Has or is anyone leasing their Model S? I have never leased a vehicle and I've heard more bad than good about leases but I thought I'd ask. I do not keep my vehicles long, I seem to get bored quickly
I have had my Sonata for almost 4 years and I have about 75,000 miles on it. I do take excellent care of my vehicle though. Any advice or experiences? I think I'm having trouble swallowing the large purchase price and trying to find a way to justify it.
Based on your mileage on the Hyundai, you'll need to do 15,000 per year on a Tesla. Something tells me you'll want to drive it a LOT (it is a great car) and that would be your main limitation. It makes good sense financially to lease the car, but leasing isn't for everyone. People often like to have something to show for their investment, or the mileage limits, etc.... but if you're able to comfortably afford the car, go for it! Remember, insurance costs go up too with a car of this cost.
Another VERY important benefit of the lease is that some people will not be able to utilize the $7500 tax credit-- with the lease, this doesn't matter. No matter who you are, that $7500 is factored into the monthly payment. So for that group, leasing makes great sense.
If anyone has done the math, how do the lease terms compare to the guaranteed buyback terms. Specifically where there is no business benefit to the lease.
Funny you should ask this, as I was discussing this very exact matte with someone earlier today. We configured a car for around $93k that had a $1,100/mo lease payment. There was a $6800 down payment for the lease, and a $9,300 down payment for a loan. The payment for the loan was $1275'ish for 72 months. Here in my county of Ohio sales tax is 8%-- assuming you decided to pay that tax up front, that is $3,168 tax for the lease, versus $7440 tax for the loan. You'll owe tax on the lease down payments, so another $544.
Effectively then the lease is $10,512 down if you decided NOT to pay tax monthly.
Effectively then the loan is $16,740 down if you decided to pay all tax up front there too (again doing this just for apples to apples comparison)
The difference there is $6,228 approximately... buying gives you a tax credit of $7500, so you'll be $1272 ahead of the game. But since your payment will be $175 more for the loan, if you look 36-months into the lease you'll be actually $5,000 worse off. Now this was based on 10,000 miles per year... let's assume it would be around $50/mo if you went up to 15k/year. Even then, you're still $3,000 better off leasing at the 3-year mark. Of course, if the car is worth more than you owe (on the loan), then you could stand to profit. But is that a risk you want to take?
With the loan you get the safety net at 3 years of course.... but you're paying more per month and typically more up front (10% of any car tends to be more than $5000 + acquisition + 1st month). But you get the tax benefit, which almost entirely offsets that. IMO leasing makes great sense if the mileage limits aren't a problem. Personally, I also love the idea of knowing 3-years later you can easily swap out for a different car, should yu want to. That being said, we're leasing my wife's Tesla, but I did a loan on mine. Because $0 down...