Subscriptions bundle insurance and maintenance into one fee — buying and leasing usually don't. This calculator normalizes all three so you're comparing true monthly cost, not just the sticker payment.
Quick answer: There's no universal winner — it depends on the specific lease deal or subscription quote you're comparing against your loan terms. A subsidized manufacturer lease can sometimes beat buying even over several years, since you're only financing the depreciation, not the full price. Subscriptions almost always cost the most per month, but they're the only option with no long-term commitment. Run your actual numbers below rather than assuming.
Use a real quote for your vehicle — lease pricing depends on the automaker's residual value and money factor, which vary too much to estimate generically.
Use the quote for your specific vehicle and term — subscription pricing varies widely by provider, model, and city (real 2026 examples run roughly $400–$1,050/month).
A subscription's monthly fee looks expensive next to a loan or lease payment until you remember what it includes: insurance, maintenance, and often registration are usually bundled in. A loan or lease payment is just the financing cost — you still pay for insurance and upkeep separately. This calculator adds your insurance and maintenance costs to the buy and lease sides so all three numbers represent your actual total monthly outlay, not just the financing piece.
A $32,000 vehicle with $3,000 down, financed at 6.9% APR over 60 months, runs about $573/month in loan payments — add $150/month insurance and $45/month maintenance for a true cost of about $768/month. Over 36 months that's roughly $30,600 in cash out, offset by an estimated $16,600 in resale equity (using a rough depreciation estimate), for a net cost of around $26,800. A lease at $420/month plus insurance runs about $570/month true cost, or roughly $22,000 net over the same 36 months including the $1,500 due at signing — cheaper than buying here specifically because a subsidized lease payment finances only the car's depreciation, not its full price. A subscription at $650/month all-inclusive comes to about $23,400 over 36 months — more than the lease, less than buying in this example, but with no term commitment at all. The lesson isn't "leasing always wins" — it's that the specific lease or subscription quote you're looking at can beat buying, so it's worth running your real numbers instead of assuming buying is automatically cheaper.
Real subscription pricing varies by provider, city, and vehicle — programs like Care by Volvo, FINN, and Autonomy have each priced very differently by model in 2026, so use an actual quote rather than a rough average. It also doesn't factor in mileage limits (leases and many subscriptions cap miles, buying doesn't), or the time value of the down payment you'd otherwise have invested. Run your own real numbers here as a starting point, then compare against actual quotes before deciding.