Glossary

Due at Signing

Written by Jared J.Reviewed by Jared J.Updated 2026-10-14Last reviewed 2026-08-07

What is due at signing on a car lease?

Due at signing is the total cash or trade value a leasing company collects on the day you sign, not a single fee. It usually bundles the first month's payment, an acquisition fee, documentation and title charges, and any cap cost reduction you choose to add. The only piece that changes by choice is the cap cost reduction, the plain-language term for money down; the rest are set by the lease itself or your state.

Federal Regulation M requires the lease to show this total as the "amount due at lease signing or delivery" and to itemize each piece by type and amount, including any security deposit, the first monthly payment, and any cap cost reduction (12 CFR 1013.4(b)). Dealers sometimes advertise a lease by its cap cost reduction alone, a "$0 down" or "$999 down" headline. That number is only one line of the total due at signing, not the whole bill.

Which lease deals have zero due at signing?

Only deals where every signing cost is either waived or rolled into the payments, and those programs come and go month to month, so the reliable way to find one is to read the total due at signing printed on each published lease example. A headline alone will not tell you, because "$0 down," "first month waived," and "$0 due at signing" each zero out a different piece.

Federal rules make that total easy to find. Under Regulation M, any lease ad that states a payment amount, or says no payment is required at signing, must also state the total amount due at signing (12 CFR 1013.7(d)). The official interpretation of that rule lets the ad's total leave out third-party fees such as taxes, license and registration, as long as the ad discloses that it does. That is why a "$0 due at signing" headline can still leave a tax and registration bill at the counter.

The live lease deals board lists the due-at-signing figure on every manufacturer lease example, separate from the payment, so you can see at a glance whether any current example is truly $0. Start with the live lease deals board or this month's best lease deals. Complete Car Lease is not a dealer, lessor, or broker; those prices are manufacturer lease examples, not offers from us, and each one carries its own expiration date.

What's included in due at signing?

Due at signing typically bundles four components, and only one of them is something you choose to add. Here is what each piece is and whether it is optional.

Only the cap cost reduction is something you choose to add. The other three pieces are collected regardless of how much, or how little, you put down. For the full breakdown of how each piece is calculated and how to check the real total before you sign, see what fees are due at signing on a lease. Acquisition fee figures by brand are on acquisition fees by brand.

Is "zero down" the same as "zero due at signing"?

No, and mixing these up is the most common confusion in lease shopping. "Zero down" means zero cap cost reduction, one piece out of several. "Zero due at signing" means nothing at all is collected on the day you sign, which requires the dealer to also waive or roll in the first month's payment and the acquisition fee.

Here is the gap in dollars. On a hypothetical 36-month lease, a $31,000 MSRP car, a $28,500 selling price, a 59% residual, and a 0.00245 money factor (about 5.88% APR), the base payment with zero cap cost reduction comes to $398.25 a month, computed with the site's lease calculator rather than estimated. Add a $650 acquisition fee, the figure cited for Toyota in industry compilations, and this "zero down" deal still has $1,048.25 due before any doc fee or title cost, which vary by state and add more on top.

What does rolling signing costs into the lease cost you?

Rolling a fee into the lease takes it off the signing bill, but you pay it anyway through the payments, plus rent charge on it for the whole term. Here is the same hypothetical $28,500 lease, computed with the site's lease calculator, with the $650 acquisition fee paid at signing in one column and rolled into the lease in the other.

Rolling the fee in adds $19.64 a month. Over the 36 months that comes to $57 more than paying the $650 at signing, the rent charge on the fee. That is a small price for keeping cash in your pocket, but it is not free. Getting the remaining $417.89 to zero also means the first payment cannot be collected at signing, so when an ad says "$0 due at signing," read the fine print for who covers that first payment and which taxes and fees are excluded.

Can due at signing ever actually be zero?

Yes, but it takes more than skipping the down payment. A true zero-due-at-signing lease, sometimes marketed as sign-and-drive, requires the dealer to also waive or roll in the first month's payment and the acquisition fee, on top of adding no cap cost reduction. All the pieces have to be zero, not just the one that gets advertised.

That full combination shows up in specific manufacturer programs occasionally, not as a standing option at every dealer. Whether to add a cap cost reduction at all is a separate decision with its own risk, since that money is typically not refundable if the car is stolen or totaled early in the lease; see should you put money down on a lease before deciding. None of these fees settle whether leasing was the right move in the first place, either. If you drive well past your mileage allowance every year or keep cars for a decade, the money factor's rent charge costs far more over the term than any signing fee ever will.