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Cars & mobility

Lease vs buy calculator

Lease vs buy calculator: enter your values and get an instant free result.

Your result

Complete the fields and calculate.

Calculation method and formula

Purchase price − Resale value + Additional buying costs; Lease down payment + Monthly lease × Months

Understand the inputs

Purchase price
Use a measured value or your own assumption.
Resale value
Use a measured value or your own assumption.
Additional buying costs
Use a measured value or your own assumption.
Lease down payment
Use a measured value or your own assumption.
Monthly lease
Use a measured value or your own assumption.
Months
Use a measured value or your own assumption.

Assumptions and limitations

Purchase minus resale plus buying extras is compared with upfront lease payment plus installments. Financing, excess mileage, damage and different running costs need separate consideration.

The formula uses the specified units. Displayed numbers are rounded; whole packs, item counts and full time periods may also be rounded within the calculation.

Worked example

Illustrative values. Replace them with your own inputs for your calculation.

Purchase price
36000
Resale value
18000
Additional buying costs
1500
Lease down payment
3000
Monthly lease
420
Months
48
Example resultBuy · 3,660 cheaper

Buy: 19,500 · Lease: 23,160.

Model revision: October 17, 2026 · How CleverCalc works

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

How does Lease vs buy calculator work?+

Purchase price − Resale value + Additional buying costs; Lease down payment + Monthly lease × Months. Purchase minus resale plus buying extras is compared with upfront lease payment plus installments. Financing, excess mileage, damage and different running costs need separate consideration.

What assumptions should I consider for this result?+

Purchase minus resale plus buying extras is compared with upfront lease payment plus installments. Financing, excess mileage, damage and different running costs need separate consideration. The formula uses the specified units. Displayed numbers are rounded; whole packs, item counts and full time periods may also be rounded within the calculation.

How accurate is the result?+

The formula uses the specified units. Displayed numbers are rounded; whole packs, item counts and full time periods may also be rounded within the calculation. Prices, measurements and model assumptions determine how well the result represents your situation.

Is this calculator free?+

Yes. Calculations and PDF export work without an account or registration.

What happens to my inputs?+

Calculations run in your browser. Results are saved locally only when you add them to My results; favourites and history are also local. Shared links contain your values. The currency tool requests the selected currencies from its rate provider without sending your amount.

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