Congrats on a great car!
I just noticed that what you have is what is called an "O
pen Ended Lease" as noted on the upper right hand corner. If I understand correctly that $78,930 residual stated on the lease is what they expect to be able to get for the car at the end of the lease but you might be liable for making up the difference if the "value" they are able to get for the car is less than that. Can you check with your lease company on how that works?
This is the biggest differentiator from what I gather between a lease directly from Tesla Motors where you can walk away at the end of the lease period with no liabilities contingent on the actual value of the car at the end of the lease period. What Tesla offers is a traditional close ended lease.
With Earth Motors Leasing, what you have is an "Open Ended Lease" where though a residual is
estimated, you are liable for any amount the car might be worth less than the stated residual.
I could be wrong about all this and if so I'd love to know that I am wrong because I am strongly considering Earth Leasing for when we buy our Model S and would really like to understand for sure what an Open Ended Lease entails.
Based on the explanation on the Web page below, with an Open Ended Lease, the lessee actually assumes all liability to do with the actual value of the vehicle at the end of the lease period to a point where if the lease company can't obtain the stated residual, the lessee will actually be charged for the difference.
http://www.merchantsfleetmanagement.com/fleet-resources/openend-vs-closedend-leases.cfm
Excerpt:
Open-end LeaseWith an open-end lease, not all, but a significant degree of risks from ownership is transferred to the lessee. The total lease costs are unknown until the end of the lease term and the vehicle(s) under the lease are sold. And, if there are any gains or losses on the vehicle(s) sale, this is applied to the lessee’s account.
If a loss is incurred at the end of the lease term, it is treated as an additional payment, and the lease may be in jeopardy of meeting the criteria for an operating lease. In this case, the lessor needs to absorb a portion of the loss in order to keep the payments below 90% of the vehicle(s) fair market value. Due to the possibility of a significant loss, there are often provisions in the open-end contracts that bind the lessor to take steps and ensure the lease meets operating lease requirements.
Under this open-end lease agreement, there are significant risks that the lessee is exposed to from the swings in the used vehicle market, to the mileage and condition of the vehicle(s).