Here’s a ratio that should make used-car managers smile about finding potential certified pre-owned inventory down the road. Experian Automotive said nearly one of every four new vehicles that left franchised dealer lots during the fourth quarter had a lease contract.

To be exact, the leasing share of new-vehicle financing in Q4 increased to 24.79 percent, up 10.45 percent from the closing quarter of 2011.

To put the recent figure into perspective, Experian’s Q4 State of the Automotive Finance Market analysis show how much leasing has rebounded since 2008. In the fourth quarter of that year, just 19.15 percent of new-vehicle financing originated as a lease contract.

Fueling the fourth-quarter growth is the top 10 market holders, which conducted 90.1 percent of all new-model leasing activity during the span, according to Experian.

The leader, Toyota Financial Services, posted a 34.09-percent year-over-year gain during the fourth quarter to grab 14.1 percent of the leasing market. Not far behind was American Honda Finance, which saw its fourth-quarter leasing volume rise 39.11 percent year-over-year to come in at 13.8 percent of the entire market.

Want proof leasing enhances CPO sales? Toyota was among the brands that just enjoyed the best February yet in terms of turning certified vehicles. According to figures from Autodata Corp., Toyota sold 28,020 certified units last month, up from 27,565 CPO sales last February.

Getting back to Experian’s data, each company within the leasing market’s top 10 generated year-over-year gains of at least 13 percent during the fourth quarter, with Mercedes-Benz Financial leading the way with an 88.99-percent spike.

The remainder of the top 10 market share leaders for Q4 leasing and the companies’ year-over-year increases included:

—Ally Financial: 10.3 percent, up 29.30 percent
—Ford Motor Credit: 9.5 percent, up 29.73 percent
—Hyundai Capital America: 8.8 percent, up 50.34 percent
—VW Credit: 8.4 percent, up 62.85 percent
—Nissan/Infiniti Financial Services: 8.4 percent, up 33.55 percent
—Mercedes-Benz Financial: 7.4 percent, up 88.99 percent
—BMW Bank of North America: 6.3 percent, up 57.09 percent
—Chase Auto Finance: 3.0 percent, up 13.06 percent

“The leasing really bounced back very quickly,” said Melinda Zabritski, director of automotive credit for Experian Automotive. “That 23-, 24-percent level is a pretty consistent number we saw even before the recession. It certainly does appear that leasing is back to pre-recession levels."

Nick Zulovich can be reached at nzulovich@autoremarketing.com. Continue the conversation with Auto Remarketing on both LinkedIn and Twitter.