COMPARE THE SAME TIME FRAME
Lease vs buy calculator
Enter your actual lease and purchase terms. Compare total cash paid and the estimated ownership value left at the end.
Canadian dollars · Kilometres · Free planning toolsMake it yours
Set up your comparison
Compare one complete lease with buying the same vehicle for the same period.
Your buy scenario
Your lease contract
Use the actual all-in quote, including sales tax. The comparison runs for the full contract length selected above. The vehicle is returned at the end.
Running costs — editable assumptions
The same vehicle and running costs are used for both options. These starting amounts are examples, not insurance, energy or maintenance quotes.
Recommended by your inputs · 4 years
Buying costs less
$8,190Estimated difference over 4 years, using the same driving and running costs.
Planning estimate · CAD · taxes and entered fees includedWhere it goes
Your buy scenario
- Vehicle value lost
- $13,024
- Purchase sales tax
- $3,318
- Other purchase fees
- $0
- Financing interest over this period
- $4,268
- Fuel
- $10,560
- Insurance
- $8,800
- Maintenance and tyres
- $4,800
- Other running costs
- $480
- Estimated total net cost
- $45,250
Estimated resale value$12,496
Loan balance after 4 years$5,454
Estimated ending equity$7,041
The estimated loan payment is $471.90 per month. Net ownership cost includes the remaining loan balance if the car is sold at the end of this period.
Returning the leased car
- 48 all-in monthly payments
- $28,800
- Additional upfront amount
- $0
- Excess kilometre charges
- $0
- End-of-lease fees entered
- $0
- Same running costs as buying
- $24,640
- Estimated total lease cost
- $53,440
0 km above the total allowance. No resale equity is retained when the vehicle is returned. Unknown wear charges, early termination and a lease buyout are not included.
Cost assumptions and what is excluded
- Purchase tax is your entered percentage of the before-tax vehicle price. Enter fees as an all-in amount; fees are not taxed again. Check applicable taxes, exemptions, incentives and luxury tax with the seller.
- Ending resale is subtracted once. For financing, down payment, payments made and remaining debt payable at sale are included; purchase principal is not added a second time.
- Loan payments use monthly compounding with no balloon payment or early repayment charge. Interest after the comparison period is excluded when the remaining debt is paid off.
- Running costs are user-editable constant assumptions. There is no assumed inflation, investment return, tax credit or transaction cost at sale.
- Lease amounts must include applicable taxes. Upfront charges exclude the first scheduled payment and any refundable security deposit, so neither is counted twice.
- The vehicle is returned at the lease end; no lease resale, buyout or equity is credited. Enter expected return fees and all-in excess-kilometre charges yourself.
- Both sides use the same entered distance and running-cost assumptions. Different maintenance coverage or insurance terms need separate adjustments.
- The comparison ends at the lease expiry. It does not extrapolate future contracts or estimate an early-termination settlement.
Running costs remain constant in dollars across the selected period. The calculation does not include opportunity cost, future inflation, investment returns, tax credits, rebates or unentered charges. Adjust the vehicle price and fees to your actual quote.
Turn the plan into a real quote.
Behind your estimate
How these numbers work
These are planning estimates of future retail or asking-based resale value. They are not dealer trade-in offers, guaranteed sale prices or contractual lease residuals. Vehicle condition, history, options and future market changes can alter the outcome.
Model assumptions and planning scenarios
- This is our planning model of future retail/asking-based value, not a licensed market forecast, trade-in quote or guaranteed sale price.
- The starting amount is the same Canadian base MSRP before tax for cash and finance; incentives, payment schedules, loan balances and lease residuals do not set the future value.
- Category depreciation percentages and usage coefficients come from the captured AssetDropper generic model; they are not measured Canadian trim-level residuals.
- Mileage coefficients reproduce observed API behaviour from saved probes; the provider does not publish a formula or a validation study for them.
- Annual kilometres are divided by 1.609344 to apply the source mileage mathematics. The reference is 12,000 miles (19,312 km) per year.
- Cumulative mileage effects are capped between a 30% deduction and a 12% addition. Accident history, individual condition, options, geography, inflation and future market shocks are not modelled.
- The low/base/high outcomes use 1.25×/1×/0.75× annual category depreciation rates with the same mileage assumptions. They are planning scenarios, not statistical confidence bounds.
- Planning values cannot rise with an additional ownership year and are capped at the starting base MSRP; no appreciation is assumed.
- The generic model supplies no publication date; its capture date is shown separately and is not represented as a source publication date.
- Canadian model-year asking-price age pattern supplies a small, capped adjustment to the category assumptions; mileage, trim, original MSRP and redesign effects are not isolated.
- The age-slope difference is capped at ±0.04 log points per year, then given at most 25% weight. Unknown generation and trim mix remain limitations; no original-MSRP or chosen-mileage cohort adjustment is claimed.
Low / base / high outcome after the selected period: $10,112 / $12,496 / $15,273. These are alternative rate scenarios, not a statistical confidence interval.
Sources, dates and coverage
Representative models with one currently priced Canadian starting trim per model. The newest priced model year and lowest exact base MSRP are selected; this is not every trim. Missing models can use a custom entered price.
- Canadian vehicle price used by Before Your Next Car (opens in a new tab)Source date: Not published · Captured: Oct 5, 2026
- AssetDropper category planning assumptions (observed 20 October 2026) (opens in a new tab)Source date: Not published · Captured: Oct 20, 2026AssetDropper-free-commercial-api terms
- Omnia Index October 2026, Canadian used asking-price aggregates (opens in a new tab)Source date: Oct 6, 2026 · Captured: Oct 20, 2026CC-BY-4.0 terms
Generic category rates do not establish measured differences between individual brands or trims. Canadian model-year asking-price cohorts, when eligible, add only a small adjustment; they mix mileage, trims, historical prices and condition. Freshness and limitations remain part of the calculation.
A LITTLE MORE CONTEXT
Good questions to ask.
Why is the monthly payment not enough?
Monthly payments do not show all the costs or the vehicle value you keep. A fair comparison includes upfront payments, interest, lease-end charges, any remaining loan balance and the projected value of an owned car at the same date.
Is the projected resale value the lease residual?
No. A lease residual or buyout is set in your contract. A projected market value estimates what a vehicle might be worth. Enter the actual lease quote and review its kilometre limits, fees and buyout terms.
Does the result include tax?
Use the tax settings and enter quotes consistently with their before-tax or after-tax basis. Actual provincial tax treatment, fees and trade-in credits depend on your transaction and are not a tax calculation for a specific contract.