The matter has taken on increasing urgency because Sea-Land and Maersk have given the Port Authority until 5 P.M. Tuesday to deliver its long-promised final lease offer.

The price, it turns out, is "an attractive lease offer."

On June 7, claiming lack of help from the authority, the Devils rejected a sweetened lease offer.

In trying to back away, companies are finding how addicted consumers have become to low-cost lease offers.

During 2002, Vietnam Airlines considered a lease offer from Airbus for two Airbus A340-300s.

Its profit margin was 2.3 percent last year, partly hurt by the increase in costs from higher rebates and discounted lease offers.

Throw out the chatter of the next outlandish lease offer.

But rising car prices, shrinking budgets and tantalizing lease offers are helping consumers set aside the traditional bias.

But the lease offer was too good to refuse, Mr. Cartisano said.

The robust sales appear to have resulted partly from an attractive lease offer Honda has promoted for the car.