NEW YORK – With car dealerships bringing in the 2005 models, it may be hard to resist ads to lease a brand-new vehicle for “low, low monthly payments.”

Favorable economic factors, such as rising interest rates, are enticing more banks back into the car leasing business. In a turnaround from recent years when purchasing incentives were high and formerly leased vehicles glutted used-car lots, more consumers are choosing to lease vehicles instead of buy them.

But don’t let offers of low down payments lure you into an awkward financial situation, warns Phil Reed, consumer advice editor of Edmunds.com, which offers comparison-shopping guides for new and used cars.

How much you should consider paying varies greatly if you’re buying or leasing.

When you buy, you should put down at least 20 percent, Reed said, because a car’s value depreciates by that much as soon as you drive it off the lot.

Leasing works out the opposite way, according to Reed.

Don’t make any kind of down payment to avoid having positive equity. Although dealers may try to sweeten a lease by lowering monthly payments in exchange for a high down payment, it’s an offer you shouldn’t accept, he added.

“Putting zero down when leasing is a way of protecting yourself,” Reed said.

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AP-NY-09-15-04 1813EDT