Leasing a Tesla

[DiverDoc X]

Leasing question:

If you lease a Tesla (any model) and pay the extra $8,000 for the full self driving... when you turn in the car does that stay with you or the car? (Example if you decide to less a new car or buy another Tesla does the full self driving stay credited to you or do you lose it to the original car)?

Thanks

 

[qdeathstar]

Stays with the car. The are supposed to be offering a subscription service soon... but right now I think autopilot would suffice. You are paying 7k for a dream and party favors.

How much is a dream worth?

 

[DiverDoc X]

Dang that really sucks. That’s $8,000 lost then every time you lease another Tesla. It should be transferable as long as you keep leasing with Tesla.

Plus I’ve seen posts on here where people buy used Tesla’s and the full self driving is disabled after they buy it.

Thanks

 

[frankvb]

Note that you'll only pay interest and depreciation, you're not paying the full $8K price (unless you buy it as an option later which would be crazy on a leased vehicle). The vehicle with FSD will still be worth more than the vehicle without at the end of the lease. To be clear, if you want FSD you'd get it included at the start of the lease.

If Tesla trades in a used Tesla vehicle they are free to remove FSD from it, but obviously that will affect the price they can then sell it for. And of course they can't sell it as 'FSD included'. The one story I read about FSD being removed after the used vehicle was sold (by a third party, not by Tesla) was admitted as an error on Tesla's side.

 

[Dennisis]

IMHO, leasing is for BMW's, buying is for Tesla's - period. Again, my opinion...

 

[DiverDoc X]

Thanks for the reply and information frank! Denis I consider leasing the MY at least for now given all the fit and finish issues currently. Plus I’ve always leased my cars in the past and like getting a new one every three years. That’s just MHO. Thanks !

 

[Quamera]

IMHO, leasing is for BMW's, buying is for Tesla's - period. Again, my opinion...

However the high resale value of Teslas combined with various EV subsidies means that you can lease a Tesla in some parts of the world for a very low cost when buying one outright still stretches the budget too much.

I saw recently that Tesla was offering very reasonable leasing rates on the M3 in the US because Tesla is looking to build inventory for a ride sharing fleet in a couple of years time.

Also there was a report that the Renault Zoe is being offered in Germany for a nil lease payment with the help of their subsidies although one would think that the German government will close that little loophole fairly quickly since the Zoe is not even made in their country.

Unfortunately in Australia we are still looking at $70K for the SR+ M3 and up to about $180K for the Ludicrous X with no subsidies to be seen anywhere so no cheap lease payments here yet.

 

[MP3Mike]

Note that you'll only pay interest and depreciation, you're not paying the full $8K price (unless you buy it as an option later which would be crazy on a leased vehicle). The vehicle with FSD will still be worth more than the vehicle without at the end of the lease. To be clear, if you want FSD you'd get it included at the start of the lease.

Yep, leasing the base Model Y with FSD only costs $107 more per month. So FSD costs you ~$3,800 for the three years, or just half of the current price of buying it outright.

 

[Dennisis]

Thanks for the reply and information frank! Denis I consider leasing the MY at least for now given all the fit and finish issues currently. Plus I’ve always leased my cars in the past and like getting a new one every three years. That’s just MHO. Thanks !

I leased a few cars myself so I get it. Get a new car every 3 years without the hassle of dealing with sale/trade in and also get the latest tech. But with Tesla you get the latest tech via WIFI all the time. And despite all the reports of fit and finish issues most are very minor and can be easily fixed (no that doesn't make it right to have them people, totally agree!).
Anyway, that was my mindset when I returned my last leased 535i at BMW North Scottsdale and Ubered to Tesla in Tempe to pick up my M3 and I'm not looking back. And I don't have to watch my miles now, nor do I have to put a new set of tires on just to hand over the keys to the dealer at lease end!

 

[Snow Drift]

I leased a few cars myself so I get it. Get a new car every 3 years without the hassle of dealing with sale/trade in and also get the latest tech. But with Tesla you get the latest tech via WIFI all the time.

...
And I don't have to watch my miles now, nor do I have to put a new set of tires on just to hand over the keys to the dealer at lease end!

First, we don’t know the future of Tesla hardware. So that’s not OTA updatable and possibly not able to be retrofit. Look at pre-AP Model S.

Second, when you own a car, every mile lowers your resale. So in essence, you DO you need to be worried about driving miles.

 

[Dennisis]

First, we don’t know the future of Tesla hardware. So that’s not OTA updatable and possibly not able to be retrofit. Look at pre-AP Model S.

Second, when you own a car, every mile lowers your resale. So in essence, you DO you need to be worried about driving miles.

