A worked example showing exactly where the money you didn't pay upfront actually goes.
Assume a residual value of 55% ($16,500) and a money factor of .00125 (roughly a 3% APR equivalent). These are representative figures for illustration, not a quote — actual money factors and residuals vary by lender, credit tier, and model.
| $3,000 down | $0 down | |
|---|---|---|
| Net cap cost financed | $27,000 | $30,000 |
| Depreciation charge / mo | $291.67 | $375.00 |
| Rent charge / mo | $54.38 | $56.88 |
| Total monthly payment | ≈$346 | ≈$432 |
| Extra paid over 36 months | — | ≈$3,096 |
The $0-down column pays back roughly the $3,000 you skipped — plus about $96 extra, because you're also paying the rent charge on that $3,000 for the full term instead of paying it once upfront. That $96 is the real cost of "zero down" in this example, not the $3,000 itself.
If the alternative is depleting an emergency fund or taking on higher-interest debt to make the down payment, the few hundred dollars of extra financing cost calculated above can be the cheaper option overall — the comparison isn't "zero-down vs free," it's "zero-down vs what else that cash would otherwise do."
Request the total-of-payments figure for both the zero-down and with-down versions of the same offer, from the Reg M disclosure box. That single number replaces all the manual math above.