CAR LEASE DEAL CHECKER · RUNS IN YOUR BROWSER · NOTHING UPLOADED

What interest rate is really inside your car lease quote?

Dealers quote a monthly payment and a money factor but rarely the rate. Enter the quote and this tool shows the APR behind it, the money factor hiding in a payment when the dealer will not say, any markup over the base rate in dollars, and whether leasing beats buying the same car.

New to the jargon? What a money factor is, with a worked example.

1. The car

2. The rate

3. Fees, tax and miles

4. If you bought it instead

Left blank, the car is assumed to be worth its residual value at the end. Check a used-car listing for the same model and age for a better figure.

Fill in the quote, then click Check this lease.

How it is built

Payment: the standard lease formula. Depreciation is (capitalized cost − residual) ÷ term, rent charge is (capitalized cost + residual) × money factor, and the payment is their sum. Run in reverse, the same formula gives the money factor inside any quoted payment.

Effective APR: the rate at which the car's price equals your payments, any money up front, the residual and the disposition fee, solved by bisection. Taxes and registration are left out because buying has them too.

Lease vs buy: everything you pay in the lease term, against a standard amortizing loan for the same car, kept for the same months and valued at the market value you enter.

Checked: the test suite recomputes the worked example by hand and runs hundreds of random leases, confirming that the payment formula and its inverse agree to nine decimal places.

Common questions

What is a money factor on a car lease?

The money factor is the lease's interest rate written as a small decimal, such as 0.00125. Multiply it by 2,400 to get an approximate APR, so 0.00125 is about 3.0 percent. Dealers quote the money factor, not the APR, which makes it hard to compare against a loan rate.

How do I find the money factor if the dealer will not tell me?

Enter the monthly payment you were quoted along with the price, residual, term and fees. The tool works backwards through the standard lease formula and shows the money factor and APR hiding in the payment. If it is much higher than the manufacturer's base rate, the dealer may have marked it up.

What is a good money factor?

The best money factor is the manufacturer's base rate for your credit tier, which you can ask for in writing or find on car-buying enthusiast forums. Dealers are allowed to add a markup on top. Enter the base rate in the optional field and the tool prices the markup in dollars per month and over the whole lease.

Is the lease APR the real cost of the lease?

Not quite. The rate sheet APR ignores the acquisition fee, any money paid up front and the disposition fee at the end. The tool also shows an effective APR that counts those fees, which is the rate you are really paying to use the car's value.

Is leasing cheaper than buying?

Over a short window it often looks cheaper because you pay only for the depreciation you use. The comparison here counts everything you pay during the lease, then compares it with buying the same car on a loan, keeping it for the same months and selling it for its expected market value. Whichever is lower is shown, with the gap in dollars.

What does the 1 percent rule mean?

A common rule of thumb says a good lease payment before tax is no more than about 1 percent of the sticker price per month with little or nothing down. It is a screen, not a verdict, and the tool shows where your quote falls.

Is my information uploaded?

No. Everything is calculated in your browser, there are no accounts, and nothing is sent to a server.

Is this financial advice?

No. It is arithmetic on the numbers you type, using the standard lease payment formula. Your lease contract controls what you owe, and taxes and fees vary by state.