End of Lease Strategies?

[raghu2016]

Is it worth to lease buy out on 2013 Leaf S with quick charger for $5000+ CA sales tax?

Car and lease details:
Leased in Jan 2014.
Down payment: $2500
Monthly payments: $150. (8 more payments remaining. Need to pay it irrespective of lease termination or lease buyout)
Residual value: $12500
Residual value with Nissan $7500 credit: $5000 (in addition, need to pay 8 months payment: $1200)

Bars : 12/12. (no reduction of capacity bars yet)
Millage :31,500 (last few months, driving 1500 miles/month. reach 36,000 miles in Mid July).
Conditions of car:
Tires: 2 tires with 6/32 and others tires with 5/32. (Not sure to replace the tires before lease end)
Scratches: few scratches on front and back bumpers.
Repairs: Rare bumper got replaces a year back.

Guys please let me know what do you think about following questions:
1. Buying out this car is good option? or leasing a new leaf is a better option?
2. If buyout, buy out now or wait for 2 more months?

 

[LeftieBiker]

How much of the available range you have now do you need? I assume your climate isn't hot, but you should still expect to lose the 12th bar within a year, or at most two. Maybe in the next few months. If it has more range than you need that's a great deal. If not, you could also buy it, drive it a few months, then sell it for $8k.

 

[raghu2016]

Our hard requirement is 60 miles/day. We charge to 100% everyday morning and we will have about 35-40% remaining in the evening. On rainy days, we are having only 25% remaining.

 

[JC3]

are you sure the residual is $12500? it should be more than that

 

[LeftieBiker]

Our hard requirement is 60 miles/day. We charge to 100% everyday morning and we will have about 35-40% remaining in the evening. On rainy days, we are having only 25% remaining.

It sounds like the car is fine for you for at few years, at least.

 

[raghu2016]

In-fact, car residual is $12465. And also waiting for model 3.

 

[ngnphoto]

Great thread/feedback everyone. I just found it this morning and went through a search for my question but didn't see anything.

I am looking for more details on the lease extension. I have a 2015 SV lease expiring August 2016 (2 yr lease). I'm waiting on the Tesla Model 3 (I was an early in-store reservation; expecting delivery by 6/2018 but who knows, too many variables to guess). I know I'll need to extend at least 1 year, maybe even 2.

I've seen comments about being offered a 1 year extension, going month-to-month with the ability to cancel at anytime. A few questions:
1. After the 1 year extension is over, can you extend again for another year, and still month-to-month, no penalties to cancel?
2. If you do a lease extension, do you have a pay an additional "disposition" fee of ~$400? Or do you only pay when you officially turn it in?
3. Would NMAC even consider lowering the current monthly lease payment, since technically it's market value today is less than 2 years ago (I highly doubt this)

My considerations:
1. Even with possible residual deductions and dealer rebates, I'd pay less over a 2 year lease than buying out (grant it, yes, I don't have equity of having a car after 2 years)
2. I have little, if any, desire to purchase as I don't want to try to sell it when my Model 3 shows up and guessing that resale values would be going down
3. I want to minimize any sunk costs in getting into another lease (Leaf or other)
4. I like the 2015 SV, it works for me today, I still got 12 bars after almost 18k miles.
5. EV provides me HOV lane access for free and have been spoiled with it for almost 2 years. I can't go back to ICE.

Thanks all in advanced!

 

[LeftieBiker]

There are no extras fees for the extensions (but if you prepaid lease sales tax for your lease term you will now have sales tax added per month - mine is $10 more per month with tax). Two years' worth of extensions is possible. I'm in my second extension now. NMAC does not, however, renegotiate payments. They just extend the existing agreement - that's it.

 

[ngnphoto]

There are no extras fees for the extensions (but if you prepaid lease sales tax for your lease term you will now have sales tax added per month - mine is $10 more per month with tax). Two years' worth of extensions is possible. I'm in my second extension now. NMAC does not, however, renegotiate payments. They just extend the existing agreement - that's it.

Thanks! I called them at 800-854-3110 and no wait. Tracy was a super-nice guy and straightforward, no pressure. He gave me the options and the lease extension option is up to 1 year, month-to-month, same current payments, you get 2 months for free, and you can cancel at anytime. They send you an extension to sign and he said he will also send a less legal-ease document reiterating that point and that would arrive within 24 hrs.

There are NO 2015 buy-out discounts at this time. He said he only can give what he has each month and my options were only valid through the end of this month as I'm sure they are trying to figure their strategy out and know all of us are in a holding pattern.

Good luck all!

 

[LeftieBiker]

The 2 free months seems to apply to the first extension. I had thought it was a temporary promotion.

 

[ngnphoto]

The 2 free months seems to apply to the first extension. I had thought it was a temporary promotion.

It may and he doesn't know what could happen in the future. I had read that last year the 2 free months had existed and was happy to hear him bring it up when talking about extending the lease.

