Use this lease calculator to estimate your monthly payment and due-at-signing using the standard depreciation plus rent charge method, with options for different state tax treatments. You also get a clear breakdown so you can compare the math to a dealer worksheet.
Advanced options
How to use our Lease Calculator
- Enter the MSRP and your negotiated price (cap cost before fees).
- Enter the lease term in months (for example 36).
- Pick how you want to enter residual value: percent of MSRP or a dollar amount from your quote.
- Enter the money factor (MF) and your sales tax rate.
- Open Advanced options if you have a quote: enter down payment (cap cost reduction), trade-in credit, rebates, and common fees.
- Choose whether to roll fees into the lease payment or pay them at signing.
- Pick the lease tax method that matches your state or your dealer worksheet (monthly tax vs upfront tax vs other bases).
- (Optional) Enter mileage allowance, expected miles, and overage fee per mile to estimate end-of-lease overage cost.
- Click Calculate, then compare the depreciation charge, rent charge, tax, total monthly payment, and due-at-signing to your quote.
Definitions
MSRP: The sticker price. Residual value is usually based on MSRP, not the negotiated price.
Cap cost: The starting price used for the lease (often your negotiated selling price). It can go up with rolled-in fees and down with credits.
Adjusted cap cost: Cap cost after adding any fees you roll into the lease and subtracting reductions like down payment, trade-in credit, and rebates.
Residual value: The value the leasing company assumes the car will be worth at the end of the lease. It can be given as a percent of MSRP or a dollar amount.
Money factor (MF): The lease rate format used to compute the rent charge. A rough APR estimate is MF times 2400 [2].
Depreciation charge: The monthly amount that pays for the car losing value: adjusted cap cost minus residual, spread over the term.
Rent charge: The interest-like part of the payment, based on the adjusted cap cost, residual value, and money factor [2].
Due at signing (drive-off): What you pay on day one, usually first payment plus upfront fees and any upfront tax.
Disposition fee: A fee some lenders charge at the end if you return the car.
Lease tax method: The way sales or use tax is applied to a lease, which can differ by state (monthly vs upfront, and what base is taxed) [1].
Methodology
1) Clean inputs and set which fields are active
Money inputs accept commas and spaces (example: "35,000" is read as 35000). Required rate fields (money factor and sales tax rate) must not be blank.
If Residual input type is percent, we use residual percent and ignore residual dollars. If it is dollars, we use residual dollars and ignore residual percent.
2) Residual value
residual_value_usd = msrp * (residual_percent / 100)
If the residual is entered as dollars, then residual_value_usd = residual_amount.
3) Cap cost reductions and rolled-in fees
Cap cost reductions are amounts that lower what you finance in the lease: cap cost reduction (down payment), trade-in credit applied to the lease, and rebates/incentives.
cap_cost_reduction_total = cap_cost_reduction + trade_in_credit + rebates_incentives
Rolled-in fees depend on your choice:
if roll_fees_into_lease = Yes: rolled_in_fees = acquisition_fee + doc_fee + registration_title_fees + other_upfront_fees
if roll_fees_into_lease = No: rolled_in_fees = 0
adjusted_cap_cost = selling_price + rolled_in_fees - cap_cost_reduction_total
If adjusted cap cost is negative, the calculator still runs, but it will show a warning because that is unusual for consumer lease quotes.
4) Monthly payment before tax (standard lease math)
depreciation_per_month = (adjusted_cap_cost - residual_value_usd) / term_months
rent_charge_per_month = (adjusted_cap_cost + residual_value_usd) * money_factor
base_monthly_payment = depreciation_per_month + rent_charge_per_month
This matches the common depreciation plus rent charge approach used in many explanations of lease payments and rent charge [2][3].
5) Tax handling (quote-check mode)
Your selected tax method changes whether tax is added monthly or collected upfront. Lease tax rules vary by state, and some states collect tax upfront on a base such as the selling price (cap cost) [1].
Method A: Tax on monthly payment
monthly_tax = base_monthly_payment * (sales_tax_rate / 100)
upfront_tax_amount = 0
Method B: Upfront tax (monthly tax is set to zero, and tax is computed once)
monthly_tax = 0
upfront_tax_amount = taxable_base * (sales_tax_rate / 100)
Upfront taxable base options (pick the one that matches your worksheet):
Cap cost basis: taxable_base = selling_price (or adjusted_cap_cost, depending on your selection)
Total payments basis: taxable_base = base_monthly_payment * term_months
Depreciation-only basis: taxable_base = adjusted_cap_cost - residual_value_usd
Down-only basis: taxable_base = cap_cost_reduction
If base monthly payment is negative, the calculator still displays the signed results, but it will show a warning because most real leases will not produce a negative consumer payment.
6) Monthly payment including tax (and display preference)
monthly_payment_including_tax = base_monthly_payment + monthly_tax
If you choose "Show monthly payment including tax? = No", the calculator still computes the total including tax, but it will present base payment and tax separately for easier quote matching.
7) Due at signing (estimated)
Upfront items are what you pay at signing, not what you roll into the lease.
if roll_fees_into_lease = No: upfront_fees = acquisition_fee + doc_fee + registration_title_fees + other_upfront_fees
if roll_fees_into_lease = Yes: upfront_fees = 0
The first month payment depends on how tax is collected:
if monthly_tax > 0 (monthly-tax method): first_month_payment = monthly_payment_including_tax
if monthly_tax = 0 (upfront-tax methods): first_month_payment = base_monthly_payment
due_at_signing_estimate = first_month_payment + upfront_fees + upfront_tax_amount + cap_cost_reduction_total
This structure matches the idea that you may pay some costs up front, some monthly, and some at the end [2].
8) Term totals and estimated all-in cost
total_of_payments = monthly_payment_including_tax * term_months
End items can include the disposition fee and any mileage overage estimate:
estimated_total_lease_cost = total_of_payments + upfront_tax_amount + upfront_fees + cap_cost_reduction_total + disposition_fee_end + mileage_overage_cost
Note: this is an estimate for comparing offers. Real leases can also have wear-and-tear charges or different local fee rules [3].
9) Money factor to APR estimate
implied_apr_estimate_percent = money_factor * 2400
This is a common rule-of-thumb conversion used to sanity-check the rent charge [2].
10) Mileage overage estimate (optional)
If you leave the overage fee blank, mileage overage cost is shown as N/A (unknown).
allowed_total_miles = miles_per_year_allowed * (term_months / 12)
expected_total_miles = expected_miles_per_year * (term_months / 12)
mileage_overage_miles = max(0, expected_total_miles - allowed_total_miles)
mileage_overage_cost = mileage_overage_miles * overage_fee_per_mile