Back to Learn
Review 1 of 3
Which Loan Term Should I Choose for My Lease Buyout?
Published 8/28/26
TL;DR (5-minute read): The best lease buyout loan term is generally the shortest one with a monthly payment that comfortably fits your budget. Based on Lease End lease buyout data, 65.7% of drivers choose 72 months, but going from a 60-month to an 84-month loan saves just $22 per month on average while adding $5,807 in total interest.
When you're financing a lease buyout, choosing your loan term can feel pretty straightforward: find the option with the monthly payment you like best.
But the lowest monthly payment isn't necessarily the cheapest loan.
In fact, Lease End's data shows just how expensive a relatively small drop in monthly payment can become when you stretch it across another year or two. So before automatically choosing 72 or 84 months, it's worth looking at what you're actually getting for those extra months.
What Is a Lease Buyout Loan Term?
Your lease buyout loan term is simply the amount of time you have to repay the money you borrow to purchase your leased vehicle.
A 60-month loan gives you five years to repay it. A 72-month loan gives you six. An 84-month loan gives you seven.
- Shorter terms generally mean higher monthly payments but less interest paid over the life of the loan.
- Longer terms generally lower the monthly payment but keep you in debt longer and can significantly increase your total interest.
The trick is finding the right balance between the two.
What Loan Terms Do Lease Buyout Customers Actually Choose?
The 72-month loan is by far the most popular lease buyout loan term among Lease End customers.
Based on lease buyout transactions we've processed from January 2025 through July 2026, 65.7% of funded buyouts used a 72-month term. That's more than every other loan term combined.
| Loan Term | Funded Buyouts | % of All Deals | Avg. Rate | Avg. Monthly Payment | Avg. Total Interest |
| 36 months | 202 | 0.6% | 6.24% | $735 | $2,391 |
| 48 months | 812 | 2.4% | 6.66% | $614 | $3,686 |
| 60 months | 2,127 | 6.2% | 7.20% | $576 | $5,600 |
| 72 months | 22,415 | 65.7% | 9.44% | $569 | $9,943 |
| 75 months | 2,798 | 8.2% | 11.17% | $572 | $12,348 |
| 84 months | 5,286 | 15.5% | 8.19% | $554 | $11,407 |
Based on Lease End funded lease buyouts from January 2025 through July 2026. Average total interest = (monthly payment × term) − amount financed.
At first glance, 72 months looks like an obvious sweet spot. The average payment is $569, compared with $614 at 48 months and $735 at 36.
But there's a cost hiding behind that lower monthly payment.
The $22 Monthly Payment That Can Cost You $5,807
Extending a lease buyout loan from 60 to 84 months saved Lease End customers just $22 per month on average while adding $5,807 in total interest.
The average 60-month payment was $576.
The average 84-month payment was $554.
That's $22.
Meanwhile, average total interest jumped from $5,600 to $11,407.
You're saving about the cost of a streaming subscription each month in exchange for paying nearly $6,000 more in interest over the life of the loan.
The comparison between 60 and 72 months is arguably even stranger.
Average payment:
60 months: $576
72 months: $569
72 months: $569
That's only $7 less per month.
Average total interest:
60 months: $5,600
72 months: $9,943
72 months: $9,943
That's $4,343 more in interest for the longer loan.
Now, that doesn't mean choosing 72 months costs you exactly $4,343 more than choosing 60. These are averages across different borrowers, vehicles, rates, and loan amounts, not two quotes for an identical loan.
But they reveal something important: don't choose your loan term based on the monthly payment alone.
Look at the total cost too.
Why Is 72 Months So Popular?
The 72-month term gives many drivers a manageable monthly payment without stretching the loan all the way to seven years.
That's a pretty compelling middle ground, which helps explain why nearly two-thirds of Lease End customers land there.
There's another factor hiding in the data, though: credit.
The average interest rate for a 72-month loan was 9.44%, compared with 8.19% for an 84-month loan. That doesn't mean lenders generally reward you with a lower rate for borrowing money longer.
A large share of weaker-credit borrowers cluster at 72 months because the longer term helps keep their monthly payment manageable. That borrower mix pushes the overall 72-month average rate higher.
To understand what loan term actually does to your financing, it's more useful to compare drivers with similar credit.
How Your Credit Score Changes the Loan-Term Math
Your credit profile can matter more to your interest rate than the loan term itself.
