SCHAUMBURG, Ill. -

Today’s monthly payment driven consumers are keeping leasing levels on an upward trajectory, as Experian Automotive showed in its latest State of the Automotive Finance Market report.

Analysts found that leasing accounted for 29.1 percent of all new-vehicle financing in the third quarter, up 7.1 percent from a year ago.

And the latest level is more than double the reading Experian spotted five years ago. At Q3 of 2009 when finance companies still weren’t generating much lease paper, the level stood at 14.24 percent before spiking to 22.75 percent a year later.

Predominantly, most of the leasing contracts are with prime customers (48.93 percent), and Experian indicated the average consumer credit score for a new-model lessee came in at 718 during the third quarter. But analysts found that leases booked with customers who fall into the categories of non-prime (17.16 percent) and subprime (6.72 percent) also edged higher compared to a year ago.

Experian’s latest data showed three Honda models led the way in market share for the most new-vehicle leases in Q3. Here are the top 10:

Honda Civic: 3.7 percent
Honda Accord: 3.7 percent
Honda CR-V: 3.1 percent
Toyota Camry: 2.8 percent
Toyota RAV4: 2.6 percent
Toyota Corolla: 2.5 percent
Ford Escape: 2.3 percent
Nissan Altima: 2.0 percent
Ford Fusion: 2.0 percent
Jeep Grand Cherokee: 1.6 percent

The average payment consumers are making on those units and other vehicles leased in Q3 dipped below $400, settling at $397. Average term came in at 35 months as 69.94 percent of leases originated in Q3 contained terms ranging from 25 to 36 months.

“Car buyers tend to shop with a monthly payment in mind. As a result, we are continuing to see them turn to leasing as strategies to keep payments down and make vehicles more affordable,” said Melinda Zabritski, senior director of automotive finance for Experian.

“As car values continue to reach new heights, these insights will help dealers, lenders and consumers become more aware of the options available to them to keep people buying cars, all while staying within their budgets,” Zabritski continued.

Also of note, leasing of new vehicles continues to dominate, as 96.7 percent of the contracts in Q3 were connected with a new model while the remaining 3.3 percent constituted used-vehicle leasing.