Reading the Calculator - Never leased with MSD's before

Ask the Hackrs
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Just so I understand the calculator properly and MSD’s:

I know most are self explanatory however I want to know what I’m spending to drive off the lot out of pocket for sure.

Monthly is obviously the monthly payment, lets say $300.
Drive off: This is the down payment + taxes and fees, lets say $3000
MSD Payment: This is the total number of security deposits put down, so lets say 10 would be $3000

So in this case I would be spending $6000 to drive off the lot with the vehicle at $300 a month?

And if I did zero down/DAS, it would be $3000 out of pocket?

All MSD’s are due up-front and are basically a second, refundable form of down payment? And it gets refunded at the end of the term of the lease when the vehicle is returned, so I’d have $3,000 to put into the next lease?

And Gap Insurance will cover the difference in buyout/settlement in the event of a total so I don’t lose my $3000 MSD’s?

I’ve always leased without this forum and have felt I did okay most of the time, but I want to be certain of my actual cost out of pocket at the dealer. My current lease was totaled and it may be a month before I see the settlement check for the buyout difference, so I basically have little to no down payment on my next lease and lose my rental soon. Since I’ve never done MSD’s I want to verify that if I do a zero-down (lets ignore tax/title/fees) that my out of pocket will for the most part only be those MSD’s.

Thank you.

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Yes, you are correct. You can roll anything into the lease (which would then be included in the rental/MF cost) except for MSDs, as that would defeat the point.

The deal structure doesn’t impact the dealer in any way, so doing $2K DAS vs zero drive off is your choice.

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I’m really glad I found this calculator explanation post. This is the first time I’m leasing with MSDs. I’d say the main point of confusion for me with the calculator was the Drive Off field being separate from the MSD Payment field. I interpreted “Drive-Off” to be the total amount coming out of my pocket when driving off the lot (that’s kind of what the name implies…). I think it would be helpful to be more clear on this point; perhaps an asterisk indicating that the total amount paid up front is the Drive-Off plus any MSD payments.

Thanks for this great service!!!

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