Breaking a Car Lease Can Be Costly If You Aren't Careful. Here Are Your Best Moves by Ingrid Case When money is tight, a car lease can seem like an obvious expense to cut. But getting out of the deal isn’t always easy. About a third of the 274 million registered vehicles in the U.S. are leased, with average monthly payments of $450 lasting 36 months. Now with millions of Americans suddenly out of work, many of them are driven by people who can no longer afford their lease payments. Swapalease.