Buy out the lease, or return it and replace it?
The payoff price alone does not answer the question. This compares the true cost per month of use on both paths — buying out against returning and replacing — using the equipment's remaining useful life and what a replacement actually costs.
New to this decision? Read the guide: should I buy out my equipment lease?
This calculator vs. Crest Capital's lease calculator
This calculator vs. comparing the buyout price to fair market value
Cost per month of use
Common questions
Why isn’t the buyout price alone enough to decide?
Because a price only means something next to what it buys. A $9,000 buyout is expensive on equipment worth $6,000 with a year of life left, and cheap on equipment that would cost $30,000 to replace and run for five more years. This tool divides the buyout price by the months of use you expect to get, and does the same for a replacement, so the two numbers are comparable on a common footing: cost per month of use.
Where do I get the fair market value and useful-life numbers?
They are your own estimate, not a lookup this tool performs. For fair market value, a comparable listing (equipment dealer, auction result, or classifieds for the same make, model, and age) is usually close enough; a written appraisal is better if the number is large. For remaining useful life, your own maintenance history and how hard the equipment has been run matter more than its age on paper. Both numbers drive the verdict directly, so a rough guess in either one should be treated as a rough verdict.
What is the break-even buyout price?
The buyout price at which paying it and returning-and-replacing cost exactly the same per month of use. It is the number worth negotiating against, not the figure on the payoff letter — a payoff letter is what the lessor wants, not what the equipment is worth to you. If the quoted buyout is above break-even, walking away is the cheaper path by this estimate; if it is below, paying it is.
Why does the buyout price sometimes exceed fair market value?
Some leases set the buyout at a fixed schedule agreed at signing rather than at true fair market value, and a fixed schedule can drift well above what the equipment is actually worth by the time the option is exercised — especially on equipment that depreciates fast. If your lease says the buyout is supposed to be fair market value and the lessor’s number is well above a comparable listing, that is worth raising before paying it, not after.
What does the replacement side of the comparison include?
The all-in cost of a comparable replacement — purchase price or the total of a new lease — plus removal or return cost (rigging, drayage, freight, or a lease-end reconditioning charge), plus any downtime cost while the swap happens. Leaving out removal and downtime is the most common way this comparison undercounts the cost of walking away, so both have their own fields rather than being folded into the replacement price.
Is any of this uploaded?
No. The calculation runs entirely in your browser, there are no accounts, no cookies and no analytics vendor, and there is no network request in the page at all. A saved comparison stores only the numbers you typed and stays in this browser; reset deletes it. Lease terms and replacement costs are commercially sensitive, which is exactly why none of it leaves the page.
Does this tool tell me what to do?
It reports which path this estimate says is cheaper per month of use, and by how much. It cannot weigh cashflow timing, whether a replacement is actually available on short notice, or how much a familiar machine and crew are worth compared to a new one — those are yours to weigh, and the verdict is a starting point for that conversation, not the end of it.