Car Lease Calculator for new-car leases. It turns MSRP, selling price, residual and money factor into a monthly payment and cash due at signing, then compares leasing to financing.
Ask the dealer for the residual value and money factor for your term and mileage. A money factor times 2,400 equals the APR.
Sales Tax and Fees
Most states tax each monthly payment. A few, such as New York, New Jersey and Ohio, tax the total of payments up front, and Texas, Virginia and Maryland tax the selling price.
Rebates and Trade-In
Rebates and trade-in equity lower the amount you lease. If you owe more on your trade-in than it is worth, the gap is added to the lease.
Mileage and Lease End
Miles over your allowance are billed when you turn the car in. The disposition fee is charged if you return the car instead of buying it.
Lease vs Buy Comparison
Buying uses the same car, price, tax and down payment, financed with a loan. It compares your cost over the lease term if you sold the car for its residual value.
Payment Breakdown
| Part | Monthly | Over Lease |
|---|---|---|
| Depreciation | $388.89 | $14,000 |
| Rent charge | $145.00 | $5,220 |
| Sales tax | $37.37 | $1,345 |
| Payment | $571.26 | $20,565 |
Depreciation is the value you use up. The rent charge is the lease’s interest, charged on the leased amount plus the residual.
What the Money Factor Costs
| Money Factor | Payment | Total Rent |
|---|---|---|
| 0.00210 (5.04%) | $546.44 | $4,385 |
| 0.00230 (5.52%) | $558.85 | $4,802 |
| 0.00250 (6.00%) | $571.26 | $5,220 |
| 0.00270 (6.48%) | $583.67 | $5,638 |
| 0.00290 (6.96%) | $596.09 | $6,055 |
Dealers can mark the money factor up from the lender’s base rate. Ask for the base rate in writing and compare it with this table.
Due at Signing
| Item | Amount |
|---|---|
| First month’s payment | $571.26 |
| Down payment | $2,000.00 |
| Acquisition fee | $650.00 |
| Doc fee | $400.00 |
| Title and registration | $500.00 |
| Upfront sales tax | $140.00 |
| Total due at signing | $4,261.26 |
The first month’s payment is always due at signing. Rolling taxes and fees into the lease lowers this total but raises every payment.
Work Out a Lease Deal With the Car Lease Calculator
The Car Lease Calculator builds a lease payment the way leasing companies do. It splits the payment into depreciation, rent charge and sales tax. It also adds up what you pay at signing, what the whole lease costs, and whether buying the same car would cost less.
Shoppers use it to check a dealer’s lease quote line by line before they sign. You need four numbers from the dealer, which are the selling price, residual value, money factor and term. Everything else can stay at the defaults until you have real figures.
The Two Parts of Every Lease Payment
A lease charges you for the value the car loses while you drive it, plus a finance charge. Edmunds describes the payment the same way, as a depreciation fee plus a financing fee plus monthly tax.
$$D = \frac{C – R}{n}$$
In this formula, C is the adjusted cap cost, meaning the selling price minus your down payment, rebates and trade-in equity. R is the residual value in dollars and n is the term in months. At the defaults, $36,000 minus a $22,000 residual over 36 months is $388.89 a month.
$$F = (C + R) \times MF$$
The rent charge adds the cap cost and the residual, then multiplies by the money factor. That gives $145.00 a month at the default 0.0025. The two parts come to $533.89, and 7% monthly tax brings the payment to $571.26.
The residual is a percentage of MSRP, not of the price you negotiated. On a $40,000 sticker, 55% is $22,000 whether you pay $38,000 or $40,000. Applying the percentage to the selling price shrinks the residual and inflates the payment.
The tool accepts MSRPs from $5,000 to $500,000, a selling price up to 120% of MSRP and terms of 12 to 60 whole months. Residuals must be 20% to 90%. When down payment, rebates and trade-in cover the whole lease, it reports that nothing is left to lease rather than showing a negative payment.
Reading the Money Factor as an APR
Leases quote interest as a money factor, a small decimal. Multiplying it by 2,400 turns it into an APR, as NerdWallet explains. The default 0.0025 equals 6.00%, and 0.00125 equals 3%.
Dealers can mark the money factor up from the lender’s base rate. Each 0.0002 step on the default lease changes the payment by about $12.41. Dropping from 0.0025 to 0.0020 saves $31.03 a month, or about $1,117 over 36 months.
