Leasing a car

I haven't owned a vehicle since 1990 and have leased more than a dozen new cars since then. If I could give you one piece of advice it would be this: stick to the leases sponsored by the manufacturer and financed through the manufacturer's credit company. Go to the manufacturer's web site and look at the link for "special offers" and you'll find the exact terms of the lease spelled out, i.e., the model, the amount of money up front (if any), and the monthly payment. If you're willing to accept that model just as specified without trying to customize it, you're more than halfway to getting a good lease deal.

Regarding your credit score, the lease terms spelled out in the special offers apply to people with pretty decent credit. The credit company can adjust the money factor somewhat to compensate for a lower credit score. The result will be a higher monthly payment but not that much higher.

You don't say what kind of vehicle you're looking for but you can shop the manufacturer's web sites to see what's out there. The ones with the most models available for lease are going to be Honda, Subaru, VW, and Hyundai. American companies will run lease specials limited to just a few models and you'll find very few trucks available for lease.

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I know absolutely nothing about leasing vehicles

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Aside from the service department, care to guess what most dealers prefer the buyer to do?

Without looking, can you explain to me what each of the following are: money factor, residual, capital cost, acquisition fee, disposition fee?

And are your monthly payments based off MSRP? Can rebates and incentives be applied?

This is just for fun.