Finance Question

[MedusaManiac]

New to the boards here so if this has been asked before please forgive me.

I have 7 months remaining on my BMW 330i lease currently and plan to either buy a new Model 3 (lone range) or a used Model S. I stopped by a Tesla store yesterday to drive the Model Y to see if I should consider that but didn’t care for it. My actual question, I have never known Tesla to do anything but lease buyout trade-ins, however the guy at the store told me (to my surprise) if I came back when I had 3-4 months of payments left they would be able to just make the last few payments on my BMW lease if that was cheaper then just getting a payoff quote. I was shocked to hear this so my question is has anyone else had Tesla do this for them on a non-Tesla lease? This would work out perfectly if it’s actually true.

many advice is appreciated.

 

[acarney]

I don’t really understand how that would work... the best I can think is they’re just rolling three or four months of lease payments into your new Tesla loan. Do you have the finances to just pay both? Then you would save ~2.5 to 3% interest into that extra loan amount...

I highly doubt Tesla would just give you three or four payments for free... they’re not hurting for demand, even with a slight slow down in new orders...

 

[MedusaManiac]

Could I just pay both? Yes. Would I? Probably not. Only incentive for me to do so is if I get to close on lease mileage. The way this has worked for me in the last is the dealer has sent a check to BMW with my account number just as if I was paying. I was shocked when he mentioned it at the store. Might call a local owner advisor and see if they say the same thing.

 

[acarney]

Could I just pay both? Yes. Would I? Probably not. Only incentive for me to do so is if I get to close on lease mileage. The way this has worked for me in the last is the dealer has sent a check to BMW with my account number just as if I was paying. I was shocked when he mentioned it at the store. Might call a local owner advisor and see if they say the same thing.

That’s because the dealer has wanted your business. They could have just given you $1500 discount on the selling price of the car or something (say you had a $500 lease with three months left).

I have NEVER seen Tesla do a cash discount on a new car that wasn’t a demo car (sitting in a store with a thousand people sitting in it and poking and prodding stuff OR a vehicle that has been used for test drives and had 500 to a couple thousand miles on it).

The only other time I’ve seen “discounts” or something for free is when Tesla needed to make end of the quarter sales. If the cars were brand new from the factory floor and they could “rush you” to order and accept delivery before the end of the month, you might get some free supercharger miles tossed in (2,000 or 5,000 or even a year free of unlimited). MAYBE a couple hundred bucks to use on Tesla accessories, but those days seem to be gone. Or Tesla has asked if you would be willing to take a different color, an upgraded wheel, or different interior color without adjusting your price to include that. Essentially you got the upgrade for free because Tesla had mismatched inventory since the cars are made in batches to Tesla best guess or what existing orders asked for (that may have then been changed or canceled before delivery). Again that seems to have stopped last summer...

Be very clear when you ask, but I suspect they’ll say they will roll the extra cost into your loan and then pay off the existing lease on your behalf. This would be a horrible option in that you might return the car at that point yet still be paying for it, or even if you still had the car and Tesla “took care” of the payments you would be paying the money factor (interest) on the lease PLUS the interest on the loan.

If Tesla truly is just ready to cut three or four checks worth a total of $1,000 to $2,000 for the purchase of a Model 3... that is a SERIOUS sign that there is a massive lack of demand and might send the stock tanking downwards...