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Car lease calculator.With the markup banner dealers don't want.
Money factor → APR conversion. Then we flag the dollar markup against this month's captive lender base rates. Free. No signup.
Pick a captive lender above and we'll flag whether your money factor is marked up against this month's published base rate.
Monthly payment (36 mo)
$704.30
APR equivalent
6.72%
Depreciation
$474.03
Rent charge
$184.20
Tax
$46.08
Total of payments
$25,355
In plain English
You're paying $704.30/mo for 36 months. Roughly $474.03 is depreciation (the value the car loses while you have it — unavoidable), $184.20 is the rent charge (28% of the pre-tax payment — this is where money-factor markup hides), and $46.08 is sales tax. Total of payments over the lease: $25,355.
Where every dollar of your payment goes
Total lease cost
$25,750- Cap cost reduction (upfront)$0
- Sum of 36 monthly payments$25,355
- Acquisition fee (in cap cost)$925
- Disposition fee (at end)$395
At 12,000 mi/yr, you'll be charged for any miles over 36,000 at $0.15–$0.30/mi (varies by captive). Disposition fee is often waived if you re-lease another vehicle from the same lender.
Why this one
Most calculators bury the money factor.This one builds the math around it.
Money factor → APR, instantly
A 0.00280 MF looks like rounding noise. Multiply by 2400 and it's 6.72% APR — the same dealer reserve the auto-finance industry has run for decades, rebranded. We convert both ways so you can sanity-check the dealer's quote.
Dealer-markup detection
Pick the captive (BMW Financial, Toyota Financial, etc.). We compare your quoted MF to this month's published base rate and show the dollar markup per month and over the full lease. Nobody else does this in a free calculator.
Negotiable vs fixed, labeled
Color-coded tags on every input so you know which fields you can push back on (cap cost, MF, mileage) and which are bank-set (residual, acquisition fee, MF floor). The dealer won't volunteer this.
How it works
The math behind the payment.
Adjusted cap cost is the negotiated selling price plus the acquisition fee (which the captive almost always rolls into the financed amount), minus your cap cost reduction (out-of-pocket money down).
Residual value is MSRP times the residual percentage the captive lender sets — for example, 58% on a 36-month lease. This is what the lender expects the car to be worth at lease-end. You can't negotiate the residual, but a higher residual is in your favor (less depreciation to pay).
Monthly depreciation = (adjusted cap cost − residual value) ÷ term. This is the value the car will lose while you have it, divided across the payments. Unavoidable.
Monthly rent charge = (adjusted cap cost + residual value) × money factor. This is the interest portion. The money factor markup lives here — every 0.0001 over the base MF adds ~$3/mo on a typical $40k lease.
Pre-tax monthly = depreciation + rent charge. The monthly tax is then applied to that sum (most states tax the monthly payment). Texas, Illinois, and Georgia tax the cap cost upfront instead, which inflates drive-off and slightly reduces the monthly — the calculator uses the monthly-tax model and discloses the assumption.
Total lease cost = cap cost reduction (paid upfront) + sum of monthly payments + disposition fee (paid at lease-end, often waived if you re-lease with the same captive). If you exceed the mileage allowance, add overage at $0.15–$0.30 per mile.
What this calculator can't see is inside the actual lease contract: dealer add-on charges, doc-fee creep, the mandatory arbitration clause, force-placed insurance terms, and the wear-and-tear charge schedule at lease-end. Once the monthly works on paper, scan the contract to flag what the calculator misses.
Considering financing instead?
Compare to a 60, 72, or 84-month loan.
The auto loan calculator shows total interest, underwater months, and the monthly side-by-side. Same car. Different financing structure. Compare both before signing either.
Next step
The contract is where the rest lives.
Photograph or paste the lease agreement before you sign. Redline flags doc-fee creep, dealer add-ons, wear-and-tear charge schedules, and the mandatory arbitration clause — in plain English, in under a minute.
Questions
Car lease calculator FAQ.
What is a money factor and how is it different from APR?+
Money factor is the interest rate on a lease, expressed as a tiny decimal like 0.00250. Multiply it by 2400 and you get the APR equivalent — in this case, 6%. Dealers quote money factor because it sounds harmless (0.00250 looks like rounding noise next to a $40,000 car), but a 0.00075 markup over the captive lender's base rate is an extra 1.8% APR. That's hundreds to thousands of dollars across the lease. The 2400 rule is the single most important thing to know going into a lease negotiation.
How does this calculator know if my money factor is marked up?+
Pick the captive lender financing the lease (e.g. BMW Financial Services for a BMW, Toyota Financial Services for a Toyota). We compare your quoted money factor against that lender's published base rate for the current month. Base rates come from publicly available dealer rate sheets that Leasehackr and CarWhere aggregate every month. If your MF is above the base, we calculate the dollar markup — both per month and over the full lease — and flag it in red. If you don't know the captive, leave it blank and we'll skip the comparison.
Why is a 'down payment' on a lease called a 'cap cost reduction'?+
Because it isn't really a down payment in the way it works on a purchase. Money you put down on a lease reduces the capitalized cost (the financed amount), which lowers the monthly. But if the car is totaled or stolen in the first six months, your insurance pays the lender the depreciated value, GAP coverage handles the deficiency, and your cap cost reduction is gone. You're not building equity — you're prepaying rent. The honest move on most leases is $0 down and a slightly higher monthly. The financial math is nearly identical and you keep the cash liquid.
What's negotiable on a lease and what isn't?+
Negotiable: the selling price (cap cost), the money factor (within the buy rate floor), the cap cost reduction, the annual mileage allowance, and sometimes the doc fee. Fixed by the captive lender: the residual percentage, the acquisition fee, the disposition fee, and the MF floor (you can't go below the buy rate). If a dealer says the money factor is 'set by the bank and cannot be changed,' they're describing the floor, not the markup above it. Ask: 'What's the buy rate this month?' The base MF is published every month — the dealer knows it.
How accurate are the base money factors in the markup banner?+
The base rates are sourced from publicly available May 2026 dealer rate sheets, the same data Leasehackr and CarWhere republish in their monthly threads. They're a fair approximation for Tier 1 credit (740+ FICO) on a 36-month lease. Your actual base may vary slightly based on term, region, MSRP tier, and credit. Captive lenders refresh these monthly, often on the 1st or the 5th. If you're shopping near month-end, the next month's rates may already be applicable for a build/order — ask which month's program is being quoted.
Should I lease at 12,000 miles a year or 15,000?+
Buy the miles you'll actually drive, up front. The captive will charge you $0.15–$0.30 per overage mile at turn-in (varies by lender — BMW is typically $0.25, Toyota $0.15, Mercedes $0.30). Buying additional miles upfront in the lease usually costs $0.10–$0.15 per mile and reduces the residual proportionally, lowering the monthly. Going from 10k/yr to 15k/yr on a 36-month lease adds 15,000 miles for ~$1,500–$2,250 upfront, versus $2,250–$4,500 if you exceed at turn-in. If you drive more than ~14k/yr, leasing is almost never the cheapest option — finance instead.
Is leasing or buying cheaper at today's rates?+
Depends on the captive's lease program and your hold period. On luxury brands with subsidized leases (BMW, Mercedes, Audi often run promotional MFs and inflated residuals), leasing for 36 months and replacing the car is competitive with buying and selling at the same point. On mainstream brands without promotional programs (Honda, Toyota standard leases at full market MF), buying with a 60-month finance loan and keeping the car 7+ years is usually meaningfully cheaper per mile of ownership. The auto loan calculator can compare the financed cost side by side.