This site was created to share the methods we have used in the past to successfully negotiate lower monthly payments on vehicles we have leased over the years. The site contains:
Lease Calculator - The Calculator will determine your monthly payment based on the information you enter. The Calculator is designed to work on any device with a web browser which gives you the opportunity to use it on your Smart Phone while you are at the Dealership negotiating your lease payments! This will give you the best chance to get a great lease deal.
Lease Overview - A brief overview describing Auto Leasing and how it works.
Lease Terminology - Auto Leasing has its own language in a lot of ways, so we define all the terminology you will need to negotiate with confidence.
Lease Calculations - Each of the components that make up the monthly lease payment are described and the formulas are provided so you can understand exactly what the calculator is doing for you. We also use an example lease to help demonstrate how the formulas work.
How to Research the Vehicle before going to the Dealership - We provide a few sites you should use to research a vehicle and how to get all the numbers that are needed to calculate the lease payment. You will enter these numbers into the calculator to determine the monthly lease payment.
Negotiating your Lease Payments - We provide some guidelines that can be used when you begin negotiating your lease deal with the Dealership.
When you understand how the lease payments work, and are comfortable with using the calculator, you will be in a much better position to negotiate a great monthly payment.
First we need to define auto leasing. Auto leasing is a method of financing a vehicle for a certain length of time. You actually lease the vehicle from a leasing company or a bank and the Dealership is essentially the front man for the transaction. You negotiate the terms of the lease with the Dealership and then they sell the lease to the bank/leasing company (and of course they take their profits). The trick to getting a good lease deal is to have their profits minimized as much as possible, and you will be able to do that if you follow the steps outlined here at Sharp Lease.
When you lease a vehicle you must pay for the use of that vehicle for a certain amount of time (generally 24 or 36 months, but other timeframes are available). We all know that vehicles lose value over time, and when leasing a vehicle you are paying the amount of money that the car is expected to decrease in value during the lease (along with finance charges, taxes (in most states), dealer fees, etc.).
See our Terminology page so that you can become familiar with the language associated with auto leasing. Understanding this terminology and being able to discuss the lease using the language that the Dealership is accustomed to will help you during negotiations. It will show the Dealership that you have done your homework, and will empower you to get the best deal that you can.
Review the Lease Calculations page for an explanation of how the individual elements of the lease are combined to generate the lease payment. You will be able to calculate lease payments by hand after reviewing this page, although you won't need to do it that way. However, I think it's important to understand the calculations at this level so you feel more comfortable with the terminology and what the calculator is actually doing.
You see an ad for a lease and it's the car of your dreams. You head to the Dealership knowing how much you are going to pay (because it's right there in the lease ad) expecting it to be a painless process. However, when you get there things don't go as smoothly as you hoped. We all have heard the stories about the crazy things the Dealerships try to get away with. When you get to the Dealership there will be some reason that you can't get the advertised price. They are either sold out of the model in the ad, or they only had a certain number of cars at that price. Or maybe the fine print of the ad specified the base model and you want leather seats or some other option that doesn't come with the base model.
So at this point the Dealership has you right where they want you. You came to the Dealership based on an advertisement, but the advertised price is no longer valid for whatever reason. So if you start negotiating at that point you don't have any basis to do the negotiations. Doing your homework before heading to the Dealership and having the calculator available during the lease negotiation process (via your Smart Phone) will help to ensure you get best lease deal possible.