Lease or finance a car?

The same new car, paid for two ways: lease it again and again, or finance it and keep it. Pick one of America's ten best-selling vehicles with the brand's own lease program, or type in your dealer's numbers. It starts with the numbers from our Episode 7 video, checked . Change anything.

Episode 7Where the numbers come from

1Your numbers

The car and how you drive Price (MSRP), $ Miles a year Years you keep it

Resale follows this model's own value curve by age, scaled to the price you type.

The lease offer Residual (lease-end value), % of MSRP Money factor Lease length, months Miles allowed a year Extra miles Overage fee, $ per mile Acquisition fee, $ Turn-in fee, $ Lease cash from the brand, $

Starts with the brand's lease program for this car, Oct 2026. Money factor × 2,400 = APR; it starts at the same rate as the loan. $0 down.

The loan and taxes Loan APR, % Down payment, % Loan length, months Sales tax, % My state taxes a lease on the whole price, upfront (like Texas or Illinois) If you invested the cash instead, % a year

0% invested counts dollars only. Above zero, later dollars are discounted to today.

Personal or work

Count the car-loan interest deduction (2025–2028) Household income, $/yr Married filing jointly

Federal tax bracket, %

2The answer

Lease minus finance, by year

Red: leasing has cost more by then. Green: leasing has cost less. Each bar is the whole cost so far, both ways.

The bank's guess against the market

How we calculate

3Where every number comes from

RECEIPTDefault values and sources, checked

For education, not financial or tax advice.