🚗 Finance · Key tool · United States & Canada
Car Lease vs Buy Calculator
Compare a car lease with financing or paying cash over the same period. See the estimated net cost after fees, debt and vehicle value—not simply which monthly payment is smaller.
🧮 Compare lease and buy costs
Enter actual dealer quotes where available. Compare the same use period; the tool accounts for resale value and outstanding finance balance, not just monthly payments.
🌎 Country and display currency
USD · miles. Changing the region clears entered values. No currency or distance conversion. No regional tax rules are inferred. Numeric inputs must use a decimal point (1.5), without thousands separators.
🚗 Lease — return the vehicle
Start with the monthly quote from your dealer.
Specify in Advanced Options whether taxes and fees are already included.
Cash down / cap reduction, counted once at signing.
🏦 Buy — finance the vehicle
Purchase the vehicle and estimate its value at the same horizon.
Your projection, not a guaranteed sale price.
May exceed the lease term; balance at comparison end is included.
⚙️ Advanced OptionsDetailed lease formula · taxes and fees · operating costs · cash option · buyout · NPV · sensitivity
Lease contract and payment methodQuote mode or full Money Factor / residual model
The quote is the full monthly payment you entered. Included tax/fees are broken down, not added a second time. Enter accurate amounts and avoid double counting.
Choose the timing on your contract; advance includes the first recurring payment at signing.
Lease taxes, fees & depositOnly actual contract charges; avoid recording the same money twice
Quote mode assumes incentives are already reflected in monthly quote.
Leave blank to assume full deposit returned; enter zero if forfeited.
The model assumes scheduled end-of-lease return, not early termination. Some nonstandard contracts are unsupported.
Mileage allowance & overageOptional · miles for US
Taxes, incentives & vehicle operating costsExplicit amounts; no automatic US-state or Canadian-province tax law
Already included in total purchase tax; not extra tax.
Already included in total fees; not extra fees.
Lease operating costs
Buy operating costs
Loan extra principal & vehicle exitOptional acceleration; hold / assumed sale are different exit models
Cash purchase — optional third scenarioEnter its own price and incentives; nothing inherited silently
Lease buyout — separate longer-horizon scenarioOnly when your lease contract actually permits buyout
NPV — time value of moneyOptional effective annual discount rate, not financing APR
Optional; allowed -50% to 100%. Blank skips NPV.
No values are prefilled. Numeric inputs use a decimal point without thousands separators.
📊 Your comparison results
Your estimate will appear here
Enter your lease and purchase quotes, then select Calculate. No dealer rates or tax data are automatically retrieved.
Financial Disclaimer: For planning and education only, not a dealer quote, credit offer, legal, tax or investment advice. Lease contracts, financing disclosures, depreciation, trade-in equity, tax bases, mileage fees, insurance and buyout eligibility vary. All rates, amounts and residual values come from your inputs; no live quotes are retrieved. Check the actual dealer, lender and insurer documents before deciding.
📘 How to use the car lease vs buy calculator
To compare leasing versus buying a car, choose US or CA, enter the actual lease quote and term plus the purchase loan terms, and estimate the vehicle’s value at that same endpoint. Compare estimated net economic costs, including fees, loan payments, remaining debt and vehicle equity. A lower monthly lease payment does not necessarily mean a lower overall economic cost.
- Indicate whether the lease quote already includes monthly tax and recurring fees.
- Use contract amounts for cash down, net trade-in equity and incentives; record each once.
- Open Advanced Options for a Money Factor lease, tax details, mileage or operating costs.
- Add cash purchase or a permitted buyout only with its own price and terminal-value assumptions.
- Review cash flows and warnings; use NPV and sensitivity to test explicit assumptions.
🧮 How the lease vs buy math works
The default comparison horizon equals the full lease term. A longer purchase loan is measured only through that horizon, with its actual remaining balance and the assumed value of the owned vehicle at the end.
Lease: formula mode
Monthly base payment = (adjusted capitalized cost − residual value) ÷ lease months + (adjusted capitalized cost + residual value) × Money Factor.
Common fixed-payment model. Dealer terms may differ; Money Factor × 2400 is only a rough annual-rate analogy.
Financed purchase: monthly loan
The standard fixed-payment model uses P × i ÷ [1 − (1 + i)−n] with loan principal P, monthly rate i and term n. At zero interest, divide principal by months.
A cent-rounded loan schedule determines actual paid interest and the balance at the comparison month.
Net economic cost includes upfront cash, contributed trade-in equity, modeled payments and costs, less relevant proceeds and ending economic value. For a held purchased vehicle, its ending value offsets the outstanding loan balance; for a modeled sale, hypothetical net proceeds reflect debt and sale costs. Each item enters the economic ledger once.
Optional NPV discounts individual month-by-month costs at your entered effective annual discount rate: a month-t cash flow is divided by (1 + annual discount rate)t / 12. A buyout extends the horizon and is displayed as a separate case, not ranked against the original shorter-horizon scenarios.
Example: 36-month lease vs 60-month loan
Assume a hypothetical US lease quote of USD 450 per month for 36 months, with no separate lease down payment. For the purchase, assume a USD 36,000 price, USD 6,000 down payment and USD 30,000 loan at 6.00% nominal annual interest for 60 months. At month 36, assume the car is worth USD 24,000 and is kept rather than sold. Neither option includes trade-in equity, incentives, taxes, fees or operating costs; the loan has no extra principal payments. Payments are at month end, and no discount rate is used.
The lease’s 36-month cost is USD 16,200.00. The cent-rounded finance payment is USD 579.99 per month; its first 36 payments total USD 20,879.64. At month 36, the loan balance is USD 13,085.87 and estimated vehicle equity is USD 10,914.13.
