Deal of the century or bad decision?

[brademcee]

Two and a half years ago I had pre-ordered a Model 3. As of July 2018, I was still waiting for the chance to order one (from my preorder). I decided to rent one through Turo for a few days to make sure I would like it. For that week, I loved driving the car and the feeling of being all electric. However, I decided to cancel my order because of the dull interior (was my opinion) and wait for one of the other luxury manufacturers to come out with their electric vehicles. Fast forward a year, I now see what the advantage is to buying a Model 3 over the i-Pace, Etron or the future EQC. For the price, you can not beat a Model 3 (performance and range). I also think I can do some things to the interior to spice it up: Center console wrap, add interior fiber optic lighting from XK Glow.

Thus, I decided a few weeks ago to seriously consider the Model 3. I ended up going online and filling out the form to have someone in sales contact me. After going through a bunch of configurations and lease/pricing options, I was pretty much set on leasing a LR AWD version. Yesterday the sales person emailed me a Tesla link for a Performance AWD model with Red multicoat, white interior (and the other performance upgrades). The vehicle had 2,300 miles on it but it was not considered to be used. After adding the FSD option on it, the sticker price was $68,000 but they were giving me a $11,500 credit to make the vehicle only $57,500. The sales person thought that I wouldn't be able to lease it, but after submitting a lease application, they approved the lease. It would be $4500 down and $640 a month (36mo, 10K mi/yr). Since I am leasing it, I didnt really care that its a 2018 model. They are installing the latest FSD processor too. How could I pass that up, right? I am just a little concerned that if something is too good to be true, it probably is......I am now waiting for delivery of the vehicle (it is about 750 miles from me and needs to be shipped).

Thoughts....great deal or bad decision?

 

[notrhj]

A Performance model with an 11,500 discount is a steal.
Just know that as a lease you have no option to purchase.

I would purchase outright and sell recouping almost all my money making it the worlds cheapest lease. The 11.5 k discount takes care of the bulk of depreciation.
It’s a hot car and hot color combination

 

[SoCal Jimmy]

It’s definitely not the deal of the century but it’s a good deal for what’s left of 2018 models.

A lot of us including myself picked up 2018 performance models in the low 50’s at the end of last quarter. Mine was just south of $50k, $49 and some change if i recall and only had 1309 miles on it.


Your lease is where the deal is but for a purchase price, it’s not stellar.

Good luck and enjoy the car.

 

[SoCal Jimmy]

Unfortunately you can’t buy out a Model 3 lease. Tesla requires you return it to them at end of lease.

A Performance model with an 11,500 discount is a steal.
Just know that as a lease you have no option to purchase.

I would purchase outright and sell recouping almost all my money making it the worlds cheapest lease. The 11.5 k discount takes care of the bulk of depreciation.
It’s a hot car and hot color combination

 

[omegafiler]

I'd say it's a fair deal to purchase if that's the configuration you were going to buy anyways. If you wanted a cheaper color, blank interior, no FSD, you could buy a brand new performance Model 3 for not much more. And Tesla lease terms aren't great. I'd try to make a purchase happen.

 

[OCR1]

The overall discount is quite good but I would not put FSD on a car that I am leasing. The functionality that exists today is not worth $6K and who knows if it will be before the end of the lease.

 

[SoCal Jimmy]

My other concern that no one at Tesla can answer is, on a traditional lease, if 18 months in you wanted to get out of the lease, you’d call the bank, get a payoff and go trade the car in, hope to break even or pay a little extra to walk away.

Since Tesla requires you to return the car to them at the end of the lease, there is no buyout option. What happens if at 18 months i want out? Do i have to find someone that wants to take it over? Do i owe the 18 months in payments still to walk away? No ones been able to give me that answer, so I’m skeptical of jumping into a model 3 lease

 

[SoCal Jimmy]

The overall discount is quite good but I would not put FSD on a car that I am leasing. The functionality that exists today is not worth $6K and who knows if it will be before the end of the lease.

Exactly.
$6k at a 50% residual, you can reduce your lease payment by about $80-90 bucks a month by not adding the FSD option. Then at $550 a month lease on a performance, you got a stellar lease deal.

 

[doenutt]

My other concern that no one at Tesla can answer is, on a traditional lease, if 18 months in you wanted to get out of the lease, you’d call the bank, get a payoff and go trade the car in, hope to break even or pay a little extra to walk away.

Since Tesla requires you to return the car to them at the end of the lease, there is no buyout option. What happens if at 18 months i want out? Do i have to find someone that wants to take it over? Do i owe the 18 months in payments still to walk away? No ones been able to give me that answer, so I’m skeptical of jumping into a model 3 lease

Pretty sure they would want you to pay the remaining of the amount you owe to return the car. Or maybe get you to another lease if possible. There’s no way they will let you walk away.
Great deal though! I had been hunting a deal like that myself

 

[brademcee]

In regards to the lease, if you wanted to get out of the lease early, you would need to pay the remaining payments. With most car leases, you can always try to sell the car for more then the payoff amount to buy it. Most of the time, you wouldn’t be able to sell it for more the the payoff to own.

However in this case, that’s not an option either since Tesla isn’t letting a leasee buy the Model 3. A better option which Tesla does allow with the Model 3 is to have some one take it over. That is what I am going to probably do in the next 16 months. I use a website called Swapalease which hooks up buyers and sellers. I have personally done two swaps already and Tesla’s go really really fast. Especially for what my monthly will be.

