How to Get the Most Competitive Lease Quotes

Getting the best lease deal is very similar to getting the best car deal. Your main objective is to get dealers to compete and provide you with an apples to apples comparison on the lease rates and terms.

The first step in getting the best lease deal is to negotiate the price of the car first.

In a lease, this is called the Capitalized Cost and it's very important that you negotiate this as aggressively as you would if you were buying the car.

The biggest portion of your lease payment goes toward paying off the depreciation cost, which is the price of the car minus what the car is worth at the end of the lease. The lower you negotiate the price, the lower your depreciation cost.

Dealers will try to tell you that the price of the car doesn't matter - that couldn't be further from the truth.

Use our step-by-step car buying guide which will teach you how to get multiple, competitive bids for the car of your choice.

Once you get the lowest prices from multiple dealers, you need to go back and let them know you'd like to lease the vehicle for 36 months (or whatever your preference) with no-money down at the negotiated price they quoted. You will need to ask for the following rates from each dealer:

• Residual Value
• Money Factor
• Adjusted Capitalized Cost
• Acquisition Fee
• Disposition Fee
• Security Deposit
• Any other Fees
• Final Monthly Lease Payment

If the adjusted capitalized cost is different than the price you negotiated, ask them what is included. Finally, you will want to ask what the final drive-off amount will be and what is included in that amount.

When you're done, you should know what your monthly lease payment will be and how much you will have to pay up-front. You can then shop this rate to the other dealers and see if anyone can beat your best deal.

This technique works even when there are special subsidized leases being offered by the manufacturer. In this case, dealers will offer the same lease terms (residual, money factor, etc), however - the negotiated prices will be different which will affect your final lease payment and likely get you an even better deal than the advertised lease deal.