Is it actually smart to lease a Tesla?

[mal_tsla]

If you're not able to sell the vehicle to anyone other than Tesla, then they're in a position to set the trade in/residual to anything they want. For me, that's something that would encourage me to lease or "drive it into the ground"

If you kept your car longer than 3 years, you can average out your costs longer. If the protection film ends up not damaged at all after 3 years, you still have awesome flawless paint. Even less reason to let your car go.




I have a fully loaded Volt 2017 Premier I leased for 303 per month with 0 down. $10,605 over the course of 3 years. I believe I would end up way ahead than an outright purchase. A Tesla with the same MSRP would cost around 1200 per month. Tesla profits handsomely on their leases.



Great angle of looking at things. Before I return any lease vehicles I'll check how much its worth and see if there a possible arbitrage play My question is are people generally able to sell their Teslas privately if they wanted to? The potential market pool is not very large compared to say selling a CIvic. And this is just a guess from my part but my 'sense' is that people would rather get Teslas's from Tesla themselves. Either new or CPO.

 

[johnbarkwell]

In preparation of my purchase. I ran the Lease & Loan numbers on my $89K MS75 over a 36 mth period and my out of pocket cost was nearly the same on the Lease while my residual was at $54K and my Loan pay off was $43K. So after 36 mths I have $11k buffer based on the approximate value of the vehicle.

 

[Ormond]

While I've both leased and bought cars in the past, I decided to lease my MS for a couple of reasons:

One thing re Tesla lease terms: it is sometimes cheaper (it was for my lease terms) to go with 10k miles/yr and pay the additional miles at the end of the lease vs. leasing for 12/15. Go figure.

Do you all think that it is better to go with the 10,000 mile lease. On my current ICE i drove roughly 8,000 miles a year. Will I be tempted to take road trips? The cost for overage is .25 a mile.

Thanks!

This thread can cause headaches.

 

[hmmm]

It depends. A couple of things for you to consider:

- Do the math on the terms of your lease. Sometimes it's actually cheaper to go with 10k and pay the difference @ 25cts/mile, vs. "buying" 12k or 15k, it was the case for my lease. It also ensures that you won't "over buy" and that money stays in your pocked for an extra 2-3 years.
- It also depends what your current 8k miles consist of. If it's mostly trips to the grocery store, your mileage is not likely to increase massively (although I now volunteer more often then ever to run errands so that I can drive my car...).
- Overall, I would venture than yes, you may end up driving your S more than you may initially think. Not a scientific answer and from a very small sample, so YMMV. (pun intended.)

 

[mspohr]

Do you all think that it is better to go with the 10,000 mile lease. On my current ICE i drove roughly 8,000 miles a year. Will I be tempted to take road trips? The cost for overage is .25 a mile.

Thanks!

This thread can cause headaches.

We end up driving everywhere plus extra road trips. 43,000 in 18 months. You will want to drive lots.

 

[MXWing]

In preparation of my purchase. I ran the Lease & Loan numbers on my $89K MS75 over a 36 mth period and my out of pocket cost was nearly the same on the Lease while my residual was at $54K and my Loan pay off was $43K. So after 36 mths I have $11k buffer based on the approximate value of the vehicle.

I believe Tesla makes a handsome profit on leases above and beyond the expected procurement and depreciation costs. I was inspired to make this thread because I thought, HOLY HELL - its expensive and in most cases not a smart use of money to lease a Tesla.

We end up driving everywhere plus extra road trips. 43,000 in 18 months. You will want to drive lots.

I am assuming you purchased in this case.

 

[mspohr]

I am assuming you purchased in this case.

Yes we purchased and my goal is to put as many miles on the car as possible. Guilt free driving.

 

[sandpiper]

I leased because it made sense from a tax perspective. But beyond that I don't see that there's a big difference. As somebody noted, they're both methods of financing.

In my case, I'm about a year away from the end of my 3 year lease. There is no way that the vehicle is going to be worth as little as the residual. So I intend to buy it out for the residual, resell it, and apply the gain to a new 100D / 110D, or whatever else is available by then.

 

[dgpcolorado]

We end up driving everywhere plus extra road trips. 43,000 in 18 months. You will want to drive lots.

My experience as well: 16,000 miles in less than eight months.

...In my case, I'm about a year away from the end of my 3 year lease. There is no way that the vehicle is going to be worth as little as the residual. So I intend to buy it out for the residual, resell it, and apply the gain to a new 100D / 110D, or whatever else is available by then.

One difference in the USA is that the $7500 federal tax credit is added to the residual and that makes a lease buyout a very bad deal on this side of the border.

 

[sandpiper]

My experience as well: 16,000 miles in less than eight months.
One difference in the USA is that the $7500 federal tax credit is added to the residual and that makes a lease buyout a very bad deal on this side of the border.

