Ludicrous for a leased p85d

[jsimon77]

Posted elsewhere but would love the thoughts of the members here.

Hi All,
Now that we have a definitive answer that the P85D upgrade is $7,500, I'd love to get some thoughts on adding this to a leased car.
If I purchased the car I'd say it's a no brainer.
If I could amortize it like a normal lease it's a no brainer.
But...what it looks like is essentially I'll be paying $7,500 to have Ludicrous on my car for 24-26 months...$300+ a month.
Other then just saying "Money is no object just buy it and enjoy it even though it doesn't make financial sense" Is there any other thing I'm missing that make this not just a bad deal for a leased P85D?
Thanks!

 

[SabrToothSqrl]

I was under the impression, that for most leases, you cannot 'modify' the car. I realize it's leased from Tesla, and it's being modified by Tesla, so I don't know...!

 

[fiksegts]

not a great deal to add to a leased car......

 

[tstafford]

I'm leasing mine and I'll do the upgrade too. There is no reason the lease should prevent you from doing it legally. The issue is, as you point out, the money.

Here's the math for my situation.

I ordered on 6/26 and was in production when the P90D was announced. I contemplated cancelling my order and leasing a P90D which would have been approximately $160/mth more expensive than the P85D I had specified. Tesla was emphatic that if I did this I would lose my $2500 deposit on the P85D. So I had to gamble at that point since we didn't have much detail about the upgrade. I decided to take delivery and enjoy the P85D while figuring things out. Delivery occurred on 8/17 - P90Ds were getting delivered right about then too. Oh well.

Now the math.

Effectively the ludicrous upgrade for me will be $7500 - $2500 (the $2500 is what I saved by not cancelling and reordering) or $5000. Dividing that by $160 gives you how many months of ownership you need to make that break even against the reorder option. So that's 31.2 months. Basically as long as I can get the upgrade installed within the first six months of my lease (before February) all is good. Every month after that I should either not do it or should have bought the P90D. Of course this math doesn't take in to consideration two things - 1) I won't get the increased range, 2) maybe the upgrade doesn't perform up to P90DL levels. The range is irrelevant to me, the other we shall see.

Another factor in this is the residual on the lease. The Tesla US Bank lease has a guaranteed buyout. You can easily find it in your paperwork. Mine is $69K. One could argue that getting the upgrade should somewhat improve what the actual value of my car will be at the end of the lease. If that's the case then the odds are higher that I will be in the money on the car and incented to buy it out - and either keep it or sell it for a slight profit. It's far too early to tell what a three year old P85D is going to be worth. But the 2012 P85s suggest it will be more than $69K regardless of the upgrade. So who knows.

Net/net - the math for me is about a push against having just cancelled and bought the P90D except for the fact that I will have the option at the end to hold on to the car at a lower pay off.

 

[jsimon77]

@tstafford

This is a great way to look at things. I will use this lens and take a look.

The difference for me is that come when I can actually install I'll only have about 2 years left.

I have thought about the buy out as well and I'm sure I could get some portion of that back.

 

[tstafford]

@tstafford

This is a great way to look at things. I will use this lens and take a look.

The difference for me is that come when I can actually install I'll only have about 2 years left.

I have thought about the buy out as well and I'm sure I could get some portion of that back.

The real issue with this whole thing isn't the lease vs. non-lease. It's the cost of ludicrous regardless of whether via upgrade or the option on a P90D - it's just very, very expensive.

 

[jsimon77]

Totally agree. BUT...if I was planning on having he car for 5+ years it makes it a bit easier to stomach.

 

[sobep85d]

Further, you can always try to sell your leased P85D with Ludicrous installed and possibly recover part of your investment before your lease is up. It appears our cars have been holding their value well and there is a good chance the P85D(L) will be worth more than the residual value set forth in the lease agreement.

 

[sundoc]

To add to your situation... if you have one of the earlier P85Ds, then you've got the stiffer suspension and staggered rims plus possibly next gen front and rear seats. All of which when combined with the Ludy upgrade make for a unique combo.

Then again maybe I'm just trying to justify why I'm upgrading mine LOL

 

[ricci21]

I'm hoping you are right @sundoc. I am following the same justification.

To add to your situation... if you have one of the earlier P85Ds, then you've got the stiffer suspension and staggered rims plus possibly next gen front and rear seats. All of which when combined with the Ludy upgrade make for a unique combo.

Then again maybe I'm just trying to justify why I'm upgrading mine LOL

 

[yo mama]

I don't care about the money. I just want to go faster. And I want the super cool new badging because its super cool.

 

[tstafford]

I don't care about the money. I just want to go faster. And I want the super cool new badging because its super cool.

HA!

 

[kglad99]

@yo mama, the only consistent explanation i've yet seen.

 

[jsimon77]

All good thoughts. Mine is loaded but didn't have staggered wheels. It does have from and rear next gen seats.

Anybody have any data on what the buy out was on a P85 and what they have been selling for in relation to that? Or...are the leases just too new?

 

[gizmoboy]

The only reason I could see the lessor having a problem with it is if it reduced the end-of-lease value of the car (or limited the resale options, which is kind of the same thing).

It seems like it would only increase the EOL value, so I'd think the lessor'd be all over it.

 

[davewill]

It seems to me that you are most unlikely to want to turn the car in at the end of the lease. The cars have been keeping their value well, and I'd expect the car will be worth more than the residual. Turning it in would be like giving the bank free money. So even if you elect NOT to keep the car, you should pay off the residual, and sell the car, which should net you a bit of a premium since most used P85Ds won't have Ludicrous mode.

 

[tstafford]

It seems to me that you are most unlikely to want to turn the car in at the end of the lease. The cars have been keeping their value well, and I'd expect the car will be worth more than the residual. Turning it in would be like giving the bank free money. So even if you elect NOT to keep the car, you should pay off the residual, and sell the car, which should net you a bit of a premium since most used P85Ds won't have Ludicrous mode.

I think this is correct.

 

[yo mama]

It seems to me that you are most unlikely to want to turn the car in at the end of the lease. The cars have been keeping their value well, and I'd expect the car will be worth more than the residual. Turning it in would be like giving the bank free money. So even if you elect NOT to keep the car, you should pay off the residual, and sell the car, which should net you a bit of a premium since most used P85Ds won't have Ludicrous mode.

Free pre-tax money. The sale would almost certainly be subject to capital gains tax, to the extent that makes a difference in the underlying economic decision.

 

[fiksegts]

selling the car to another person won't work with US bank, they make you buy the car first, then sell, so you end up paying the remaining tax on the car...