LeaseWorth field guide
Understand the deal before you sign it.
Twelve original guides connect the language on a lease worksheet to the money leaving your account. Each one names its sources, shows its assumptions, and links to a calculator that uses your own figures.
How car leasing works
Understand depreciation, rent charge, residual value, mileage, taxes, and what happens when the lease ends.
Read guide →How to read a car lease worksheet
Find the figures that create the payment and check a dealer worksheet line by line before you sign.
Read guide →Due at signing explained
Separate first payment, fees, tax, deposits, and cap reduction so a low advertised payment cannot hide expensive upfront cash.
Read guide →Money factor markup explained
Convert the lease factor to APR-equivalent, compare it with the lender buy rate, and measure the markup in dollars.
Read guide →How to negotiate a car lease
Negotiate the vehicle price, rate, fees, and cash due as separate figures instead of bargaining from one monthly payment.
Read guide →Car lease fees and add-ons
Learn which charges are lender, government, dealer, optional, upfront, capitalized, or due only when the lease ends.
Read guide →Car lease mileage limits
Choose a realistic allowance, project your lease-end odometer, and compare prepaid miles with a likely overage bill.
Read guide →End-of-lease options
Prepare to return, buy, extend, or replace the vehicle using written lessor figures rather than last-minute pressure.
Read guide →Should you put money down on a lease?
See how cap-cost reduction lowers the payment, changes true monthly cost, and puts more cash into the deal on day one.
Read guide →Lease vs. buy: compare the real cost
Compare both choices over the same time horizon, including cash flow, loan balance, equity, mileage, and end costs.
Read guide →How to compare advertised lease deals
Turn payment, due at signing, term, mileage, taxes, and eligibility fine print into an apples-to-apples comparison.
Read guide →Car lease glossary
Plain-English definitions for the worksheet, contract, payment, mileage, tax, rate, and lease-end terms shoppers actually encounter.
Read guide →How these are made
Useful enough for the showroom. Careful enough for your money.
LeaseWorth starts with the contract fields a consumer can verify, checks the math with tested calculators, and cites regulators or official program material for the rules around that math. Unknown lender rates and local taxes remain explicitly unknown. Read the full editorial policy →