Leasing vs financing vs buying used — total cost over your actual car-owning decade
| Serial lease | Finance & keep | Used & keep |
|---|
Lease-vs-buy debates stall because they compare a payment to a payment. The honest comparison needs a decade and three strategies: serial leasing (a payment forever, never any equity), financing new and keeping (expensive years 1–5, cheap 6–9, equity at the end), and the strategy dealer ads never mention — buying a 3-year-old car and keeping it (skipping the depreciation cliff entirely). This analyzer totals all three over nine years, equity counted, and names your winner.
You pay the depreciation the leasing company projects, plus interest (the money factor — multiply by 2400 for the APR; a .0029 MF is ~7% and dealers mark it up for profit), plus fees, forever. Leasing the average car three times costs ~$50k with $0 to show for it — which is why the structure survives on its real appeals: always-warranted, always-new, payments that deduct cleanly for business use, and no exposure to used-car values (the EV-owner's legitimate hedge).
| Strategy | Character | Wins when… |
|---|---|---|
| Serial lease | Highest total cost, lowest friction, zero equity | Business deduction, EV churn, image-critical roles, sub-12k miles |
| Finance new, keep 9 | Front-loaded pain, then nearly-free years | You genuinely keep cars — the strategy fails if you trade at year 4 |
| Buy at 3, keep 9 | Usually cheapest: someone else paid the cliff | Almost always, on pure math — the default answer |
You perpetually rent the steepest part of the depreciation curve — years 1-3 — plus interest and fees, and never bank equity. It's paying the most expensive slice of ownership, on repeat, by design.
Business use (payments deduct against income cleanly — see the Schedule C tool), EVs and tech-churn segments (residual risk shifts to the lessor), and low-mileage drivers who value warranty certainty. Also: when manufacturers subsidize leases with inflated residuals — those deals can beat buying; the calculator exposes them.
The lease's interest rate in disguise: MF × 2400 = APR. Fair tracks your auto-loan tier (a 720-score buyer should see ~.0025-.0029 ≈ 6-7%). Dealers mark it up silently — ask for the MF and check it against your pre-approved APR.
Everything but the residual: the vehicle price (cap cost), the money factor markup, trade value, and fees. People who negotiate leases like purchases pay ~$40-80/mo less than people who accept 'the payment.'
Your buyout price was fixed at signing (residual + fee). If market value exceeds it, buying is free equity; if below, walk away — that optionality is worth real money in volatile markets. Get an independent quote before returning any lease.
Price it: the lease-vs-used gap here is typically $8-15k over 9 years, against maybe $3-5k of expected out-of-warranty repairs on reliable brands. It's peace of mind at a 2-3× markup — legitimate to buy, expensive to pretend is free.
Yes — every figure computes locally in your browser.
Run the nine-year totals before any dealership visit and the payment hypnosis loses its power. Buy used and keep it if you want wealth; lease if you're buying the experience with open eyes — just never confuse which one you're doing.