Leasing against buying over the lease term, comparing net cost after the car you still own. A lease payment is always lower than a loan payment, which is why comparing monthly figures answers the wrong question.
Also called: should i lease or buy a car, car lease vs loan.
Leasing costs less over 36 months. Leasing costs $19,200.00 and buying costs $20,092.94 after the $19,250.00 the car is still worth.
An estimate, not an offer or a guarantee. Projected returns assume the rate you entered holds for the whole term, which no market does.
This is what the calculation gives for the numbers you entered. It is an estimate, not advice, and it knows nothing about your situation beyond those numbers. Rules for United States change on a published schedule; the effective date is shown on every rule-based tool.
A lease pays for depreciation over the term and returns the car. A loan pays for the whole car and leaves you owning it. Comparing the two fairly means measuring what you spent minus what you still have at the end, over the same number of months. The residual assumption drives everything: if the car holds its value better than assumed, buying wins by more.
buying costs the payments made less the car you still own; leasing costs every payment and leaves nothingEach of these is asserted on every build. If a change to the engine ever moved one of these answers, the build would fail before the page could print it.
Which costs lessLeasing costs less
arithmetic identity on both sides
Open this exampleWhich costs lessBuying costs less
boundary: no depreciation and no loan means nothing was consumed
Open this exampleWhich costs lessLeasing costs less
degenerate case
Open this exampleFormula version 1.0.0 · definition 1.0.0 · United States · Report a problem with this calculator