 

[Tuba]

Thanks for all the information - greatly helped in making the decision to buy out my lease! Here are my details:

2013 Nissan Leaf SL with Premium Package
Leased: Sept 15, 2013
Down payment: $3000
Monthly payments: $338.80 (4 payments remaining. 15,000 miles per year plus prepaid maintenance agreement)
Residual value: $15,512
Gross Payoff: $16,706
Buyout: Gross - $7500 credit = $9206 ($300 fee waived)
CA Tax @ 8.5%: $789
Lic and Reg: $124
OTD Price: $10,119

Bars: 12/12 (no reduction of capacity bars yet)
Millage: 45,200 (0.15 per mile over 45,000 - estimate 3000-3500 over at time of lease termination)
Tires: needs new tires, less than 3/32 (unless completely bald, not required to replace at lease termination)
Scratches/dings: one lower right front bumper scratch from parking block, one small door ding, one small dent.
Repairs: No repairs
Overall Condition: Excellent

Will be purchasing tomorrow. The dealer acknowledged the $1500 RPM incentive but would not give to me, however, they waived the $300 purchase fee.

Considerations:
Excellent condition with full battery bars.
KBB Retail Value: $14,512
Lease return fees: $500 mileage, $395 return
Used loan at 2.9% for 36 months: $294 per month
Final Price: $10,584 (three year finance) - $900 (lease return fees) + $800 tires = $10,484

Hope this information helps others in their decisions.

 

[TimLee]

...
Will be purchasing tomorrow. The dealer acknowledged the $1500 RPM incentive but would not give to me, however, they waived the $300 purchase fee.

...

Did you try several dealers?
One person checked with several dealers before finding one near the end of the month that would give the $1,500.

 

[LeftieBiker]

For that matter, try for $1k, letting the dealer keep $500.

 

[kubel]

Don't give up on that $1500. I would shop around, and let them know you're shopping around.

 

[Tuba]

Will be purchasing tomorrow. The dealer acknowledged the $1500 RPM incentive but would not give to me, however, they waived the $300 purchase fee.

So, could not make it to the dealer Friday afternoon, but set an appt. for Saturday afternoon. Saturday morning I had a couple hours to kill at a kid activity, so I phoned a couple of local dealerships. I let them know I would be making the transaction today, the parameters of the deal I had in place ($7500 and minus the $300 buyout fee), and if they could cut me a better deal using their $1500 RPM incentive. Both dealerships said they would check and call me back. One called to say they could only meet the existing deal, the other was willing to give me an additional $500 break. I went to that dealership a couple hours later and closed the deal. Here are the final numbers:

Gross Payoff: $16,706
Buyout: Gross - $7500 credit - $500 incentive = $8706 ($300 fee waived)
CA Tax @ 8.5%: $751
Lic/Reg/lender fees: $270
OTD Price: $9727

Thanks again for the all the information and I hope helps others in their decisions!

 

[cwerdna]

^^^
Wow, that sounds pretty good for a '13 SL w/premium.

I noticed in one of your earlier posts, you posted a KBB value. Ignore KBB. I don't think values have much to do w/reality when it comes to used Leaf pricing, other than as a tool for dealers (e.g. Nissan-franchise ones) to charge you a lot of $ and/or to claim their car is cheap vs. KBB.

 

[Tuba]

^^^
Wow, that sounds pretty good for a '13 SL w/premium.

I noticed in one of your earlier posts, you posted a KBB value. Ignore KBB.

Thanks cwerdna! The KBB value was given to me by the original dealership I was working with as the price they would list for. Based on cargurus.com for my area, the value is around $12-13K.

Happy with the deal and glad it is complete!

 

[GoingForLeaf]

Will be purchasing tomorrow. The dealer acknowledged the $1500 RPM incentive but would not give to me, however, they waived the $300 purchase fee.

So, could not make it to the dealer Friday afternoon, but set an appt. for Saturday afternoon. Saturday morning I had a couple hours to kill at a kid activity, so I phoned a couple of local dealerships. I let them know I would be making the transaction today, the parameters of the deal I had in place ($7500 and minus the $300 buyout fee), and if they could cut me a better deal using their $1500 RPM incentive. Both dealerships said they would check and call me back. One called to say they could only meet the existing deal, the other was willing to give me an additional $500 break. I went to that dealership a couple hours later and closed the deal. Here are the final numbers:

Gross Payoff: $16,706
Buyout: Gross - $7500 credit - $500 incentive = $8706 ($300 fee waived)
CA Tax @ 8.5%: $751
Lic/Reg/lender fees: $270
OTD Price: $9727

Thanks again for the all the information and I hope helps others in their decisions!

Thanks for the update. My lease ends in Oct'16 and haven't started talking to dealers. If it is ok, could you paste the dealer info? It would be useful for us.

 

[Tuba]

Thanks for the update. My lease ends in Oct'16 and haven't started talking to dealers. If it is ok, could you paste the dealer info? It would be useful for us.

Bought at Nissan of Sacramento

Original Lease Dealership - Hanlees Davis Nissan

Also contacted Nissan of Elk Grove