Watch Out When You See $0 Down Leases

But the monthly payment will be higher since you are not pre-paying some of the lease obligation.

In general, you can expect your lease payment to increase by about $40 for every $1,000 you don't make as a down payment.

When signing the papers for a lease, you pay a down payment (or not), sales tax on your down payment, your first month's payment, possibly a security deposit (which you get back at lease-end), and any official fees required in your city, county, or state.

This is called "amount due at signing." But notice that your down payment (if any) is only a part of the total "amount due at signing". This important point is often not well understood.

This means that there can be differences between lease deals that offer $0 down or no down payment.

Even if you make no down payment, you may still pay the other fees. However, in some "$0 due at signing", not only do you pay nothing down but the other fees are rolled into the lease. You still pay for them in the long run, but you don't pay them up front in cash.