Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Tesla lease denied due to lack of credit history

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
My company was denied a car lease from Tesla Finance despite excellent personal and business tax returns.

I'm not going to post numbers as that is not the point of this thread but just wanted to let fellow members know that you should think twice before considering them as I wasted time and a hard inquiry on my report for nothing.

Update with Details
- a personal guarantee was agreed, it is part of the leasing program
- the principal earned almost a million in salary
- the company earned several millions in net profit
- the company has $1M+ in cash

The reason was lack of credit history.

Since I like the car, I will just buy the car outright despite the wife nagging that I should get a Porsche (already have one, want something new).

So my advice is unless you have excellent credit history, think twice before applying for their lease as you may waste a hard hit on a super tight underwriting process.

Update #2:

Going to get a Panamera GTS instead... love the quality of the interior and the roar of the V8.
 
Last edited:
My company was denied a car lease from Tesla Finance despite excellent personal and business tax returns.

I'm not going to post numbers as that is not the point of this thread but just wanted to let fellow members know that you should think twice before considering them as I wasted time and a hard inquiry on my report for nothing.
I know no details but credit relies on more than income. You mention good tax returns but not credit scores of company nor principals
 
There's mention of personal tax returns but no mention of a personal guarantee - was one asked for and refused? If so, it makes sense Tesla would refuse if the owner of the "excelllent" business bawked at a personal guarantee. That would be a sound businesss practice on the part of Tesla.
 
I was told that personal credit scores are used also (even though it is a business lease), perhaps this is the problem

Any vehicle I have leased in the past through my small business has required my personal guarantee. I believe this is standard. The business has been in existence for about 30 years. My first business leased vehicle was when the business was less than five years old and a personal credit check and business tax return was required, as I recall. Subsequent leases only required my guarantee.
 
I was a partner in a small business way back when. We applied for business credit, and the bank was more concerned about the creditworthiness/income of the partners than the company as a whole (although part of that was due to it being a startup with minimal income). Personal guarantees were a must in our case.

And there isn't really a "Tesla Finance", anyway. It's all done through Wells Fargo and US Bank, right?
 
My company was denied a car lease from Tesla Finance despite excellent personal and business tax returns.

I'm not going to post numbers as that is not the point of this thread but just wanted to let fellow members know that you should think twice before considering them as I wasted time and a hard inquiry on my report for nothing.

Maybe your credit sucks? Maybe you refused to sign a personal guarantee? Maybe you haven't been in business long enough? Maybe your income is insufficient? Without telling us the actual reason for the denial, your post is rather meaningless. Having nice tax returns doesn't get you a lease. There are other factors.

What was the reason for your decline?
 
We need the OP back to answer the personal guarantee issue. Really, his business has nothing to do with the lease because no lender will provide a business with a leased vehicle without a personal guarantee unless you are fortune 500 company. Without an answer, it seems he wasted Tesla's time and not the other way around.
 
You're right, I missed that blog entry. Kinda surprises me - I would have thought there'd be better uses for their cash than financing cars, but whatever...
Or more to the point, they have better uses for the customer's cash than giving it to finance companies... There's a reason traditional dealerships push their financing so hard, it's a major source of income.
 
Or more to the point, they have better uses for the customer's cash than giving it to finance companies...
I'm not sure I understand your point - I meant that I would think there are better returns to be had by spending the money on strategic investments like the gigafactory, expanding the production lines, designing the X and E, or rolling out Superchargers in underserved areas (New England comes to mind). These could easily be double-digit ROI, vs a couple of percentage points for financing a car (especially since they have no problem selling everything they can build anyway).

There's a reason traditional dealerships push their financing so hard, it's a major source of income.
Every time a car dealer has tried to push their financing on me, it's been with an outside bank with which they've arranged a kickback for loan origination. They've always tried to discourage me from the car company's financing arm, "save your cash", etc.