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Super cheap leases a thing of the past?

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I remember a few years ago seeing dirt cheap lease deals on short range EVs. Lately it seems like you can't get much less than $300/month. Am I missing any good deals?

I guess demand was going to catch up with supply eventually.
 
I remember a few years ago seeing dirt cheap lease deals on short range EVs. Lately it seems like you can't get much less than $300/month. Am I missing any good deals?

I guess demand was going to catch up with supply eventually.

Those were usually found in California when automakers were desperate for ZEV credits. At one point, Fiat was doing crazy-cheap leases on the 500e ... something like $50 per month. Now you can buy those off-lease cars for under $10,000 with low mileage. That's how I got a 2013 500e for $8,000 with CPO warranty and 9,600 miles on the clock.
 
Remember in CA there were/are Compliance Cars. Cobbled together models with the ICE guts removed and EV guts crammed in. Then the automakers would give them away at super cheap lease rates. If they had a certain number of non-polluting Compliance Cars on the road, this would allow them to sell lots of big pickups. So maybe Ford lost $10,000 on every Fit or Focus EV, and it cost them $10 million, but they made it up many times over on the profit on the big pickups.
 
As the cars get better, they don't need to be discounted as much.
Globally, the problem is plug-in supply.
Also, I think manufacturers will have loaded up on 2017 credits, which "travel".
And, of course, there's always the increased availability of ZEV credits for purchase. With the CARB state market being 40% of the USA, a 4.5% ZEV credit requirement, and 4 credits per long-range BEV, 76,500 long-range BEVs would need to be sold in total to meet the requirements. Tesla has sold an estimated 134k ZEVs in the USA this year through 2018Q3, and the vast majority will have been in CARB states. Other companies could not make a single ZEV and the mandates could be met by buying Tesla credits.
 
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Leases are up in general due to the interest rates getting lifted by the bond yields.
 

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I leased the Toyota Mirai fuel cell a few months ago and am very happy.
Put down ~$4300
Just received $5000 Ca Rebate
~$370/mo lease payent
Free gas for up to $15,000
Three year lease.

Range is just under 300 miles, charges in five minutes and works for me as a regional nor cal commuter
HOV lane sticker (red)
Toyota Deals | New Toyota Incentives & Special Offers
yeah i looked at those when I heard about the free gas thing but at least last year the actual prevalence of hydrogen stations means your effective range is the same as a leaf (e.g. no filling stations in vegas)
 
Will never forget and still cannot understand how, 2001 Passat GLX manual transmission, $130/mo zero down three year lease, sales manager was fired a month later I learned from service.

I used to lease a lot, the biggest rule is to negotiate sale price first always for car on lot, and also zero down if possible (imagine if you wreck the car later, that is money lost). Mobile app lease calculators help a lot, money factor and tax included. Then you can dealer hop and cross shop without comparing apples to oranges.

Agreed, leases only make sense if you get a great deal, which is rare these days.
In EU most leases are only commercial, I remember relatives visiting and telling me how stupid it was of me to get rid of a three year old car, a "new car", but over there they repair all cars and appliances until the plastics crumble:)
 
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Will never forget and still cannot understand how, 2001 Passat GLX manual transmission, $130/mo zero down three year lease, sales manager was fired a month later I learned from service.

I used to lease a lot, the biggest rule is to negotiate sale price first always for car on lot, and also zero down if possible (imagine if you wreck the car later, that is money lost). Mobile app lease calculators help a lot, money factor and tax included. Then you can dealer hop and cross shop without comparing apples to oranges.

Agreed, leases only make sense if you get a great deal, which is rare these days.
In EU most leases are only commercial, I remember relatives visiting and telling me how stupid it was of me to get rid of a three year old car, a "new car", but over there they repair all cars and appliances until the plastics crumble:)

I found out my washer dryer is 32 years old.

I did see some leasing in Norway because the import duties on cars mean they have low depreciation relative to their sales price. Made sense but i didn't see many people doing it either.

It's always a rough estimate but I'd guess I lose about $600/mo in depreciation on my S, so 400+ to lease an i3 seems foolish.