As the year comes to a close, we want to thank you all for being a part of Leasehackr and riding with us through the ups and downs of 2021.
For many of us, 2021 was a challenging year, with the pandemic continuing to affect our lives. At the same time, we made progress and adapted to the challenges. We are so thankful to have this community here to help each other and spend time together, and want to wish everyone well for the new year to come.
Here is Leasehackr’s 2021 in review:
Q1
The year began with dire warnings of inventory shortages, but initially, things seemed fine. Loaner deals were aplenty, and seemingly everybody picked up a cheap Bolt EV or $450/month Audi e-tron. Little did we know how things would change.
In March, Leasehackr launched the lease program query tool on Leasehackr Calculator, available to Super Supporters. With this tool, the community was able to immediately query RV, MF, and incentive data to hack a lease.
Q2
By the second quarter, we began to fear we’d have to pay MSRP for a car. On the upside, leased vehicles started gaining equity. The latest hack was to “sell one to” any number of online used car retailers. Who were these people paying so much for a used car?
Q3
By Q3, finding a car became the deal itself. Dealers and brokers with vehicle allocations found customers lining up to pay deposits. Leasehackrs deployed all sorts of tips and tricks to adapt to the situation, from extending leases to pre-ordering vehicles. Some of you swore to ride it through, even if it meant taking the bus or Uber-ing everywhere. Some threw in the towel and ordered a Tesla or two.
Following through on a suggestion from the community, Leasehackr launched SIGNED! – an open, crowdsourced database to reference when shopping for a vehicle.
Q4
By Q4, most captives started banning third-party lease buyouts. Leasehackr launched Equityhackr to help the community navigate around these restrictions and capture the equity in their leased vehicle.
Flipping became a thing. What’s better than a cheap lease deal? One that you can profit from. See LT1, Model 3/Y, 4xE, and TRX.
If Leasehackr gave out VEHICLE OF THE YEAR awards, it would go to Jeep Wrangler, with 12,000 posts and counting (buckle up for a long read!). Y’all seem to really like this truck!