Total Cost to Own Comparison model: Compare multiple leases vs. Financing

Off-Ramp
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Hello Everyone,

I’ve created a Total Cost to Own Excel model to help compare car deals against each other, including leases and financing.

Download Excel Model

I’ve inputted data to illustrate how it works, but simply overwrite any blue cells to add new data.

Let me know if you have questions. Thanks,
Jon

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Man I’m sucker for charts and data. Haven’t dug into it, but looks awesome at first glance.

Thank you!

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thanks I tried to create one for myself but it’s not nearly as sophisticated as yours haha

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This is awesome, thanks.

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this is super helpful for budgeting and forecasting. thanks so much for putting the work into this and sharing it with us

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This is awesome Jon, thanks for sharing.

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Haha wow this is awesome! I’ve built a much simpler one but this is on a whole different level. Thanks for sharing!

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Wow I thought mine was good - this is up a whole level. The only feedback I have is seeing the TCO as a 10 year purchase vs leases with X% increase over time? Maybe assuming 3 - 39 month leases vs 10 year ownership with maintenance and potential breakdowns.

I’m working on one to get a number where you input the car you would buy and then it spits out a S&D number you would need to beat in order to make leasing cheaper for a comparable car.

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Thanks for the feedback everyone! Please feel free to share the tool more broadly beyond Leasehackr if you know of any places to share it.

Here is a list of future enhancements. If anyone wants to help, let me know.

  1. Value leakage calculations: Private party vs. dealer market values both buying and selling. This is important for folks holding cars short term.
  2. Filling out the tool with actual data. This is a tough one, and I think it could be a paid service opportunity.
  3. Comparing leasing short term with owning long term.
  4. Incremental cost calculation: How much more would it cost to lease/buy a new car over my current car.
  5. Comparison of short term German car leases vs. long term asian car ownership

Let me know if there are any other suggestions.

Regards,
Jon

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Ooh, I could tweak over this spreadsheet for days! Thanks

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@jon1 … This is awesome. Thanks for sharing !!!

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The hardest part for me was to figure out the depreciation curve for a specific “buy” vehicle as well as maintenance and repair costs. Also not sure if the lease cost is before or after tax since it adds the tax to the “buy” portion.

Overall it’s extremely helpful to see things visually though, and the MPG & mileage factoring in etc.

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Really nice spreadsheet.

Feature request: on the fuel option, could you add ‘electric’ choice for those not considering fossil-fueled vehicles?

Thanks,
D

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Super helpful. Thanks!

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And that right there is why leasing is so great, you know exactly what your costs are, too many variables on the buy side to get exact numbers.

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In the spirit of sharing, here’s a copy of my Google Sheets document:

It’s a totally different beast than what Jon shared, essentially I’m boiling everything down to a Net Monthly Cost, with separate tabs for leasing vs financing. Few notes for those that want to make a copy and embellish it themselves:

  1. Maintenance Costs are derived from Edmunds TCO (prorated based on mileage assumptions)

  2. Insurance is an actual quote via USAA by VIN #

  3. Depreciation assumes private party sale, varies slightly depending on annual mileage

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It is a crapshoot, especially if it’s the first year or two of an all new model.