Here's what Lease End's funded buyouts show when we separate borrowers by credit tier. Each cell shows the average interest rate followed by average total interest paid over the life of the loan.
| Credit Tier | 48 Months | 60 Months | 72 Months | 84 Months |
| 780+ Super Prime | 5.91% / $3,355 | 5.81% / $4,747 | 6.43% / $6,967 | 6.69% / $9,119 |
| 720–779 Prime | 6.25% / $3,492 | 6.14% / $4,831 | 7.17% / $7,766 | 7.34% / $10,437 |
| 660–719 Near Prime | 8.22% / $5,042 | 8.12% / $6,833 | 9.07% / $10,136 | 8.68% / $12,735 |
| 600–659 Subprime | 10.53% / $5,232 | 10.72% / $8,461 | 11.71% / $12,566 | 10.26% / $15,089 |
| Below 600 | 11.47% / $5,995 | 16.23% / $11,336 | 15.47% / $16,493 | 11.85% / $17,316 |
Based on Lease End funded lease buyouts from January 2025 through July 2026. Credit-tier data excludes co-buyer deals.
And this table tells a much more useful story.
If You Have Excellent Credit
Longer terms come with a relatively small rate difference for super-prime borrowers, but substantially more total interest.
Drivers with scores of 780 or higher averaged a 5.91% rate at 48 months and 6.69% at 84 months.
That's only a 0.78 percentage-point difference despite adding three years to the loan.
But total interest increased from $3,355 to $9,119.
So if you've got excellent credit, the decision may be less about getting a dramatically different rate and more about deciding what you value: a lower monthly obligation or a lower total cost.
If You Have Good Credit
Prime borrowers see a similar trade-off.
Drivers in the 720–779 range averaged 6.14% at 60 months, 7.17% at 72 months, and 7.34% at 84 months.
Average total interest went from $4,831 at 60 months to $10,437 at 84 months.
Again, the longer term buys you breathing room each month. But you're paying for that breathing room.
If You Have Weaker Credit
The case for choosing the shortest term you can comfortably afford gets stronger as borrowing becomes more expensive.
For borrowers with scores between 600 and 659, the average rate was already 10.53% at 48 months. Average total interest was $5,232.
At 84 months, the average rate was actually slightly lower at 10.26%, but average total interest climbed to $15,089.
That's nearly $10,000 more than the average total interest paid by a super-prime borrower with an 84-month loan.
Long terms and high rates can be a rough combination. If your credit puts you in a higher-rate tier, every extra year gives that interest more time to pile up.
Read More: Fair Credit Lease Buyouts
When Does a Longer Lease Buyout Loan Make Sense?
A 72- or 84-month lease buyout loan can make sense when keeping the monthly payment lower is more valuable to you than minimizing total interest.
Maybe you're buying out a higher-value vehicle and a shorter term would make the monthly payment uncomfortable. Maybe you have excellent credit, qualify for a competitive rate, and would rather keep more room in your monthly budget. Or maybe you plan to keep the car long enough that financing it over a longer period fits your plans.
A longer term isn't automatically a bad financial decision.
The problem is choosing one simply because $554 looks better than $576 without noticing what happens to the total cost.
If a longer term helps you maintain healthy savings and gives you a payment you can comfortably afford, the extra interest may be a trade-off you're perfectly happy to make.
Just make the trade intentionally.
When Should You Choose a Shorter Loan Term?
A shorter lease buyout loan makes the most sense when you can comfortably handle the higher payment and want to minimize the cost of borrowing.
The data makes that benefit pretty obvious. Average total interest among Lease End customers was $2,391 at 36 months, $3,686 at 48 months, and $5,600 at 60 months. At 84 months, it was $11,407.
A shorter term can be especially attractive if you have a higher interest rate, expect to keep the vehicle for many years, or simply don't like the idea of still making payments on today's car seven years from now.
There's also the age of the car to consider.
Remember, you're not financing a brand-new vehicle. If you buy out a car after a typical three-year lease and finance it for another seven years, you could still be making payments when the vehicle is around ten years old.
That's not necessarily a dealbreaker. Plenty of vehicles can comfortably last much longer than that.
But “Will I still want to be paying for this car then?” is a question worth asking.
Is a 60-, 72-, or 84-Month Lease Buyout Loan Best?
There's no universally best term, but the shortest loan you can comfortably afford is usually the best place to start your comparison.
