Why Use a Lease Calculator?
One of the most searched-for terms related to car leasing is "lease calculator". Since I have the most popular lease calculator on the Internet on my LeaseGuide.com web site, I know a thing or two about using them to the greatest advantage.
Based on comments and emails I've received, I have found that most people want a lease calculator for one or more of the following purposes:
1) To check the accuracy of a dealer's lease payment quote. Often, dealers calculate lease payments using figures that they haven't told the customer about. For example, extra dealer-profit fees may be added into the calculation. Unless the customer has a way to check the dealer's math, he will have no way of discovering the add-on fees.
2) To help determine an affordable vehicle price range for a lease. Since lease payments depend largely on vehicle price, having an online lease calculator allows playing around with various prices to see payment results. By finding the vehicle price range that produces monthly payments you can afford, you'll quickly find out if a luxury car — or economy sub-compact — is in your future.
3) To compare the cost of leasing versus buying. Although a lease-versus-buy calculator may be more appropriate here, many people already have a loan quote and simply want to compare that with a lease for the same vehicle.
Some people, I discovered, expected a lease calculator to do something that it can't do — tell them if their lease is a good deal or not. For that, we created a special kind of lease calculator (the Lease Evaluator, part of our optional Lease Kit) that actually evaluates a lease payment figure for a specific vehicle and spits out an analysis indicating if the deal is average, good, or bad.
Based on comments and emails I've received, I have found that most people want a lease calculator for one or more of the following purposes:
1) To check the accuracy of a dealer's lease payment quote. Often, dealers calculate lease payments using figures that they haven't told the customer about. For example, extra dealer-profit fees may be added into the calculation. Unless the customer has a way to check the dealer's math, he will have no way of discovering the add-on fees.
2) To help determine an affordable vehicle price range for a lease. Since lease payments depend largely on vehicle price, having an online lease calculator allows playing around with various prices to see payment results. By finding the vehicle price range that produces monthly payments you can afford, you'll quickly find out if a luxury car — or economy sub-compact — is in your future.
3) To compare the cost of leasing versus buying. Although a lease-versus-buy calculator may be more appropriate here, many people already have a loan quote and simply want to compare that with a lease for the same vehicle.
Some people, I discovered, expected a lease calculator to do something that it can't do — tell them if their lease is a good deal or not. For that, we created a special kind of lease calculator (the Lease Evaluator, part of our optional Lease Kit) that actually evaluates a lease payment figure for a specific vehicle and spits out an analysis indicating if the deal is average, good, or bad.
posted by Al Hearn at 9:25 AM
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