The purchase’s 36-month net economic cost is USD 6,000.00 + USD 20,879.64 + USD 13,085.87 − USD 24,000.00 = USD 15,965.51. Under these assumptions, financing costs an estimated USD 234.49 less than leasing over the same three years, despite its higher monthly payment. The remaining 24 loan payments are not counted as costs already paid during those 36 months; the unpaid debt is included at the endpoint.
This is a hypothetical illustration, not a current bank rate or dealer offer. USD 24,000 is a user-assumed vehicle value, not a resale forecast or guarantee. The result applies only to these inputs and does not mean buying is generally cheaper than leasing.
🎯 When this calculator is useful
🚘 Compare a 36-month lease with a 60-month loan
For a lease vs finance comparison over three years, count only the first 36 loan payments and include the remaining loan balance and assumed vehicle value at month 36. A longer loan term does not change the comparison endpoint.
💰 Decide whether to pay cash
Compare cash purchase, finance and lease at the same horizon. Enter a separate cash price and cash-specific incentives, which may differ from financing incentives. The tool does not assume an investment return on cash you keep.
📍 Check mileage and end-of-lease charges
Use the full-contract allowance, expected annual miles or kilometres and contract overage rate. Excess mileage, wear and disposition fees can change the lease-return cost, but only entered charges are modeled.
🔑 Compare lease return with a permitted buyout
Only model a buyout if the contract permits it. Enter the agreed purchase price and any buyout financing, then the additional months of ownership. This longer scenario is shown separately and is not ranked against the original 36-month return case.
🛡️ United States, Canada and modeling limits
🇺🇸 United States
Displays USD and miles. Taxation of leases, vehicle purchases, trade-ins and fees varies by jurisdiction and specific contract. Enter actual amounts; state tax tables are not loaded.
🇨🇦 Canada
Displays CAD and kilometres. Do not assume a US lease tax structure applies to a provincial agreement. Enter lender and dealer disclosed amounts rather than relying on an automatic province-wide calculation.
For a hypothetical 36-month Canadian lease with a 45,000 km total allowance, driving 20,000 km per year means 60,000 km in total. The excess is 15,000 km; at a contract rate of CAD 0.15/km, the estimated mileage-overage fee is CAD 2,250.00. This is the extra-distance charge only, not the total lease cost. Your actual rate depends on the contract; selecting CA does not convert currencies or apply provincial tax rates.
The model does not calculate unknown taxes, early-termination settlements, negative-equity rollovers, weekly loans, variable-rate structures, future market resale prices or unentered insurance costs. A longer loan term is not treated as an obligation to pay all future installments within the lease period. Estimates can differ from actual statements because of rounding, dates and contract terms.
For contract considerations, see the CFPB guide to leasing versus buying and the FCAC overview of car financing options. Confirm the terms in your own contract.
Frequently asked questions
Is leasing or buying a car cheaper?
That depends on the real lease payments and fees, purchase financing, your assumed vehicle value at the same comparison horizon, remaining loan debt, and operating costs. Compare net economic cost, not monthly payment alone. The calculator cannot guarantee resale value or a lender offer.
What is the true cost of a 36-month lease versus a 60-month car loan?
Compare both options at month 36. Include the lease payments and entered charges, then compare the purchase down payment and first 36 loan payments plus remaining debt, less the vehicle’s assumed value. Do not count all 60 loan payments as a three-year cost. The result depends on those inputs, not just the monthly payment.
What is a lease Money Factor?
In a common fixed-payment lease model, the monthly rent charge equals adjusted capitalized cost plus residual value, multiplied by the Money Factor. Multiplying Money Factor by 2400 gives only a rough annual-rate comparison, not a contractual APR or a guaranteed offer.
How do trade-in equity and a down payment affect the comparison?
A cash down payment and positive net trade-in equity are contributions you make, each counted once. Trade-in equity is an existing asset after its payoff, not a free discount or a manufacturer rebate. Enter each separately; rolling negative equity into a new contract is outside this model.
Can I use this car lease vs buy calculator in Canada?
Yes. Choose US for USD and miles or CA for CAD and kilometres. The selector does not convert money or distance, infer provincial/state taxes, or reproduce particular Canadian or US lease contracts. Enter verified tax and fee amounts from the quote.
Does the buy calculation subtract the loan balance at lease end?
The model includes the remaining debt and vehicle value as separate terminal balance and valuation adjustments. The displayed vehicle equity equals estimated vehicle value less outstanding loan balance, before hypothetical sale costs.
How does excess mileage affect a Canadian car lease?
For a Canadian lease, multiply kilometres above the full-contract allowance by the contract’s CAD-per-kilometre charge. Enable mileage in Advanced Options and enter the allowance, annual driving and unit fee. This adds an estimated return charge, not the entire lease cost. US quotes use miles and USD instead. Wear and disposition fees are separate and included only when entered.
Can I compare a lease buyout?
Yes, if your contract permits it. Model cash or financed buyout with the agreed buyout price and a further holding period. Because that is a longer timeline, its result is shown separately and not ranked against the original lease-return comparison.
What is the NPV comparison?
Net present value discounts each month’s modeled economic cash flow using your specified effective annual discount rate. It is an optional time-value-of-money perspective, not the lease Money Factor, loan APR, future market return, or financial advice.
Does this include every dealer fee, insurance cost and tax?
No. Only the amounts you explicitly provide are modeled. The tool does not look up current deals, dealer add-ons, US state or Canadian province tax rules, insurance quotes, credit approval or specialized early termination provisions. Verify the signed disclosures and any assumptions.