I also do not believe in leasing to own. It’s a bad deal to do that because most of the time, you finance the buyout and between the lease and finance period you can have over 7 years of interest rates. I like to Lease because I like getting new cars every 24 months. The small premium is worth the flexibility. For others that keep cars over 5 years or have a lot of mileage, I can totally understand why leasing sounds silly.

Lastly, I am not paying the full $6K for FSD since it gets rolled into the lease. For $83 a month, it’s worth it to me.

I ended up calling my local Tesla store to ask them their opinion of what I am getting versus buying new. He said I would be crazy to pass up this deal.

Thanks everyone for their input!

 

[Leafdriver333]

For some reason, I feel Tesla should prorate FSD for a lease vehicle.
How much does the residual go up after adding FSD?

 

[brademcee]

Residual isn’t really effected. They must prorate it because I asked them to remove it and my payment dropped by about $45 a month. So it’s actually not adding $80 a month.

 

[nebster]

"not considered used"

Check a recent thread about a "new demo" performance model 3 being sold, and what happened when the prospective buyer ran a Carfax

Model 3 performance dealer discount

 

[brademcee]

Okay, so I just bought the CARFAX report. Now I am torn, it looks like it was registered with 50 miles on the car. What I am confirmed about is how the car has 2500 miles but the return policy only limits 1000 miles. That would be an extra 1500 miles that are somewhat unexplained. The issue I am having is that since I am leasing, I am not necessarily concerned about the prior ownership. Tesla should not be calling these cars new. Since I am leasing, that shouldn’t really matter and it comes with the full warranty so as long as I don’t see any defects, I should be fine right? Now I don’t know what to do. CARFAX has not accidents reported.

 

[brademcee]

And I appreciate everyone’s help. You are all great!

 

[OCR1]

Okay, so I just bought the CARFAX report. Now I am torn, it looks like it was registered with 50 miles on the car. What I am confirmed about is how the car has 2500 miles but the return policy only limits 1000 miles. That would be an extra 1500 miles that are somewhat unexplained. The issue I am having is that since I am leasing, I am not necessarily concerned about the prior ownership. Tesla should not be calling these cars new. Since I am leasing, that shouldn’t really matter and it comes with the full warranty so as long as I don’t see any defects, I should be fine right? Now I don’t know what to do. CARFAX has not accidents reported.

It was probably a demo car when the first buyer took delivery of it. So it may have easily had over 2,000 miles on it before it sold. Ask Tesla to run a complete history of services performed on the car. The service history will tell you if there was anything wrong with the car that Tesla had to address.

 

[Watts_Up]

The vehicle had 2,300 miles on it but it was not considered to be used.

If it was new, you should be able to get the Federal Tax rebate.

After adding the FSD option on it, the sticker price was $68,000 but they were giving me a $11,500 credit to make the vehicle only $57,500.
They are installing the latest FSD processor too.

For such a short time of leasing, I don't think FSD would be worthwhile.
- FSD is not yet authorised, and smart summon is not yet available. You only need Auto Pilot.
- The new processor is not yet available for older cars.

I am now waiting for delivery of the vehicle (it is about 750 miles from me and needs to be shipped).

Do you have to pay for the shipping? It might be cheaper to fly and drive it back, if you have some spare time.

Thoughts....great deal or bad decision?

I would recommend to buy, or get a loan, over a lease.

However, if you are considering getting a more practical Model Y, and need a car right now, then I could consider getting a lease.

 

[Az_Rael]

"not considered used"

Check a recent thread about a "new demo" performance model 3 being sold, and what happened when the prospective buyer ran a Carfax

Model 3 performance dealer discount

Lord, that is super scammy. Why am I not surprised that Tesla thinks rules about new and used cars don’t apply to them. And I am sure they will assure any buyer that yes, they can get the tax credit or state rebate, then flake out once the buyer figures out after the fact that they can’t.

Guess I have to run a Carfax when buying a “new” Tesla as well as a used one. And this is better than traditional dealers somehow?

 

[omgwtfbyobbq]

Lord, that is super scammy. Why am I not surprised that Tesla thinks rules about new and used cars don’t apply to them. And I am sure they will assure any buyer that yes, they can get the tax credit or state rebate, then flake out once the buyer figures out after the fact that they can’t.

Guess I have to run a Carfax when buying a “new” Tesla as well as a used one. And this is better than traditional dealers somehow?

Assuming they bought back the car from the original buyer after the return window, then yeah, that's bootsy AF.

If the first buyer returned the car within the week return period, then even if it was registered to them at the state DMV it shouldn't have been, and the next buyer should be able to get the tax credit. If the first buyer tries to get the tax credit then they're in the wrong.

Regardless of the situation, a call/visit to the state DMV should straighten things out.

 

[Az_Rael]

If the first buyer returned the car within the week return period, then even if it was registered to them at the state DMV it shouldn't have been, and the next buyer should be able to get the tax credit. If the first buyer tries to get the tax credit then they're in the wrong.

Regardless of the situation, a call/visit to the state DMV should straighten things out.

You have more faith in the DMV and Tesla’s customer service than I do. You would have to somehow convince the DMV to negate the first registration when from their perspective the car was sold to a buyer and is now used. You would most likely need Tesla to get involved to prove the first sale/registration was somehow invalid, and that is the point at which it would bog down trying to find the right person at Tesla to fix it.