Just a some questions on leasing m3 SR+
- what is the rate for leasing it? Is it included in the monthly payment calculated on the order page?
- default terms is 48 months and cannot adjust on the order page. But i heard you can change it 36 later on in the ordering process? If so, do you still get the federal 5k incentives?
- Tesla says no buyout options for model 3 but a few people have said their advisor will allow them to buy out. Is this true? If so, what is criteria for buyout?
- are you are stuck with lease for 48 months (or however long it is if it’s adjustable) or can you trade in for newer model?
thank you!
Some of these questions are general leasing questions and some might be specific to canada. You might want to post in the canada section if you want canada specific responses but..
1. When you lease, at least in the US, the leasing company is not obligated to tell you the money factor (interest rate). If you dont know what money factors are, you likely need to educate yourself more on leasing.
2. There are usually different lease terms available in the US, but the best residual is normally for 36 months (3 years). There are different residuals for different amount of years, which makes choosing those either more or (usually) less financially viable.
3. Tesla currently says no buyout option for model 3. while no one knows what the future will bring on this topic, there is one thing I can tell you for a fact. There is NO TESLA SALES ADVISOR AT ALL who is authorized to offer anyone any buyout. They dont exist. They CANT "let you buy it out later". Thats a tesla decision, and no tesla sales advisor has any knowledge of what tesla will do.
Tesla sales advisors "misspeak" all the time (just like other car sales people). If a tesla sales advisor is telling anyone "oh dont worry you will be able to buy it out later" they are not doing anything different than people posting on the net... less actually because there are people who might believe them. Tesla advisors can not promise that, period. it might or might not happen, but whats in the contract is whats important and if the contract says you cant buy out your lease, thats exactly what you should plan for, no matter what you read or think about what "tesla might do".
4. you can always get out of any vehicle, even leases... however with a lease, you will have to pay the balance due to get out of it, and since you cant sell it (no buy out option) the "way out" of it would be to pay a lump sum of the balance due on the lease. So, while you can get out of it, you will pay the balance due on the contract to get out of it early. So, in actuality, while you can get out early, most people are not going to pay (for example) a years worth of payments to simply turn the car in at the end of 36 months. In effect you would be paying for 48 months and only have the car 36 months if you do that (thus losing 12 months of payments to turn the car in).
This is also the same for other leases than tesla, with the exception that in those cases, sometimes you can sell the car and "lose less" money, but because tesla doesnt allow buyouts, you will simply just lose the balance of the payments if you turn it in early.
It doesnt sound like you have much experience leasing vehicles, so I suggest reading up more on leasing before you move forward, unless I am guessing wrong. Some of your questions are ones people not familiar with leasing ask.
