Auto Lease Calculator
Calculate auto lease monthly payments online free — cap cost, residual, money factor and total lease cost. Nothing leaves your device — fast and private.
Monthly auto lease payment & money factor
- Total monthly lease payment$559.35
- Base monthly payment$522.75
- Monthly depreciation charge$395.00
- Monthly finance charge (rent fee)$127.76
- Residual buyout value at lease end$21,280
- Equivalent interest rate (APR)5.40%
Calculated in your browser — nothing you type is sent anywhere.
An auto lease calculator splits a monthly payment into the two things you are actually paying for: depreciation and a finance charge. Enter the MSRP, agreed price, residual, term, money factor and tax rate and you get both halves separately — which is where a padded quote gives itself away. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
The two ingredients of every lease payment
You are not buying the car, you are buying the part of it you use up. That gives a payment with exactly two components, and this calculator shows each one:
- Depreciation charge — the adjusted cap cost minus the residual value, divided by the number of months. On the defaults, ($35,500 − $21,280) ÷ 36 = $395.00.
- Finance charge, also called the rent charge — (cap cost + residual) × money factor. On the defaults, ($35,500 + $21,280) × 0.00225 = $127.76.
Those add to a base payment of $522.75, plus 7% tax on the payment, for$559.35 a month — around $20,137 over the 36 months, which the tool does not total for you. Note the finance charge is levied on cap cost plus residual, not on the difference: you pay rent on the whole car's value the whole time, which surprises most people the first time they see it.
Money factor is where markup hides
The residual is set by the bank and the depreciation follows from it, so a dealer cannot inflate that half of the payment. The money factor is different — dealers may add to the bank's buy rate, and it is the one number most customers never ask for. Here is what a modest markup does to the same car:
| Money factor | Equivalent APR | Depreciation | Finance charge | Total monthly |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 0.00225 | 5.40% | $395.00 | $127.76 | $559.35 |
| 0.00325 | 7.80% | $395.00 | $184.54 | $620.10 |
The depreciation charge does not move at all — every cent of the $60.75 difference lands in the finance charge. That is the diagnostic: if a quote's monthly payment is higher than this arithmetic predicts and the depreciation matches, the money factor has been marked up. Ask for it in writing, and ask what the bank's buy rate is.
What each number is worth per month
| Change | Total monthly | Difference |
|---|---|---|
| Residual 56% → 62% | $497.07 | −$62.28 |
| Residual 56% → 50% | $621.63 | +$62.28 |
| Cap cost $35,500 → $33,000 | $479.02 | −$80.33 |
| No discount (cap cost = $38,000 MSRP) | $639.67 | +$80.32 |
Two useful conclusions. $2,500 off the price is worth about $80 a month, so negotiating the cap cost is the highest-leverage thing you can do. And six points of residual is worth about $62 a month on an identical car — residuals are not negotiable, but they vary a lot between models, socomparing cars by residual is how you find a cheap lease rather than a cheap car.
What this calculator leaves out
Being explicit, because the gap between this and a dealer worksheet is entirely made of fees:
| Item | Typical | Workaround |
|---|---|---|
| Down payment / cap cost reduction | Varies | Subtract it from the agreed price you enter |
| Acquisition fee | $595–$1,095 | Add to the agreed price if it is being capitalised |
| Disposition fee at return | $300–$495 | Budget separately; it is not part of the payment |
| Registration, title, doc fees | Varies by state | Budget separately |
| Up-front tax states | Some tax the full price | Set the tax field to 0 and add the lump sum yourself |
| Mileage allowance and overage | $0.15–$0.30 per mile | Not modelled — estimate your own excess |
| Total cost over the term | — | Multiply the monthly payment by the term |
The mileage row deserves a second look before you sign. At $0.25 a mile, going 5,000 miles over a 36-month allowance costs $1,250 at return — more than two monthly payments, and entirely predictable in advance if you are honest about your driving.
How to check a dealer quote in two minutes
- Get four numbers in writing: MSRP, agreed selling price, residual percentage and money factor.
- Adjust the cap cost — subtract any down payment, add any capitalised acquisition fee.
- Enter them here with your state's monthly lease tax rate.
- Compare with the quote. A gap larger than the documented fees means something is padded, and the depreciation-versus-finance split tells you which half.
Related calculators
To compare leasing against owning the same car, use theauto loan calculator, which handles tax and trade-in, or thecar payment calculator to see what overpaying does to a loan. If the dealer is offering a rebate or promotional rate instead, thecash back vs low interest calculator prices both paths. For business vehicles the commercial lease calculatorhandles per-square-foot leases, and loan payment calculatorcovers the general case.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a money factor and how does it relate to APR?
The money factor is the lease industry’s way of writing an interest rate. Multiply it by 2,400 to get the equivalent APR: 0.00225 is 5.40 percent, 0.0025 is 6 percent. This field wants the money factor, not the APR — if your dealer quoted you a rate instead, divide it by 2,400 before typing it in.
What does the default example show?
A car with a 38,000 dollar MSRP negotiated to 35,500 dollars, a 56 percent residual, a 0.00225 money factor (5.40 percent APR) and 7 percent tax over 36 months. That comes to 559.35 dollars a month: 395.00 of depreciation, 127.76 of finance charge and 36.60 of tax.
Why is the residual value calculated on MSRP rather than the price I negotiated?
Because that is how leasing companies set it, and this calculator follows the same rule. The residual is a fixed percentage of sticker price, so negotiating the cap cost down does not reduce your buyout figure — it increases the gap you are paying off, which is exactly why a discount lowers the payment.
Where do I enter my down payment?
There is no separate field, so fold it into the agreed price: subtract your cap cost reduction from the negotiated price and enter the result. Add any acquisition fee that is being capitalised in the same figure. That gives the adjusted cap cost, which is what the payment is actually built from.
Should I make a large down payment on a lease?
Generally no. A cap cost reduction lowers the payment, but if the car is stolen or totalled early in the lease that money is usually gone, since insurance pays the leasing company rather than you. Most advisers suggest keeping it small and accepting the slightly higher monthly figure.
Can the depreciation charge go negative?
Yes, if you enter an adjusted cap cost below the residual value — which happens when a very large down payment is folded in. It means you have prepaid more than the car will lose in value over the term, and it is almost always a sign the down payment is too big for the deal.
Why is my dealer’s quoted payment higher than this estimate?
Real leases add an acquisition fee, registration, doc fees and sometimes a disposition fee at the end, none of which are modelled here. Tax treatment varies too: this applies your rate to each monthly payment, but several states tax the full price or the total of payments up front instead.
Is leasing cheaper than buying?
Monthly, usually yes. In total, usually no, because you never build equity and hand the car back at the end. Run the same vehicle through the auto loan calculator and compare total cost over the same number of months before deciding, remembering the lease leaves you with nothing to sell.