So a lease is where you pay the difference between residual value at the end of the term and the negotiated sales price. So let's say I lease a car that cost $50k and at the end of the 3 year term the car will be worth $35k. With that I would pay the $15k over 3 years or 36 months. The residual value (35k) is the "payoff" at the end of the term. You could actually buy the car for that price. In most cases that value is based upon mileage on the vehicle (say 36k miles). So at the end of the 3 years that vehicle with 36k miles is worth $35k.

In our case my wife only puts 6-8k miles/year so at the end of the term let's say we have 20k miles instead of 36k and the actual trade value on the car is $37k. In that instance you have $2k in equity as it's worth more than what is owed.

So I take that vehicle to another dealership, instead of turning it in at the original dealership. We negotiate the new vehicle sales price and the trade in price on the old lease and they ask me do I want a check for the difference in trade value or do I want to apply to the new lease. I apply it to the new lease and do it all over again 3 years later. I've done this 5 times now and the equity keeps building. I started with ZERO down and back last December when we leased the last one I had right at $6k showed as a down payment.

They were not hiding anything because I negotiated the sales price of the new one and the trade in value on the old one. It works for my application but may not for everyone.