DBV1
Member
A traditional lease is a rental with the option to purchase at the end. Since Tesla does not give you the purchase rights, this is really just a “rental program”. They may have a theoretical residual baked into their payments but since you don’t have the right to buy at that residual value it’s irrelevant.
Historically Tesla vehicles have held their value after three years. It’s hard to imagine the current leasing numbers being a better deal than owning, even factoring in the hassle of reselling the car when you are done with it. The benefit to owning is that you get to decide when you want to buy your next car, rather than being on an exact 36 month schedule.
The disadvantage of owning is if you are like me and like a new car every three years, then you will more or likely be ahead by leasing, as most cars will take a big dip in three years when you go to trade them in. I hate screwing around with trade in anyhow, as you rarely get back what you think it is worth, unless you can do a private sale. Doubt if Tesla continues to hold their value as the completion increases. Could be wrong though.