Lease vs Buy a Car Calculator
Enter your lease terms and your buy-and-finance terms, and this calculator costs both paths over the same time horizon so you can compare them fairly. Leasing costs are just the payments and fees you make. Buying is your payments and maintenance minus the resale value of the car you still own at the end — because that asset is worth something. You get each total, the difference, and the true net cost per month for each option.
Horizon
Lease
Buy & finance
Buying is cheaper
$7,700.00
cheaper over 36 months
Lease total
$15,000.00
$416.67/mo
Buy total
$7,300.00
$202.78/mo
Comparison detail
Total cost: lease vs buy
How it works
Both options are measured over one shared horizon in months so the comparison is apples-to-apples. The lease total is your lease down payment plus the monthly lease payment times the number of months plus any one-time lease fees (acquisition, disposition, and similar charges). That is simply everything you hand over to drive the leased car for the period.
The buy total is your down payment plus the monthly loan payment times the number of months plus estimated maintenance, and then minus the car's resale value at the end of the horizon. Resale value is subtracted because when you buy, you still own the vehicle at the end — that remaining value offsets what ownership actually cost you. This is the core reason buying can beat leasing even when its monthly payment is higher.
We then divide each total by the horizon to show the true net cost per month for each path, and report the dollar difference between them. A lower monthly lease payment does not automatically make leasing cheaper: once resale value is credited back, buying often wins over a long enough horizon, while leasing tends to win when you keep cars only briefly or the vehicle depreciates steeply.
Frequently asked questions
Why can buying be cheaper even though the monthly payment is higher?+
Because buying builds equity and leasing does not. When you lease, every dollar of payments and fees is gone at the end and you own nothing. When you buy, you still hold the car, and its resale value is money you can recover by selling or trading it in. This calculator subtracts that resale value from the cost of buying, which is why a buy total can come out lower even when its monthly payment is larger. Leasing's advantage is a lower monthly outlay and always driving a newer car under warranty — but you have nothing to show for the money afterward.
How reliable is the resale value in this comparison?+
It is the single biggest estimate in the calculation, and it is only an estimate. A car's future resale value depends on the model, mileage, condition, options, and the used-car market years from now, none of which is knowable with certainty today. Because buying's total is so sensitive to this number, try a few scenarios — a conservative low resale and an optimistic high one — and see whether the leasing-versus-buying conclusion actually flips. Sources like Edmunds and Kelley Blue Book publish depreciation and residual-value data you can use to ground your guess.
What does this calculator leave out?+
Quite a bit, deliberately, to keep it transparent. It uses the monthly payments you enter as-is, so it does not model financing interest beyond those payments, nor the difference in how interest accrues between a lease and a loan. It excludes sales tax nuances (which vary widely by state and by lease-versus-buy treatment), insurance, registration, lease mileage overage penalties, and the opportunity cost of your down payment. Treat the result as a clear first-pass comparison of the cash flows you control, not tax or financial advice — confirm the specifics with the dealer and your own numbers.