About seven years ago, I leased my second car (though it was my first
lease). I wasn't very knowledgeable about leases, and like many first
timers, I looked at the monthly payment and decided it felt alright.
I was lucky enough to afford it and felt like it fit within my budget.
Back then, I was not as fastidious about budgeting my money as I am
today.

When the lease on my first car was over, I went back to the dealer to
look into leasing the successor to my car. When the dealer showed me
the new lease terms, I balked: the monthly payment was quite a bit
higher than my previous one, but the car wasn't that much more
expensive. While I asked the dealer why that would be, I don't
remember his answer - I don't think I would have believed it anyway.
So, I went to find out for myself.

After reading a ton of different resources related to car leases, I
created a spreadsheet to help me analyze where my money was being
spent. In doing so, I figured out the various ways I could save money
on the car I wanted. Many years later, I wanted to revisit this topic
to present at Ignite Seattle, but the topic wasn't selected by the
Ignite coordinators. Regardless, I thought I'd create a simple
presentation outlining why it's possible to negotiate a car lease, how
car leases work, and what points to negotiate once you've gotten
enough data.

Attached to this post are the presentation and the spreadsheet. Try
them out and let me know if you find them useful!

~s