As the overall leasing market recovers from the slowdown after the pandemic, D&M Leasing in Texas leased or sold 19,000 vehicles in 2025, a 5% increase from 2024.
Celebrating its 50th anniversary, COO Kelly Strausser shared with CDG News how the company’s leasing strategy has helped it thrive in the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston markets.
Driving the news: The leasing market peaked between 2016 and 2019, with the lease penetration around 29%, according to data from Edmunds. Since then, the market has been a roller coaster.
For example, the market bottomed out in 2022 at just 18%, with just 2 million units.
Leasing then started recovering in 2024, rising to 23% with 2.9 million vehicles, but fell back to 20% last year and is projected to be around the same this year.
Edmunds Director of Insights Ivan Drury doesn’t expect the leasing market to reach its previous heights, saying, “We've recovered some ground since then, but we're stuck around 20%, and that's likely the new normal. The math just doesn't work the way it used to. Higher vehicle prices, higher interest rates and elevated residuals have made the lease payment a lot less of a slam dunk than it was a decade ago."
Back in Dallas: Strausser, who started in sales at D&M and rose to management and leader of the company over 24 years, acknowledges the challenges surrounding the leasing market during the pandemic, but confirms the nation’s largest consumer car leasing company is still committed to leasing.
During the pandemic, consumers who regularly had thousands in negative equity suddenly had thousands in positive equity due to the shortage of vehicles and spiking used vehicle prices.
Manufacturers stopped incentivizing leasing.
“The leasing market was certainly interrupted because we had a once-in-100-year economic event,” Strausser said. “At D&M, that didn't have an effect on us at all because we believe in leasing. We think that only about 20% of people in Texas lease their automobiles, where we think more, probably 70 or 80% of people should lease their vehicles.”
Solution to negative equity: With new vehicle production back up and vehicle prices higher, many car buyers are stretching terms to make monthly payments work, meaning negative equity is once again an issue for those looking to trade in vehicles.
Stausser points out, though, that that’s where leasing may help.
“A vehicle is going to depreciate the same no matter how you finance it. With a lease, you're actually customizing your payment, or you're customizing your financing terms to meet the way that you're driving your vehicle.”
A different approach: Strausser explains that D&M interviews clients to understand their needs and past trading habits, and then presents recommendations.
From there, the structure of the lease can be structured around driving habits, making it a solution for high-mileage drivers.
D&M’s EZ lease, as Strausser explains, works with simple interest just like a retail purchase. It has added flexibility to meet consumers where they are.
There is no early termination fee.
Terms are flexible.
Consumers are not charged for excess miles less than 5,000 over the contracted amount.
“If you do it right, you understand the lease, and you understand what your customer's needs are and what you're selling, you can typically put your client in a very good position,” Strausser said.
Thriving on repeat business: A steady stream of repeat customers is the base for D&M.
Strausser even estimated that 70% to 75% of its business is from repeat customers or referrals, which he credits to its customer service approach.
D&M Leasing was named the U.S. leasing company of the year for a 12th straight year.
It helps, too, that customers have a dedicated agent from the start of their lease until the end.
“They're trained to not just set up the lease and provide the lease upfront, but to provide the customer service throughout the entire lease,” Strausser explained.
More than leasing: Along with its leasing operations, D&M also sells lease returns.
Strausser, himself, owns Four Stars Auto Group dealerships in several rural markets in North Texas and Oklahoma.
He stresses that operating in a rural market requires an investment in the community, showing customers you care.
The dealerships also invest in staff, developing a culture built around customer service.
“We have to earn our customers' trust. We have to earn their business every single time,” Strausser said.
“We don't have just OK people at our stores. We have the best people there. There's no sense in doing anything halfway, and we certainly don't do it halfway because we're in a small market. We are committed to excellence…We want to be good stewards of the franchise, good partners to our OEM…and we want to do something meaningful in the community.”
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Takeaway for dealers: As Drury pointed out, there are new challenges for the leasing market, but D&M Leasing’s answer is flexibility and customer service to maintain its base of business.
“We hunt for new business, but if you're always having to hunt for new business because you couldn't retain your own customers, that would be a massive fail in the way that we look at things,” Strausser said. “I don't know that I'd be interested in doing this if we couldn't grow with our customers.”
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