One number from 0 to 100 that tells you, at a glance, how good a lease is by the 1% rule, payment vs MSRP. So you stop guessing and choose with confidence.
Leases and loans are deliberately confusing: money factor, residual, cap cost. It is nearly impossible to tell if a price is good. The Hunter Score collapses all of it into one honest number: the higher it is, the better the deal. No US lease service does this.
Top-tier: payment near or below 1% of MSRP per month. Wholesale, not retail. Lock it.
A genuinely good deal: payment around the 1% rule, a healthy payment-to-MSRP ratio.
Around the typical payment-to-MSRP for this car. Fine, not a standout. Compare with higher-scored cars.
Payment is high relative to MSRP for this car. Keep looking.
LCR = monthly payment as a percent of MSRP. The rule of thumb: a great lease is about 1% of MSRP per month, and lower is better. A $40,000 car near $400/mo (1.0%) is the ideal; around $320/mo (0.8%) scores 100, around 2.4% scores 0. It is an absolute yardstick that does not depend on anyone's opinion of "the market".
It is an absolute measure: the same car earns the same score anywhere, with no "market" assumptions.
Finance uses a different rule: the score is the discount off MSRP plus the APR against the average for your credit tier (Experian data).
An ideal deal (95-100, "Hunter Verified Steal") is a payment near 0.8% of MSRP per month, with no markups. Example: a $40,000 car around $320/mo. That is wholesale, not retail.
The payment-to-MSRP ratio is mapped to 0-100.
LCR% = monthly_payment / MSRP * 100 // the 1% rule Hunter Score = round( clamp( (2.4 - LCR%) / (2.4 - 0.8) * 100 , 0..100 ) ) Bands: >=85 Steal | 65-84 Strong | 50-64 Fair | <50 Above Market
If data is incomplete or the payment is implausibly low (below 0.6% of MSRP, almost always a data error), we show "Pending" instead of a made-up number. Better nothing than a fake 100.
It is our own metric, not a market standard. Use it as a filter to shortlist quickly, then decide on the full breakdown: money factor, residual, fees, and the effective monthly cost.
It has edge cases. A pricey car with a strong factory subsidy can score high against a large MSRP, while an honest deal on a cheaper car can look plainer. The score answers "payment vs MSRP" honestly, but it does not tell you which of two different cars is right for you.
Today the score measures price against the market and MSRP. Next we add anti-markup factors: the dealer’s money-factor markup, the share of available incentives captured, and fee cleanliness (doc fee within California’s cap, no junk add-ons). The more data, the harder it is to game.