Why It's Important to Know How to Calculate Your Lease Payment by Hand
Leasing a car can be very confusing, and this is exactly why dealers LOVE consumers who lease.
There are so many ways to hide extra dealer profit into the monthly payment. Most consumers have absolutely no idea when they get ripped off on a lease.
For example, one common dealer practice is to charge consumers full MSRP for the vehicle. The price of the vehicle affects your monthly lease payments, but many car shoppers don't realize this.
A dealer can easily add an extra $40 to the lease payment and most car shoppers wouldn't even bat an eye because most of them don't know how to calculate a lease payment correctly. An extra $40 for 36 months adds up to nearly $1,500.
This is why it's very important for you to be able to calculate your lease payment by hand or by using a simple calculator. This will prevent dealers from hiding extra fees in the payment.
You'll even amaze the salesperson when they find out you can calculate a lease payment correctly - something that most of them don't know how to do.
To learn how to do it, read our guide on How to Calculate Your Monthly Lease Payment.
3 Steps Every Car Buyer Needs to Take to Save Maximum Money
The key to getting the best deal is to gather price or lease bids from as many local dealers as possible. Then shop that best price around until no one can beat it. Here are the steps:Step 1 Get Prices From My Trusted Network
Select the vehicle you're interested in to see if there are local dealers in my network who will provide you with their best upfront price. You will get direct access to an internet sales manager who you can further negotiate with online (no need to visit dealership).Step 2 Get Prices From TrueCar / CarsDirect
TrueCar, and CarsDirect are my top 2 online price quote recommendations. These services show you pre-negotiated prices from dealers closest to you - and the deals are usually pretty decent. But remember, you can still negotiate further.Step 3 Complete my Checklist
Follow this up with my checklist to make sure you squeeze out every last bit of savings.- Gregg Fidan
Each week, I'll keep you up-to-date on the latest car deals and news that might affect your purchase. This includes...
- Best Rebates, Incentives, and Lease Deals
- Latest Car Buying Scams and Tricks
- The Best & Worst Time to Buy a Car
- Which Cars You Should Avoid
About The Author
Gregg Fidan is the founder of RealCarTips. After being ripped off on his first car purchase, he devoted several years to figuring out the best ways to avoid scams and negotiate
the best car deals. He has written hundreds of articles on the subject of car buying and taught thousands of car shoppers how to get the best deals.
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