A lease can be written so that you hand the dealership almost nothing on delivery day: no cash down, the documentary fee and registration folded into the monthly payment. It is a popular structure for good reasons, and it comes with one line that surprises people the first time: the first month's payment is still due when you sign. Here is why both things are true, and what the choice costs.
Every lease has a short list of money that changes hands at the start. On The Broker Black the vehicle page itemizes it: the first month's payment, any cash down and the tax on it, the documentary fee, and title, registration, and the vehicle license tax. Two of those lines are choices. Cash down is entirely yours to set, including zero. The start-up fees can be paid at signing or rolled into the capitalized cost so they ride inside the payment. The first month's payment is not a choice, and the next section explains why.
A lease is paid in advance, not in arrears. A loan payment covers the month that just ended; a lease payment covers the month you are about to drive. So the day you take the car, the first month of use starts, and that month is paid for on the spot. Every payment after it arrives a month before the month it covers.
Because that first payment is a payment, not a fee, it cannot be capitalized. The capitalized cost is what the lessor finances over the term; the first payment is the term starting. A "sign and drive" offer that shows nothing due at signing is the lessor or the manufacturer paying that first month for you as an incentive, and it is priced into the deal somewhere else.
The documentary fee, title, registration, and Arizona's vehicle license tax are real costs of putting the car on the road, and they are due either way. Paying them at signing keeps them out of the payment; rolling them in spreads them over the term at the lease's money factor. On a $1,500 package over 36 months that is about $45 a month, of which a few dollars is rent charge, plus a little use tax on the higher payment. In exchange, delivery day costs you one payment instead of one payment plus a check.
The right answer depends on what the cash is doing otherwise. If it would sit idle, paying the fees up front saves a few dollars a month. If it has a job, rolling them in keeps it working. The vehicle page prices both so you can see the exact difference for the car in front of you.
Set cash down to zero and choose Roll into the payment under Start-up fees. The deal sheet moves the documentary fee, title, registration, and license tax from the due-at-signing list into the payment, the payment rises by that amount spread over the term, and due at signing becomes exactly one payment. The disclosure under the payment restates every figure, so nothing rides inside the number unseen.
Because a lease payment covers the month ahead. The first month starts when you take the car, so the first payment is made then. It is a payment for use, not a down payment, and it cannot be rolled into the lease.
Only by the lessor or the manufacturer as an incentive, sometimes called sign and drive. When it exists on a program, The Broker Black shows it; when it does not, the first payment is due at signing on every lease from every dealer.
A little. The fees are financed at the lease's money factor over the term, and the monthly use tax applies to the higher payment. On typical Arizona fees over 36 months, the difference is a few dollars a month. The vehicle page shows both structures side by side.
No. On a lease, a down payment lowers the payment by roughly the amount you put in divided by the term, and it is not refunded if the car is a total loss early in the term. Zero down keeps your money in your hands for the months you actually drive.
Equity in a trade works like cash down: it lowers the capitalized cost and the payment. The same logic applies. Many people prefer to take the trade equity as a check rather than fold it into a lease they will not own.