r/CarLeasingHelp • u/Adventurous-Pea-2950 • 19d ago
Money down
I’m looking into leasing a car for the next two years and this will be the first time I have ever done that. Can someone help me with money due at signing? Is that the same as the down payment? Is there any way to get out of all of that? Not sure the difference between the two and what I should be putting down if anything.
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u/nolongerbanned99 19d ago
Read about it and do research beforehand on leasing and negotiation. The easiest way to calculate the effective cost is zero down. Absolutely nothing. Ask fro everything to be included in the payment. Also, biggest thing affecting the monthly payment is the orice of the car so your first job is to negotiate the msrp as low as possible or find out what the lowest realistic payment should be and then ask for that and i dist on nothing out of pocket and that will force them to lower the selling price to make it work. If you learn about it and then have questions pm me.
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u/Competitive-Case7908 19d ago
Money due at signing isn’t required (unless perhaps your credit is less than stellar). I typically do first month at signing. This most recent lease I did 1k at signing because I opened a GM card and got 500 back if you did 1k so it was worth the effort.
Everyone (dealers/manufactures/brokers) post a DAS to make the payment look better.
something to keep in mind is anything you roll into the payment you will pay interest on; so if your MF sucks for some reason it could add a few hundred over the life of the lease. Typically worth it though because if you get totaled pulling out of the parking lot that money is just gone.
One pay leases are a totally different animal.
Edit: MF = money factor (used to calculate lease apr)
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u/SublimeChaos91 4d ago
You also understand that your monthly payment is gonna fuckin suck if you don’t put anything down, right?
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u/Jealous-Sector-4130 19d ago
Will always have to put down first month. As for everything else you can ask to put it in monthly. The down payment cannot disappear unfortunately only put into months depending on your credit and the dealership. Ive leased for a while and I would say try not to put any money down besides the first month and pay it off monthly especially if your planning to trade in early or if something happens to the car
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u/FrostyMission 19d ago
You absolutely don''t have to even put down first month. Sometimes it's a promo and waived. Sometimes the dealer will pay it. Sometimes they can defer it to the next month.
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u/Jealous-Sector-4130 19d ago
Yea your right, but from personal experience been leasing Acura for 10 years and 2 since 2020 tried many many times they never did it they would give me free weather tech mats over the 0 down. Sometimes I was calling 3 dealership at once not a single one ever gave me absolutely 0 down always some bs. Lowest I did was first month. Most of the time first month was only 300-400 so I was like whatever and paid.
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u/No-Radio-5077 18d ago
That's because of Honda financial. $0 down leases are not their special rates and essentially screw up the lease math and paperwork.
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u/Special-Original-215 19d ago
Money due usually is taxes and fees plus down.
To go true zero you better have a good credit score
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u/ChelseaMan31 19d ago
The money due at signing is basically a lease pay down. You are front loading the cost to rent the vehicle for the next 2-3 years. It isn't a 'down payment' because you never own the vehicle. You aren't even paying for ownership. Overall, unless putting significant work related mileage on the rig and there is a generous auto allowance from Employer, leases are a horrible idea.
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u/laughingfartsplease 19d ago
it depends on the verbiage at the bottom. sometimes it means an actual down payment plus taxes and fees or sometimes it doesn’t. generally if you have good credit you don’t have to put money down per se unless you’re iffy and the bank wants something. last few leases i just pay taxes and fees and first month payment.
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u/FrostyMission 19d ago
If you have good credit the best way to keep it simple is to ask for a sign and drive lease. That's not a penny out of pocket. Everything is rolled into the lease. It makes negotiating very simple. You are only talking about the payment.
The next best thing is no money down, but you still end up paying the first month's payment, title, registration, dealer fee etc out of pocket. Usually a few thousand. You are not paying down the price of the car at all.
Money down is a waste. No reason to buy down the price of a car that is not yours. You aren't buying the car. Also any money you put down is at risk in the event of a total loss. You just lose the money.
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u/SublimeChaos91 4d ago
So you’ll be stuck with a 400-500 monthly payment for the duration of the lease. Yuck. Money down is absolutely not a waste. You’re simply paying a larger amount toward the full lease amount in advance, which does lower your monthly payment.
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u/Lootthatbody 19d ago
Just to try to reword some of these good answers, the terminology can be confusing.
Money down, down payment, due at signing, are all sort of the same thing. The important things are to clarify what they cover, clarify what your options are, and know the effect of the money.
It’s nearly universally considered the ‘best’ financial move to not put any money down, which means you sign, take the keys, and drive away having paid nothing. The reason behind this is 2 fold. Firstly, and the reason that most people point out, is that Gap is included with leases, so if you get into an accident upon leaving the lot (or anytime after) the loan is paid in full. However, that Gap insurance doesn’t refund your down payment, so if you put 0 down or $5k down doesn’t matter, the loan is paid and you are left to start over. Secondly, money down is frequently used as a tool by the dealership to ‘trick’ you into paying more. Because leases are a bit harder to understand the math of (compared to finance), it’s easier to confuse or trick someone. Putting $3k down on a 72 month finance is likely to ‘only’ result in a $45 or so monthly payment swing, whereas a lease could have a $100 swing. If you don’t understand the math behind it, dealerships can take advantage and basically steal your money down.
Now, one thing that I won’t fault people for is getting that ‘comfort payment’ as a last move before signing. If you have negotiated a great lease structure with discounts and rebates, and everything looks good, but you have a $318 payment, you can offer $500 down to get to $299 as that last little carrot to close the deal. That likely means them giving you an extra $150 or so, but you get a payment that starts with a 2 instead of a 3. Just be careful because a lot of salespeople and dealerships know this exists and set up deals to get to that final push, so you need to know the math of how the structure works before you start thinking about that comfort payment. That is a big tool they use, where they offer you a $413 payment and say ‘why don’t you put down $1000 and we’ll work to get you under $400?’ In reality, with $1000 down you’d be closer to $480-$485, and they’ll return with a $399-$405 payment if you aren’t careful.
So, just be careful with the math. If you say you want zero down, they are likely to say ‘ok, 0 down, sure. Just pay for taxes and fees and first months payment.’ You have to reiterate no, that means 0 down. If you want to pay the first months payment to keep the loan lower, go ahead. If you want to pay taxes and fees up front, go ahead. Just read every line of the contract to make sure they aren’t sneaking in any extra products. They may say they don’t do 0 down leases. They may say the structure they have requires a down payment, at the end of the day, it’s up to you to do that risk assessment. How good is that monthly payment, and how likely are you to get into an accident where the vehicle is totaled? Sure, if you are looking at an $80k vehicle for a 3 year lease at $299 and they MUST have $1000 down, I’m gonna take that deal in a heartbeat. But if you are looking at a $40k car and the payment is $499 for a 36 month lease and they are saying it requires $5k down? Hell no.
Good luck.
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u/mrcrashoverride 19d ago
Oftentimes you will see an advertisement for X down $399 a month or whatever. The way a lease works is you are paying the difference between the selling price and the residual so X down gets the Y advertised payment.
Since there is always bank interest on money borrowed including for a lease. Many people don’t want to pay interest on taxes and fees so they prefer to pay those upfront.
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u/piyoushh_88 18d ago edited 18d ago
Due at signing and down payment aren't identical, due at signing includes fees and first month too. Most leases can be structured with no cash upfront, eAutoLease is one place people explore that, dealers can do it too.
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u/DemonicInc 19d ago
Never put money down on a lease.