Is my lease deal good? Here's how to tell.
Short answer: take your pre-tax monthly payment, add your total due at signing divided by the term, and compare that effective cost to the car's MSRP. Hitting 1% or better is a genuinely strong deal today. But the 1% rule is arbitrary — it doesn't apply to luxury leases, and it should never include sales tax, registration, or government fees.
Run the numbers below in about a minute. Then, if you want a person to look at the parts a calculator can't see, a licensed California broker will read your worksheet free.
Check your deal right now
Free, instant, and private — this runs in your browser and we never see it.
Instant lease deal check
Nothing is saved or sent. No email required.
Enter the base payment only. The 1% check should never include sales tax, registration, or government fees.
Everything you hand over: down payment, first payment, fees, drive-offs.
Enter the MSRP and your monthly payment to see where your deal lands.
The 1% rule is an arbitrary shortcut, not a rule. It doesn't work for luxury leases and it should never include taxes or government fees. This calculator is a rough self-check, not an appraisal — it can't see your money factor, residual, dealer add-ons or which incentives you qualify for. That's what the free broker review is for.
What the 1% rule is — and isn't
The 1% rule is an arbitrary shortcut, not a real formula. It can be useful as a quick gut check on a mainstream car, but it does not apply to luxury leases and it should never include taxes, registration, or government fees. A BMW or Mercedes lease can be well above 1% and still be competitive. Always compare the actual structure — selling price, money factor, residual, and incentives — not just a percentage.
The four numbers that decide it
A payment is an output. These four inputs are what actually make a lease good or bad — and they're the same four we check on every deal review.
1. Discount off MSRP
How far below sticker did you actually buy? A strong deal starts with a real selling-price discount, not a low payment engineered by a big down payment. Ask for the selling price in writing before anything else.
2. Money factor vs. the base rate
The money factor is the lease interest rate. Dealers are allowed to mark it up above the bank's base rate, and it's the single most common place a quote quietly gets worse. Multiply the money factor by 2,400 to see it as an APR.
3. Incentives you qualify for
Loyalty, conquest, first responder, college grad, EV and regional cash — these change by brand and by month, and they don't apply themselves. If a rebate you qualify for isn't itemized, it probably wasn't used.
4. The real due at signing
Not 'first payment only' — every dollar you hand over: down payment, fees, drive-offs. Spread that across the term to get your true monthly cost. A $0-down quote and a $4,000-down quote can be the same deal or wildly different ones.
Green flags vs. red flags
Good signs
- A written worksheet showing selling price, money factor, residual and fees
- Money factor stated at the bank's base rate for your credit tier
- Every rebate itemized by name, not lumped into one 'discount' line
- Doc fee at California's regulated amount and nothing else added on
- Due at signing that's mostly first payment, taxes and registration
Warning signs
- "What monthly payment are you looking for?" instead of a price
- Money factor missing, or 'we don't share that'
- Add-ons you never asked for: paint sealant, nitrogen, VIN etching, GPS
- Dealer fees beyond the doc fee, or a 'market adjustment'
- Negative equity from your trade rolled in without being shown to you
- A quote that expires 'today only' if you don't sign right now
How to read a lease worksheet
Ask for the worksheet — a real one, not a payment quoted over the phone. Here's what each line means and what to look at.
- MSRP
- The sticker. Everything else gets measured against it, including the residual.
- Selling price / capitalized cost
- What you actually agreed to pay. The gap between this and MSRP is your discount.
- Money factor
- The lease rate. × 2,400 = APR. Compare it to the captive lender's base rate for your credit tier.
- Residual value
- What the bank says the car is worth at lease end, as a percent of MSRP. Higher residual = lower payment.
- Rebates and incentives
- Should be itemized line by line. Ask which ones you qualified for and which you didn't.
- Fees
- Doc fee, registration, acquisition fee. Anything beyond those deserves an explanation.
- Due at signing
- Total out of pocket. Spread it across the term to compare quotes fairly.
What "good" means in California specifically
California is one of the most competitive car markets in the country, which cuts both ways. There are enough franchise dealers in Southern California that a car in stock 20 miles away can be priced very differently from the one at the store nearest you — so a quote that looks fine in isolation can still be beatable.
Lease tax here is charged on the monthly payment rather than the full vehicle price, and your local rate varies by city, so two identical deals in Orange County and Los Angeles won't show identical payments. Compare pre-tax structure, not just the number at the bottom.
EV leases deserve their own look. Manufacturers put aggressive EV lease cash and subsidized money factors on electric models, and several brands add regional, conquest or loyalty cash on top — which is why a well-structured EV lease in California often lands at a very low effective cost compared with a gas car. If your EV quote looks high, ask exactly which EV incentives were applied.
Programs change monthly. A deal that was excellent in February can be ordinary in March on the same car, because the money factor, residual and incentive stack all reset. That's the main reason a quote is worth checking against current numbers rather than against what a friend paid last year.
Want a human to check it?
A calculator can't see your money factor, whether the residual is right, which incentives you qualified for, or what that $1,295 line item actually is. That's the part we do by hand — free, statewide, on brand-new cars, lease or finance.
- We compare your numbers to current California pricing
- We confirm the incentives you actually qualify for
- We check the lender rate for markup
- If your deal is already strong, we tell you to sign it
- If you asked us to beat it and we can, we put it in writing
- No credit pull, no SSN, and we never contact your dealer
Questions people ask before they sign
Keep going
Free deal review
Send your quote — a broker reviews it free and beats it if we can.
This week's lease specials
Live California lease numbers with payment and due at signing shown.
How auto brokers work
What a broker actually does, and how we get paid.
Broker vs. dealership
Side-by-side on price, time and pressure.
Get a quote
Skip the shopping — tell us the car and we'll price it.
Common questions
Fees, timelines, delivery, trade-ins and credit.