There are two other differences, in my case. First, I started my lease when the CAD$ was almost par with the USD$. With the present 73 cent CAD prices, new and used vehicles have gone up significantly. And also, the provincial government reduced the new EV rebate from $8500 to either 0 or $3000 depending on the price of a new car. It was a bit of a perfect storm.

That said, the price of the new ones has gone up massively for the same reason, to the point where my P85D will be replaced with a non-P, next go around. $215K+ is just way too much for a car - whether you lease or buy.

 

[ThomasB]

I like to buy my cars.... especially a tesla.. I put so many KM on it in the first few month compared to my old car. I love to drive this thing.

 

[⚡️ELECTROMAN⚡️]

My current car is 12 years old and should have another 10 reliable years left. I don't think it makes sense for me to lease. Hopefully my Tesla turns out to be reliable, or at least cheaper to work on than they presently are.

 

[Corsair66]

I generally lease my cars. Several reasons:

• Tax advantages
• I like to get a new car every 2-3 years
• I never want to own a car outside its warranty period
• It's a good fit with my driving profile (I never go over the mileage)
• I don't like playing future value roulette
• I don't want to deal with selling a car

In all, leasing is right for me, so that's what I do.

 

[Watts Son]

I think owning just became more attractive with the limit on supercharger use. To get another one in three years after your lease turn in, you will now have to factor in the cost of using the network over the annual "free" allotment.

 

[dgpcolorado]

I think owning just became more attractive with the limit on supercharger use. To get another one in three years after your lease turn in, you will now have to factor in the cost of using the network over the annual "free" allotment.

That may be, but how expensive will paying for electricity at Supercharger Stations really be? If Tesla charges 15¢/kWh, or about 5¢/mile, then my 10,000 miles of Supercharger use per year would be $500. Someone who uses the system much less than I do would pay only a small amount.

Compare that to the 25¢/mile charged for going over the lease limit, which I interpret as a rough calculation of depreciation. For many people I would guess that the Supercharger usage charge will be a trivial cost.

 

[Corsair66]

I think owning just became more attractive with the limit on supercharger use. To get another one in three years after your lease turn in, you will now have to factor in the cost of using the network over the annual "free" allotment.

I can appreciate that perspective, though I don't anticipate that the prospect of paying for supercharger use on a subsequent car will persuade me, three years hence, to stick with an 'old' car instead of getting the current model at that time. For one thing, actual supercharger costs are likely to be quite low and, for another, I don't expect to be using the supercharger system much at all.

My days of long-distance driving are over; I simply haven't the patience for spending endless, interminable hours in a car. Thinking back over the last few years, I don't believe that I've ever driven my current vehicle out of state and, if it had been a Tesla, I might've needed to charge it away from home on only a handful of occasions.

 

[MXWing]

Did Tesla say how much they would charge for SC usage? I know they said they wouldn't make it a 'profit center' but that is vague and not enforceable by contract. After all, how many CEOs of non profits are millionaires, possibly billionaires?

My residential electricity rates go from 0.13 to 0.49. I'd be paying 0.49 if it wasn't for solar.

I'd only get 0.13 rate if I use candles for lighting and store my perishable food in the snow (which we have none in Orange County).

15 cents/kw seems too low to me.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Did Tesla say how much they would charge for SC usage? I know they said they wouldn't make it a 'profit center' but that is vague and not enforceable by contract. After all, how many CEOs of non profits are millionaires, possibly billionaires?

My residential electricity rates go from 0.13 to 0.49. I'd be paying 0.49 if it wasn't for solar.

I'd only get 0.13 rate if I use candles for lighting and store my perishable food in the snow (which we have none in Orange County).

15 cents/kw seems too low to me.

No, they didn't say and my 15¢/kWh is likely quite low (although higher than the rural co-op rate here: 13.8¢/kWh, but commercial and demand charge rates are very different). The did suggest that the rates would vary with location, presumably due to local electricity rates. It might be fairly cheap in WA and rather expensive in CA. We shall see. Not that it affects me until I trade in my Model S someday.

 

[MXWing]

No, they didn't say and my 15¢/kWh is likely quite low (although higher than the rural co-op rate here: 13.8¢/kWh, but commercial and demand charge rates are very different). The did suggest that the rates would vary with location, presumably due to local electricity rates. It might be fairly cheap in WA and rather expensive in CA. We shall see. Not that it affects me until I trade in my Model S someday.

Makes sense, thanks for the insight.

If I am going to make a prediction, I think the cost for SC will be at 50% of the price of gasoline equivalent. If that is the case, how much would it cost?

Tesla can say you are saving on gasoline costs and the environment at the same time.

Though of course I think they assume electricity is free when they add savings estimator to the design studio right?

 

[zag2me]

Makes sense, thanks for the insight.

If I am going to make a prediction, I think the cost for SC will be at 50% of the price of gasoline equivalent. If that is the case, how much would it cost?

In the UK, ecotricity just started charging after being free. They charge £6 a charge, where the gasoline equivalent is about £30. So I think your figure is wildly out.