Lease Deal Analyzer

Effective monthly spreads every dollar you actually spend - all monthly payments plus due-at-signing, minus refundable security deposits - evenly across the lease term. A $0-down deal at $469/mo and a $4,000-down deal at $339/mo can have nearly identical effective monthlies. It is the only fair way to compare lease quotes, because a big down payment just hides a weak discount and is unprotected if the car is totaled.

Several captive lenders (BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Honda/Acura, Toyota/Lexus) let you place multiple refundable deposits - each rounded up to the next $50 of the base payment - in exchange for a money-factor reduction of roughly 0.00007 per deposit (about 0.17% APR each). The deposits are returned at lease-end, so MSDs cut your interest cost with essentially no risk. The calculator shows the adjusted money factor and total refundable cash.

Most states tax each monthly payment. Some tax the total of all payments up front; a few (Texas-style) tax the full selling price as if you bought the car, which makes leasing much costlier; others tax only the cap-cost reduction. The same deal can swing hundreds of dollars in effective monthly depending on the method, so select the one your state uses before comparing quotes.

The score is MSRP divided by twelve times the effective monthly payment - essentially how many years of that effective payment equal one MSRP (higher is better), the same idea as the well-known Leasehackr Score. As a rough guide, under ~5 is below average, ~6 is good, ~7 is great, and 8.5+ is an excellent deal. It is most useful for comparing similar vehicles; always sanity-check against the percent off MSRP and the money factor versus the manufacturer buy rate.

Multiply the money factor by 2,400. For example, a money factor of 0.00125 works out to roughly 3% APR. That is the same rate the manufacturer's finance arm uses internally. If the dealer will not tell you the number, ask for the lender's buy rate (the base rate) and confirm it has not been marked up.

The residual value is the price the lender expects the car to be worth at the end of the lease, expressed as a percentage of MSRP. It is set by the manufacturer's finance arm and is generally not negotiable. A high residual reduces the monthly depreciation and lowers the payment, which is why manufacturers sometimes subsidize it artificially to make their leases more attractive.

Capitalizing it raises the cap cost and therefore the monthly depreciation and rent charge. In most cases it is better to pay it at signing so you are not paying interest on it for the entire term. If your cash is tight, rolling it in can be reasonable, but it adds to the total cost.

Usually yes, if your lender accepts them. Each deposit is refundable at lease-end and cuts the money factor by roughly 0.00007, which lowers the payment. The implied return on that tied-up cash typically beats what a savings account pays. The main risk is the lender going under, which is unlikely with the large captive banks.