You are in the process of getting a new car priced at $24,000, but you are not sure if you should lease it or buy it. Open a new Excel workbook.

You could sell your current car for $4,000 and use the funds as a lease down payment, reducing the financed amount to $20,000. The lease would run for four years with an annual interest rate (APR) of 6%. At the end of the lease, the residual value (future value) would be $8,000. The lease payments would be due at the end of each month.

If you decide to buy the car, the dealer will give you a $6,000 trade-in allowance on your current vehicle and will finance the remaining $18,000 for five years at 4% APR with payments due at the beginning of each month. You would own the car at the end of the five-year period, but the value of the car at that time (the future values) is unknown and assumed to be zero.

Hint: It is important to note if payments will be made at the beginning of the month or at the end of the month.

Create a 3-column table that shows the difference between leasing and buying the car in terms of monthly payments. Hint: Use the PMT function. Include column and row headings. The first column should contain labels (such as Price), the second column should contain lease data and the third column should contain buy data. Hint: The monthly lease should be $321.82.

Use proper formatting so your worksheet is easy to read. Add the title Los Angeles to your table, merged and centered over the three columns.

You decide to visit the dealership in San Diego . Copy your Los Angeles table to a nearby location and change the title to San Diego. The San Diego dealer will sell you the same car for only $23,500, with $5,500 trade-in allowance and 5% APR. You could also lease the $23,500 car from San Diego with a down payment of $3,500 with a 5% APR. All other San Diego data is the same as Los Angeles. Revise your San Diego table with the appropriate data. Hint: The San Diego monthly payments to purchase the vehicle should be $338.27.