The field rejects anything above 0.01. That keeps an APR typed into the money factor box from producing a nonsense payment. Typing 6 instead of 0.0025 would mean a 14,400% rate.
How Much the Residual Moves the Payment
The lender sets the residual, not the dealer, so it is not negotiable. Edmunds suggests about 53% for an average 36-month lease and closer to 60% for cars with strong resale value.
| Residual | Residual in Dollars | Monthly Payment | Total Lease Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 53% (Edmunds average) | $21,200 | $592.90 | $25,429 |
| 55% (tool default) | $22,000 | $571.26 | $24,650 |
| 60% (Edmunds strong resale) | $24,000 | $517.17 | $22,703 |
All three rows use the default $40,000 MSRP, $38,000 price, 0.0025 money factor, $2,000 down and 7% monthly tax. Moving from 53% to 60% cuts about $2,726 from the lease. That is why a car that holds its value often leases for less than a cheaper car that doesn’t.
Why Your State Changes the Drive-Off Cost
Most states tax each monthly payment and any cash down. Per CarsDirect, New York, New Jersey, Minnesota and Ohio tax the total of payments up front. Texas taxes the full selling price.
The same default deal costs the same $24,650 in total under monthly tax or tax on total payments. The only difference is that the second puts $1,485 of tax up front. Taxing the full selling price raises the total to $25,825, because you pay tax on value you never use.
Rolling upfront tax and fees into the lease lowers the drive-off cash but adds rent charge to them. The tool also leaves dealer fees untaxed, while some states tax the doc fee, so check your contract for that line.
The 1% Guideline and What It Measures
Members of the Leasehackr forum use a quick test. A zero-down, pre-tax payment near 1% of MSRP is a strong deal. The tool spreads your down payment and dealer fees over the term before comparing.
The default lease comes to 1.55% of MSRP. Negotiating the price down, finding a higher residual or getting a lower money factor all bring that number down. The guideline works best for 36-month leases with 10,000 to 12,000 miles a year.
Putting Money Down on a Lease
A down payment lowers the payment but barely changes the total. At the defaults, $2,000 down cuts the payment from $636.06 to $571.26. Over 36 months the whole lease costs only $193 less, since the down payment mostly prepays depreciation.
If the car is totaled or stolen early, that cash is generally not refunded. Many lessees keep the down payment near zero and pay only the first month and fees at signing.
Rolling in negative equity from a trade-in works the other way and raises every payment. The GAP Coverage Calculator shows how much would be exposed if the car were lost. The Used Car Value Calculator gives a fair trade-in figure to enter.
Inputs That Skew a Car Lease Calculator Result
Entering MSRP as the selling price overstates the payment. Paying full sticker on the default car instead of $38,000 raises the payment by $64.80 a month, about $2,333 over the lease. Negotiate the price first, the same way as a purchase.
Setting the mileage allowance below what you drive hides a turn-in bill. Driving 15,000 miles a year on a 12,000-mile lease adds 9,000 miles over 36 months. At 25¢ a mile, that is $2,250 due when you return the car.
Leaving the acquisition and disposition fees at zero understates the real cost. Ask the dealer for both in writing. The Out the Door Price Calculator helps separate taxes from fees on the quote.
Leasing Decisions Worth Checking
What is a good money factor?
Convert it to an APR by multiplying by 2,400, then compare that with loan rates for your credit. In Q2 2026, Experian’s average new-car loan rate was 4.41% for super prime borrowers and 6.15% for prime. A 0.0018 money factor equals 4.32%, and 0.0025 equals 6.00%.
Ask the dealer for the lender’s base money factor. The “What the Money Factor Costs” table shows what each 0.0002 markup adds to your payment and total rent charge.
Is it cheaper to lease or buy?
Over the lease term alone, the default deal is $274 cheaper to lease than to buy with a 6.15% loan and sell at the residual. The buyer keeps about $4,708 of equity at that point, and the lessee keeps nothing.
Buying usually wins the longer you keep the car, because the payments end while the car keeps working. The Auto Loan Calculator shows the loan side in detail. The Car Total Cost Of Ownership Calculator adds insurance, fuel and repairs to both options.
How is the residual value set?
The leasing company sets it for each model, term and mileage allowance. It is its forecast of what the car will be worth when the lease ends. Higher-mileage leases get lower residuals, because more miles mean a less valuable car at turn-in.
The residual is a projection of depreciation. The Car Depreciation Calculator shows how fast similar cars actually lose value, which helps you judge whether a quoted residual is generous or tight.