Lease vs Buying (with numbers)

[s.newave]

Hi,

I’m sure this topic has been beaten to death and I’ve certainly read a ton of different threads on it already although most them don’t mention the actual numbers.

So I was originally all set to lease a MS75D with a total due at signing of around $5.

However after getting the numbers from my OA it looks like my custom order config is $1,218 to lease (15k mimes) and only $1,283 to finance ($5k down, 72 month loan)

With the numbers being this close I’m wondering how leasing makes any sense at all?

- I know when financing you have to pay sales tax but from what I’ve been told the ev incentives roughly cover that.
- Down payments are the same
- No over mileage concerns when purchasing
- much lower interest rates

Any advantages to still leasing? Anything I’m missing here?

Thx

 

[G'sinHawaii]

While you will get a bunch of answers, it really comes down to personal choice..... and...

if you lease, you loose the $7,500 tax credit, a plus is if you get into an accident, you don't care about the resale value..... you can walk away after 3 years, at lease end you can buy the car and resale it should it be worth more then the purchase option in the end.

if you buy it, you risk the resale value losses should you want to sell it later, as mentioned above If you get into an accident. benefit of financing it you will get the tax credit, of course, its depends if you can use the deduction in the first place. if your the type to keep your cars long term, then buy it....

 

[Ross9733]

Are you sure your numbers are right? With 0.9% financing unless getting an inventory car the numbers should be closer if putting money down on both

 

[SoCal Jimmy]

Hi,

I’m sure this topic has been beaten to death and I’ve certainly read a ton of different threads on it already although most them don’t mention the actual numbers.

So I was originally all set to lease a MS75D with a total due at signing of around $5.

However after getting the numbers from my OA it looks like my custom order config is $1,218 to lease (15k mimes) and only $1,283 to finance ($5k down, 72 month loan)

With the numbers being this close I’m wondering how leasing makes any sense at all?

- I know when financing you have to pay sales tax but from what I’ve been told the ev incentives roughly cover that.
- Down payments are the same
- No over mileage concerns when purchasing
- much lower interest rates

Any advantages to still leasing? Anything I’m missing here?

Thx

I just used $88,000 with a $8k discount just as an example and ran it through the online calculator and you're right, it is very close as you mentioned but I don't believe you'll be at 5k down on a purchase. They require sales tax and registration to be paid out of pocket at the very least, if you're using their bank for the .99%, so expect closer to 8-10k down total which also means your payment would be slightly lower as well

As someone else mentioned, it's personal preference. Do you want to be able to walk away in 3 years?

With paying only sales tax up front, you're going to be buried in this car for a significant amount of time, meaning let's say in 3 years you decide you want to get rid of the car and get something else, you may need to come up with a significant amount of money to do so and here's why. The federal and state rebates are going to reduce the value of your car by 10k right off the bat plus any normal depreciation for the first year. So as soon as you drive off the lot, you're in the hole 10-15k.

The 5.04% kills their lease figures and makes them unattractive unless you have a killer upfront discount that lowers your payment significantly

 

[Ross9733]

However. Remember in a lease you need to do sales tax as well on the amount you pay. So that's 3500 or so on a lease and 7200 on a buy if your in New York. But then on a buy you get at least the 7500 rebate so within 6 months depending on when you buy your really not paying sales tax with a finance. My question for people is with 0.9% rate aren't you better putting nothing down. Yes you may owe later when try to trade in but you paid nothing upfront. Am I right also in assuming these discounts you price in on leasing is really only for showroom/service center type cars?

Cause running 3 year numbers between a lease and a finance on a custom 75d it looks like your paying 4-5 k more on a lease than a finance over 36 months.

 

[SoCal Jimmy]

However. Remember in a lease you need to do sales tax as well on the amount you pay. So that's 3500 or so on a lease and 7200 on a buy if your in New York. But then on a buy you get at least the 7500 rebate so within 6 months depending on when you buy your really not paying sales tax with a finance. My question for people is with 0.9% rate aren't you better putting nothing down. Yes you may owe later when try to trade in but you paid nothing upfront. Am I right also in assuming these discounts you price in on leasing is really only for showroom/service center type cars?

Cause running 3 year numbers between a lease and a finance on a custom 75d it looks like your paying 4-5 k more on a lease than a finance over 36 months.

Tesla's partnered banks will not allow true 0% down with the 0.99% financing, even with a 800+ FICO score. You must pay sales tax and registration out of pocket. They finance the agreed upon selling price of the vehicle only at 0.99.

 

[oogabooga]

Its hard to see leasing a tesla today unless, as @SoCal Jimmy pointed out, you get one of the big discounted inventory models. Even then its a tough decision. If you do get a solid lease deal, the saving grace is i believe you can transfer the lease to another person if you need to get out of it. I think that will be easy on those big discounted ones as people are always looking for solid lease figures. Its just too bad Tesla doesnt allow lease rate buy downs!

 

[heysteveh]

Another rarely pointed out quirk of a lease is that almost all lease contracts specify that only immediate family members can drive the car for insurance reasons. Most people I know disregard this, but technically speaking if someone outside of an immediate family member drives your leased car and gets in an accident, you would not be covered. As always, check your OWN lease contract and talk with your OWN insurance agent to verify.

 

[Ross9733]

Tesla's partnered banks will not allow true 0% down with the 0.99% financing, even with a 800+ FICO score. You must pay sales tax and registration out of pocket. They finance the agreed upon selling price of the vehicle only at 0.99.

That's interesting. I was told you could finance 105% of the purchase price. Either was you get the refund that covers the sales tax.

 

[SoCal Jimmy]

That's interesting. I was told you could finance 105% of the purchase price. Either was you get the refund that covers the sales tax.

Unless something's changed in the last 30 days, TD Auto would not allow us to finance more than 100%. Maybe they changed their terms for 3rd quarter sales, but I wouldn't recommend financing 105% unless you get GAP insurance for your purchase and you plan on keeping the car LONG term.

 

[bsf29]

As G'sinHawaii pointed out, it is a personal decision. We went with the lease on our MS60 because the technology is changing too fast right now and in 3 years, there will be more choices and a little more stability where it becomes a long term car for us. We already lost out on "free" automatic lift gate and air suspension that I really would like to have but PUP price wasn't worth it. I could care less about the extra performance now offered. The car is already fast enough to pull out and get away when needed. HW 2.5 is out and in 3 years it will be HW +4. We went with the 60 because the 75kwh battery wasn't worth the price. Having completed +400 mile and +700 mile vacations without any problems, $2k is still too much for the ~10kwh useable upgrade. Now if the new 75's are really shipping with a software limited 85kwh battery, that's inline with what I hope will be available in 2020. The extra time to charge to 100% on the road isn't worth the few miles you get unless you really need them.
One other thing that I wanted to point out is the lease mileage. We put 12k miles on our Volt (EV test car) so we went with the 15k mile lease because we knew we would use it more. The Tesla is cheaper than an ICE (even our 42mpg) and so much more fun to drive that I know we will go over our mileage. That is probably our only other hangup with the lease. Main hangup is that the lease is expensive.

 

[Hammonddave]

It all came down to this....

New D75....

Total cost after 3 years:

Lease: $50,000 and no Asset value

Purchase: $48,000 and own half the car.even if the car depreciates 50%, you will be ahead.

Unless you can write off the lease as a business expense, leasing makes no sense.