Buying a new Ford F-150 Raptor is one of your only options. Did you know that most dealers won’t let you lease a new Raptor? For many, leasing is a cheaper option that allows a quick way out if something doesn’t work out. For example, if you don’t like the new vehicle, don’t want to pay the big payments, or just want another new car in two to three years, leasing is a perfect short-term way out. Buyers of any model are stuck with it until they get rid of it. Usually, that requires paying off another whole new one. For what reason will a dealer not let customers lease a new Ford F-150 Raptor?

You can’t lease a Ford F-150 Raptor

Take everything with a grain of salt because every dealer is different. I’m a former dealership employee who worked in the business for around six years. During my time, I worked with an Infiniti and Ford dealership primarily, along with a few others. One of the most interesting things I discovered about Ford dealers is that they won’t allow customers to lease a new Ford F-150 Raptor. There are a few reasons for this, which is part of the reason so many people buy these performance pickups used instead. According to Cars Direct, even lease deals on Fords exclude the Raptor.

1. The Ford F-150 Raptor is an off-road beast

The first reason many dealers won’t allow customers to lease a Ford F-150 Raptor is that it’s an off-road beast. There’s one thing that always happens when someone gets in the driver’s seat of a high-performance off-road vehicle. The driver goes fast, hits trails hard, and usually mistreats the vehicle. This isn’t true for every person, but it’s exactly what happens for the most part. Allowing a customer to lease a vehicle is essentially like letting them pay to borrow it from the manufacturer.

In the case of a Raptor, Ford doesn’t want it back after a customer is through with it. When a vehicle costs North of $70,000, $80,000, or sometimes even $100,000, it depreciates with every scratch. As a result, automakers can’t stomach letting a lessee drive it through the mud and forest, then bring it back in a few years. The truck will sustain a bunch of unrepaired (or poorly repaired) damage, then get returned at half the value. Next, a dealer will let the F-150 Raptor go or buy it for their used-car inventory, likely making very little money. Even buyers of used Raptor models want them in pristine condition, and who wouldn’t for that price?

2. Raptors hold their value

Similar to sustaining damage during a lease term, the Raptor loses value. Every vehicle leased by a customer loses a tremendous amount of value. That’s why if a dealer buys a lease and sells it with their used car inventory, it’ll cost tens of thousands less than the original MSRP. Ford maintains the value of most models, new and used, by preventing leases. For example, a 2012 Ford F-150 Raptor in excellent condition can still sell today for a very high price. We’re talking about the cost of a new truck, but for one that’s 10 years old.

If thousands of Raptors were exiting a lease agreement with 30,000 miles every year, those prices would be much lower. Keeping the off-road performance pickup truck out of the hands of leasing customers allows for an endless cycle of F-150 Raptor models worth a lot of money. Whether a Ford dealer buys a used one three years or seven years later, it’ll probably sell close to the original MSRP.

Why won’t a dealer let you lease a Ford F-150 Raptor?

In conclusion, there are several reasons a dealer won’t let you lease a Ford F-150 Raptor. Mainly, they’re worried about depreciation. Not only does leasing diminish the value of older used Raptors, but a leased vehicle is usually tarnished. Customers treat their leased vehicles relatively poorly, even worse when driving a high-performance off-road pickup truck. As a result, Ford doesn’t allow leases on the Raptor to increase value.