Quoted from Black_Knight:

When was the last time you bought a new car? Cheapest thing out there is $15K, average car is over $30K. Not a lot of machines selling in that range.
People lease cars so they can have a better model and to get the newest model every 2-3 years. Apply that approach to pinball and the cycle is less than 6 months. Wouldn't make any sense for sellers to do this.

Quoted from Black_Knight:

If it happens (beyond a distro or two for preferred customers) I'll eat my hat. I've heard of layaway, but have no idea how it applies here, as you don't get the item until it is completely paid for.
CAUTION - Carguments ahead
Leasing is just a financing instrument. People use financing for many many reasons, including getting into a better model. Just ask my neighbor who does it to get in to an S Class instead of a C Class.
There are too many things going against pins for a real leasing model -
Volume - more cars are leased every day in the US than the total annual pinball market. There just isn't a big enough market for someone to start this as a viable business
Financial Opportunity - at the transaction level, there isn't enough value to make money. A six month lease on a $7K item? The setup fees would be more than the financing value itself. It's just not a money maker and the costs required to make it worthwhile for a lessor would make it financially silly for a buyer.
Risk - There are no titles or insurance for pins, so risk of loss and theft are significantly higher than for cars. There is also a huge risk on remarketing a used pin, why would a distro want to sell a pin twice. And no one that's not in the biz would ever want to sell a used pin.
The closest business to leasing pins would be appliance and furniture rentals. This business is built on volume and predatory financing costs, and the target market is desperate, typically not people looking for toys.