Well leasing makes sense for people who've made the choice to change cars often. And GAP coverage generally means you have a fixed cost for the car no matter what happens.
For those two reasons I wouldn't want leasing to be disallowed, though I've yet to lease a car myself.
I wouldn't disallow it, just restrict it to real functioning businesses. People who want to change cars often can always ensure that they are always above water on their loans...which my 2nd suggestion would help with. Saw an article the other day where even the banks are unhappy with the length of car loans( but they did not suggest that they would stop offering the facility to dealers).
I don't think restricting leasing will change anything when talking about fees (however listed)
Now the long term financing issue... now that the flood gates are open, it's pretty hard to go back.
You read interviews with various people, the banks claim not to like it, the manufacturers don't like it but everyone is still offering it because it makes everybody money. It moves the metal. It helps push the economy. Even though some people advise against it, they'll do it (some, not all).
And of course, if people didn't "take advantage" of long term financing, it would stop being offered.
I don't see this ever changing, since the industry will state it's what consumers want.
Perhaps the answer is a disclosure in contracts people need to sign. Something like they now put on credit card bills. (CC bills now say, if you continue to pay the minimum balance, it'll take X years to pay off)
Maybe, something stating that finance term X will take you X amount of years (months) to be above water.
It still wouldn't really change anything, but it would at least stop people from claiming they really didn't realize the full cost / risk of long term financing.
I know to a degree some sales people will actually warn customers but I'll willing to bet many don't.