True statements but the MY has many less components to fail so reliability will likely be excellent. And as for the miles that only applies if you're concerned with re-sale - I personally intend to keep my MY for a long time and it's not an investment. With a lease you have to pay for extra miles driven. Anyway people can peruse tons of lease vs buy arguments on the BMW forums.

 

[Madjawa889]

Hey all

So I am exploring my options for a new car and have landed her on a Tesla forum . I guess Elon, SpaceX, and Tesla have impressed me. Now What does Tesla offer at the end of lease? Is it a key for key exchange if you simply move to a newer version of your leased vehicle? Do you have to put down another hefty amount of money again to stay in a Tesla? Leasing appeals to me as I feel from a budget standpoint it makes better sense and we will have new tech every three years. Thanks guys !

 

[theganjaguru]

Thanks for the reply and information frank! Denis I consider leasing the MY at least for now given all the fit and finish issues currently. Plus I’ve always leased my cars in the past and like getting a new one every three years. That’s just MHO. Thanks !

Remember that with any customer service experience: if someone has a terrible experience, they take the time and effort to write negative yelp and google reviews and tell everyone and their mothers.

If they have a wonderful experience, they don’t tell many people or waste their energy to logon to a forum to tell everyone their car was awesome.

There have been thousands of MY delivered, but not thousands of negative posts.

I took delivery 7/31 of an LR AWD Blue/white Y and the car was perfect by my standards. Seats and charge port aligned, no major panel gaps

The only thing I had issue with was the vanity mirror is scratched and you could maybe say is the frunk is ever so slightly misaligned, but it’s so slight, No one has noticed until I pointed it out. It’s so slight I’m only getting the vanity mirror addressed.

The model 3 has stellar resale which makes a lease a bad deal. I am planning on the same for the Y

 

[SilverString]

Yep, leasing the base Model Y with FSD only costs $107 more per month. So FSD costs you ~$3,800 for the three years, or just half of the current price of buying it outright.

Yes but when you take in to consideration that FSD is yet to be feature complete the argument starts to unravel...

 

[DiverDoc X]

Remember that with any customer service experience: if someone has a terrible experience, they take the time and effort to write negative yelp and google reviews and tell everyone and their mothers.

If they have a wonderful experience, they don’t tell many people or waste their energy to logon to a forum to tell everyone their car was awesome.

There have been thousands of MY delivered, but not thousands of negative posts.

I took delivery 7/31 of an LR AWD Blue/white Y and the car was perfect by my standards. Seats and charge port aligned, no major panel gaps

The only thing I had issue with was the vanity mirror is scratched and you could maybe say is the frunk is ever so slightly misaligned, but it’s so slight, No one has noticed until I pointed it out. It’s so slight I’m only getting the vanity mirror addressed.

The model 3 has stellar resale which makes a lease a bad deal. I am planning on the same for the Y


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How do you like the blue/white color combination? Any worries about the stains (blue jeans) on the white interior?

thanks

 

[acarney]

How do you like the blue/white color combination? Any worries about the stains (blue jeans) on the white interior?

thanks

I started noticing some very slight blue staining after about a week or two with dark blue jeans. Light blue and black don’t seem to have issues. I’m extremely curious how they would handle that with a lease return... if they would consider that normal, or charge to repair/replace the seats...

 

[Protect1989]

FSD should be a $500-$1000 option when leasing.

leases are based on the depreciation of the vehicle. FSD is software that can be updated, so there’s no real depreciation there (if anything it is an appreciating asset). Not to mention Tesla does not allow lease buy outs so there’s no way to purchase the vehicle with FSD at the end.

 

[ACAG]

IMHO, leasing is for BMW's, buying is for Tesla's - period. Again, my opinion...

This video may be helpful:

 

[jsight]

I saw recently that Tesla was offering very reasonable leasing rates on the M3 in the US because Tesla is looking to build inventory for a ride sharing fleet in a couple of years time.

I actually think the US lease rates for Tesla are pretty high compared to other makes.

 

[cabbqking]

This video may be helpful:

Lease will be more expensive finanically, period. The question is how much more! This guy used some very big and broad assumptions, which you might want to take with a grain of salt.

1. This guy didn't take into sales tax into considerations. If you live in States like CA which doesn't tax the whole car on leases, this is a major "miss". The Buy scenario would be several thousand more expensive than the lease because of that.

2. Do you believe his assumption of 3-year, 30K depression of 23%? After 9 months 6900 miles, my Tesla 3 depreciation based on the current MRSP ( not what I paid which is 2500 more due to price reduction late last year) :

firm trade-in quote in writing from Tesla: 21%
firm trade-in quote in writing from Carvana: 18%

Based on this data, you can make your own judgment if 23% is a good number or not.