Good point, and one that I forgot. Since the leasing company is the owner, they get all tax credits. Another negative, at least for this year. If you finance, you are the owner even though there’s a lien, and are entitled to claim tax credits. Also, you can’t write off the sales taxes if you itemize since again, the leasing company bought the car and “paid” the taxes (technically you simply reimburse them, even though you pay them at closing). I also know that in Texas, and several other states, you have to pay sales tax on the entire sales price of the car even though you’re only paying for half of it (or 40%, or whatever the inverse of your residual is).
As for not being able to buy back the car, we’ll see. In my opinion, Tesla is simply keeping their options open since they have no clue what the residuals on these cars will be. It’s much easier to say “we changed our mind, you can buy it if you want”, than to go the other way around! I very much doubt we’ll have a self driving robotaxi fleet in 3 years, much less one that is legally regulated/allowed. If residuals end up strong, they can keep their option to disallow buyback and flip them for a profit at lease end. If residuals are in the toilet, id make a bet that buy backs will be allowed.
