Free preview · from the dealership side of the desk
A lease payment isn’t a mystery number from the dealer’s computer. It’s three pieces added together: the part of the car you use up (depreciation), the cost of borrowing the bank’s money while you use it (rent charge), and sales tax. Most people never run the math, which is exactly why a lease is the easiest deal in the building to overcharge on. An extra $1,000 tucked into the price adds roughly $30 a month on a 36-month lease, and nobody notices.
Here’s the free part: the depreciation piece is simply the capitalized cost minus the residual, divided by the number of months. If a quote is far above that plus a sensible rent charge and tax, something is padded. Below: the five inputs to get in writing, a complete worked example, what each input is worth in dollars per month, what $2,000 down really buys you, and how the desk thinks about the numbers you never see.
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In the full guide
- The five inputs
- Piece one: depreciation
- Piece two: rent charge
- Piece three: tax
- A full worked example
- What each input is worth
- What $2,000 down really buys
- How the dealer thinks about it
- Your game plan
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