God Bless you...When you lease, basically this is how it works. The finance company determines what percentage of the MSRP the vehicle will be worth at the end of the lease. This is called your residual value. They then take the residual value and subtract it from the MSRP (or the amount you have negotiated to). This amount, minus any trade value, plus any negative equity, is the amount on which your payments are figured. There is a finance fee, but basically it goes like this.$35,000 MSRP X 52% =$18,200 residual value$35,000-$18,200=$16,800 -$3000 trade equity=$13,800$13,800/36 months =$383So your payment in this scenario should be close to $384-$400. Compare that to financing $35,000-$3000=$32,000 for 60 months at 7.5%=$641. So roughly half the payment for half the time commitment, all of the warranty and NO RISK of being tipped when you are ready to trade. Seems like a no brainer to me.As far as knowing that you are getting the abslute cheapest lease payment, NEGOTIATE the sale price of the vehicle BEFORE you talk payment.