This easy to use tool should be your 1st step BEFORE you consider buying a car. Do not buy a car until you fill out this budget spreadsheet and determine how much car you can afford. This useful tool helps you stay on top of spending with rising gas prices, so run it every 6 months. We use it with great success in the mercy ministry at our church to help destitute people in a financial jam plan a strategy out of their situation. Simply enter your monthly income & accurately list ALL your expenses, and your desired car payment, and it tells you if you can afford it. Choose a car payment that allows a comfortable positive monthly cash flow at the bottom line. That is your monthly cushion.

Before you download: This budget spreadsheet records the last date that you saved your budget, and records it in a cell near the top, to the right of the spreadsheet. This is done using a macro, so you must have macros enabled in Excel for that date function to work. To enable macros in Excel, select: Tools > Macro > Security, then click on Medium or Low Security. Or, if Excel prompts you to enable macros on this spreadsheet, click on Yes.

To download, just right click on the image on the left here, and choose "Save Target As". It's best to edit the files using the actual Microsoft Excel program, not in your internet browser window. This Microsoft Excel budget spreadsheet Will not work on PocketPC. This is Used in: Chapter 1

Will not work for PocketPC.

Used in: How To Buy A Used Car Chapter

Will not work for PocketPC. Use the special PocketPC version above.

Used in: Chapter 1

This Excel spreadsheet helps you work up an offer to the dealer for a new car only, not used. The core strategy of this entire site comes down to this offer spreadsheet. Fill in the base price, and all the options, rebates, incentives, destination charges, etc. from the car pricing sites that we tell you to use. The spreadsheet strips out wasted fees, determines the dealer's true cost, and offers 3% - 5% fair profit above that. Then print it out, take it to a dealer to negotiate, or fax it to several local dealers, one of them will bite.

The print area is set to print only the necessary part to fax to a dealer. To download, just right click on the images on the left here, and choose "Save Target As". It's best to edit using Excel, not in your browser window. Used in: Chapter 4 Will not work for PocketPC PDA.

Lease Monthly Payment Calculator Spreadsheet

This spreadsheet calculates lease payments. It's based on the FTC's Regulation M Model Lease form with enhancements. I highly suggest that you practice with it on an old lease. This spreadsheet will make your life much easier. The enhancements I made are the inclusion of the money factor, cells for other closing costs like dealer acquisition, different sections are colored for easier reading, and fields to calculate excess mileage penalty. Mileage penalties are added to the total cost of lease to show you how much the entire lease will cost you. This is what dealers never tell you. Another great feature: all the fields are named. Instead of cryptic cell formulas, click on any total in the spreadsheet, and it names all the items that make up the total. This helps you see how payments are calculated. You can do your calculations without being connected to the internet, so bring your notebook PC with you to the dealer and check their numbers right there. Many readers have used this spreadsheet right there in the finance office and caught dealers cheating. Of course my lease spreadsheet does have its limitations, so use real lease software like Expert Lease Pro.

Will not work for PocketPC. Used in: The Car Leasing Chapters

I thought you would like to hear this.

I took your lease spreadsheet on my laptop to the dealer and plugged in their numbers right at the dealership. Doing this identified several hidden charges like VIN etching and a missing $1000 reduction in the car's price per the advertised price. The spreadsheet exposed a $60/month discrepancy which lead to identifying the hidden charges and missing discount. Ultimately the extra charges were dropped and the calculations were made to match. At one point the finance manager began questioning where I got the spreadsheet, but didn't get into questioning its accuracy. In the end, I got the best deal I think anyone could have, or at least the most accurate. Nice work on the spreadsheet and thanks for the good work.

When you email us about your savings, please tell us the make, model, options, invoice price, MSRP, and selling price that you negotiated down to.