A 60-month term can reduce your total interest substantially, but the higher payment has to work within your actual budget.
A 72-month term is the overwhelming favorite among Lease End customers because it can offer a middle ground between monthly affordability and loan length.
An 84-month term can lower the monthly obligation further, which can be valuable for cash flow, especially on an expensive vehicle. But seven years gives interest a lot of time to accumulate.
The important thing is to compare monthly payment, interest rate, and total interest together.
If you only compare payments, you're only looking at part of the price.
Want to see what different loan terms could look like for your vehicle? Use Lease End's Lease Buyout Calculator to compare your estimated monthly payment before deciding which term makes sense.
How to Choose Your Lease Buyout Loan Term
Start with the shortest term whose payment fits comfortably into your budget, then compare it against the longer options.
For example, if you're considering 60, 72, and 84 months, don't just ask which payment you'd prefer to have. Look at how much each option costs you in total interest, how long you plan to keep the car, and how much room the payment leaves in your monthly budget.
Your credit matters too. A borrower with a 780 credit score looking at rates around 6% faces a very different decision from someone borrowing at 12% or 15%.
And don't sacrifice the rest of your finances just to win the shortest-loan-term trophy. A 48-month loan isn't a great deal if its payment leaves you unable to save or cover an unexpected expense.
The goal isn't the shortest loan.
It's the shortest loan that works for you.
Lease Buyout Loan Term FAQs
How long can a lease buyout loan be?
Lease buyout loan terms vary by lender and borrower. In Lease End's funded buyout data, terms ranged from 36 to 84 months, with 72 months accounting for 65.7% of all deals.
Is 72 months too long for a lease buyout loan?
Not necessarily. A 72-month term can provide a more manageable monthly payment, and it's the most common term among Lease End customers. But you should compare its total interest against shorter terms before choosing it.
Is an 84-month lease buyout loan a bad idea?
Not automatically. An 84-month loan can make sense if you need the lower monthly payment, qualify for competitive financing, plan to keep the vehicle long-term, and understand the additional interest cost.
Lease End customers with 84-month loans averaged $554 per month and $11,407 in total interest, compared with $576 per month and $5,600 in interest at 60 months. Those figures come from different groups of borrowers, so they illustrate the trade-off rather than the exact savings or cost you'd personally receive.
Does a longer loan term mean a higher interest rate?
Not necessarily. Your credit profile has a major influence on your rate, and Lease End's data doesn't show rates increasing uniformly with loan length.
For example, borrowers with scores between 600 and 659 averaged 10.53% at 48 months and 10.26% at 84 months. What reliably increases with a longer term is the amount of time you're paying interest.
Read More: Lease Buyout Loan Rate Averages by Credit
Can I pay off a lease buyout loan early?
Whether and how you can pay off your loan early depends on your lender and loan agreement. Check your financing terms for any prepayment restrictions or penalties before choosing a longer term with plans to pay it off ahead of schedule.
What's the best lease buyout loan term?
The best lease buyout loan term is generally the shortest one with a payment you can comfortably afford. Compare the rate, monthly payment, total interest, your budget, and how long you plan to keep the vehicle before deciding.
Find the Right Lease Buyout Loan for You
The 72-month loan may be the default, but it doesn't have to be your default.
Lease End compares loan options to help you find financing that fits your vehicle, credit, and budget. You can see what your lease buyout could look like and decide whether 60, 72, 84 months, or another available term gives you the balance you want.
Ready to see your options? Enter your VIN or license plate number below to get started.
Susan Lake
August 23, 2026
Buying out my lease on my own had me…
Buying out my lease, on my own, had me going through many hurdles and obstacles. The leaseholder, Genesis Finance, said I had to get the buyout information from a dealer. The dealer provided me with a written buyout that my bank found unacceptable, plus I would have to deal with all the motor vehicle department transactions, so I decided to try Lease End. Amazing within a couple of hours everything was done barely lifting a finger to send photos of our driver's license, insurance card, and registration. They arranged the financing with a lender well known to me, as I already have some banking relationships with, at a rate better than I was entertaining from my credit union. They got all the information directly from Genesis finance and handled all the motor vehicle paperwork. All I had to do was Auto sign the loan agreement online. The service was outstanding everyone that I dealt with, which were few, were amazing, confident, courteous, friendly and efficient. What an incredible experience couldn't ask for more. Everything taken care of just like that. I still have trouble believing it was so easy.