talk about the real pain of mortgage rates - in 1972 and 1982 the average 30 year fixed was over 16% 
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The 1986 buyer had higher interest early on, sure, but they could also refinance eventually. Rates continued to trend downward all the way to COVID, roughly 2022.
Today’s (2026) buyer is locked into an enormous principal - how do you refinance your way out of that? There is no relief outside of going to lessor house or winning the lottery.
Yes, and this is completely disregarding the massive required down payments, taxes, insurance premiums, and other debts.
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The simplest way I can think of to look at it is as the % of incentives relative to average transaction price. Cox has a nice trend line for that:
So, if the % of incentives relative to ATP was 9%-10% a decade ago and today it is 6% - 7%, then yes I would say post covid has been a worse time to lease. EV incentives have been significantly higher as someone already mentioned.
From a ‘vibes’ standpoint, yes I agree with OP in that it felt like there were more incentives to work with that were broadly applicable across a number of models and/or brands. Today things feel much more concentrated to a smaller handful. It could also be forum behavior where the proliferation of brokers and dealers on the forum vs. 10 years ago has led to more deal copying for the same cars/brands, which leads to more Signed! deals of the same 5-10 cars. We certainly seem to see fewer ‘good’ deals that get shared for cars/brands that are not generally recommended by the community.
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Now you’re moving the goal posts with refinancing.
Taxes, insurance, down payments were needed then as well.
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2016 S Class Cab was $1600 tax in I think and S Class Sedan now can be had for Under $1k 
A quick search shows me that in 2016 MB sold almost 19k S Class units vs. 3600 as of July 2026. I would imagine the better discounts today and these crazy deals we are seeing are a function of the demand change, no? Also a Cab leases poorly vs. a sedan as you know
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As an aside, my parents bought their first house in 1981 and refinanced six times in 14 years before moving.
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It isn’t the worst leasing market we’ve seen. I just think you need to reset your expectations. Cars have higher MSRPs, Money Factors are higher, residuals aren’t inflated, but there are substantial discounts to be had off MSRP and some OEMs offer generous rebates on certain vehicles. Again, the vehicles leasing well might not be the vehicles you are specifically looking for.
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It’s also the broader economy. While I expect everything to be more expensive in today’s market, salaries haven’t kept pace. So while a $400/mo car may now be costing $600+ it also feels more expensive as it’s a greater % of salary. That may not be true for everyone, but at least in my industry, salaries have not kept pace with inflation.
Very funny you say that, because my parents said the same thing. They purchased their house in 1981 at something like a 15% mortgage rate. I think my Dad said they refinanced at least 4 times to get down to like 8 0r 9%.
haha a bit
It is such an in-depth topic that its nearly pointless to grab a few crumbs here and there, and try to make a conclusion on anything. I know you & I get that, but many do not. People drive me crazy lmao.
Yeah, that’s usually how inflation works. Purchasing power is diminished. And the unpleasant reality is that to stop inflation you have to curtail wage growth and then reach a new equilibrium. And sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better. See Volcker in the early 1980s. But Warsh is in a much harder spot than Volcker because of the national debt being more than 2* as much relative to GDP now.
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K shaped economy is gonna love this wage slow down
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Cars haven’t gone up as much as most other things as far as inflation goes. Profit margins for new cars also have remained pretty steady as well for manufacturers. I think the auto industry is one of the most competitive markets out there so it keeps pricing in check for the most part. Regulations also keep pricing high and most of those regulations aren’t for things like safety, usually emissions related.
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That’s fair, especially if you look at cars relative to housing, insurance, groceries, services, etc. The pain point with leasing now is less “MSRP alone exploded” and more the stack: higher rates, weaker residual support on many models, pricier insurance, taxes/fees, and fewer broadly available incentives.
I do think regulation is only one piece, though. Emissions rules definitely add cost and complexity, but so do tech/content creep, supply chain changes, labor, warranty exposure, and the fact that buyers have normalized higher trims and bigger vehicles. Competition helps, but OEMs also learned post-COVID that chasing volume at any cost isn’t always the most profitable game.
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