Poll : The official 2013 "Did you Lease or Buy?" thread

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Did you buy or lease ?

  • My First Leaf : Bought

    Votes: 174 39.5%
  • My First Leaf : Leased

    Votes: 239 54.2%
  • Not my First Leaf : Bought

    Votes: 7 1.6%
  • Not my First Leaf : Leased

    Votes: 21 4.8%

  • Total voters
    441
LEAFer said:
Sorry if this sounds dumb ... but is this "official 2013" poll for MY2013 only ?
Yes. It would be interesting to figure out what people are doing now with MY13. I'll edit to make this clear.
 
I bought a 2012 at the beginning of December for a fantastic price for the short time Nissan was discounting them 10k off list. I was thrilled to finally own an EV and loved driving electric though as a vehicle I found it wanting in a number of areas. Nearly all those issues were addressed in the 2013 revision so I traded in the 2012 for a 2 year lease on a much better 2013. Comparing the 2 and 3 year residuals, I think a substantially updated LEAF will be available in 2015 so I look forward to possibly purchasing one then if it has a battery TMS. It's good as a second car right now but in two years I hope we are down to one, 200 mile range electric vehicle from either Tesla or Nissan.
 
Looking into buying or leasing a 2013 Nissan Leaf S.

I live in CA and it seems like after the rebates the Leaf S comes to 18800 (thinking I can get the dealer down to 17000 after the rebates?)

Given this, why would people leasing the S? Seems like the current best deal people are getting for a lease is 5200 over two years and 30k max.

Do people see the benefits of a lease being no repair cost the first two years, and the opportunity to buy a much better leaf in a few years? Otherwise it seems like the 5200 cost is about 1/3rd of what I can just buy and keep the car with.
 
stavtom said:
Looking into buying or leasing a 2013 Nissan Leaf S.

I live in CA and it seems like after the rebates the Leaf S comes to 18800 (thinking I can get the dealer down to 17000 after the rebates?)

Given this, why would people leasing the S? Seems like the current best deal people are getting for a lease is 5200 over two years and 30k max.

Do people see the benefits of a lease being no repair cost the first two years, and the opportunity to buy a much better leaf in a few years? Otherwise it seems like the 5200 cost is about 1/3rd of what I can just buy and keep the car with.

The feared battery degradation issue is the biggest reason to lease and not own a Leaf. The new Nissan battery capacity warranty doesn't kick in until capacity falls below the 9th capacity bar, and only until 5 years/60k miles, after which you are on your own.

Another reason is just like you said, something better is likely in a few years. Already, cars with longer ranges and/or faster charging times have been introduced since the Leaf was.

A third reason is that for those whose tax liability is expected to be less than $7500 for the year the Leaf is obtained, leasing through NMAC is the only way to get the full credit. Even for those who expect to pay that much in income tax, you get the full credit immediately.
 
I LEASED a 2013 ,after selling my 2011 that was down in range and battery capacity from the Phoenix area heat. It lost about 10% A YEAR. Not bad but it would be a problem the longer we owned it.

I recommend only LEASING any new EV. They are getting better and dropping in price so owning would be a problem. Even a world leading Tesla gets better by 8% or more a year and has many new models coming out. I'm waiting for the 2015 model C and with a lease I can switch with no problem.

2013 SV, average 6 miles/kWh ! about the same as my 2011 did for 23K miles and no problems.
 
jstack6 said:
Even a world leading Tesla gets better by 8% or more a year and has many new models coming out. I'm waiting for the 2015 model C and with a lease I can switch with no problem.
Model "C" is coming out in 2017.
 
Just leased my first Leaf. I get the supplier discount (VPP) and paid $167 for a 24 month lease with $999 at signing for an S. I was looking for an inexpensive second car that is good on gas so the Leaf if great. I have my main car for long trips, etc.

I've had a couple of Ford hybrids (Escape and Fusion) and am overall pretty happy with the Leaf so far. You can't beat the price. Plus a L2 charging station is installed at my house free through DTE. A second meter and discounted rate for 11pm-8am charging.
 
They're still not selling the 2013 MY in Canada, and we wanted to buy (well, lease) before the 2012 rebate expired in March.

Then they extended the rebate. Well, whatever. We have our Leaf anyway. :) The lease came in at $27,500 on the SL model which was about $14,000 off.
 
midelectric said:
I think a substantially updated LEAF will be available in 2015 so I look forward to possibly purchasing one then if it has a battery TMS.
There may or may not be a substantial update for 2015, but I think we can say fairly confidently that it will not have a battery TMS, if by that you mean a liquid cooling system. A top Nissan engineering executive said in Phoenix that Nissan has no interest in moving to liquid cooling of the battery. He left the window slightly open for possible active air cooling.

Ray
 
stavtom said:
I live in CA and it seems like after the rebates the Leaf S comes to 18800 (thinking I can get the dealer down to 17000 after the rebates?) Given this, why would people leasing the S? Seems like the current best deal people are getting for a lease is 5200 over two years and 30k max.
I think you are overlooking two points that make your lease to purchase comparison invalid:
  1. If you go for the three year lease you can get the $2500 rebate just like people who buy.
  2. Tax in California in included in the lease payments, and the taxes here are high. I find it hard to believe you could walk out the door on a purchase paying $18,800, let alone $17,000. My guess is more like $22,000 once you include tax and license.

stavtom said:
Do people see the benefits of a lease being no repair cost the first two years, and the opportunity to buy a much better leaf in a few years? Otherwise it seems like the 5200 cost is about 1/3rd of what I can just buy and keep the car with.
In addition to the battery life issue already mentioned by others, there is the question of how much the car will be worth as a trade in if you buy it. Assuming you get a loan for the price of the car you are likely to be "under water" for a number of years. With a lease you are also paying for an insurance policy. You are basically guaranteed that the LEAF will be worth at least as much as the residual at the end of the lease. If it isn't, you walk away and NMAC has to eat the loss. If it is worth more than that, you buy it for the residual price and can turn around and sell it at market price if you want to.

Ray
 
Just bought a S w/ Charger package.

Several reasons to buy:

We are in San Francisco, with very mild weather. Ideal for battery life span.
It will be driven for about 7000 miles/year. We don't need 12k/year.
By buying, we are able to get 0.9% for 60 months financing vs 4.8% for leasing.

The next cost over three years is about 8800, including all fees and tax. At the end of 36 months, we have only about $12540 to pay.
 
I leased my LEAF for two reasons.
1: Less debt.
We needed a car for me and my girlfriend, we traded in two cars and got one so that she could sign for a house. I can't sign because I started at the Nissan Dealership here in Utah a few months ago and have to have 2 years of commission work to be able to co-sign and have an "Average Income". Anyway, she had over 6 grand in negative equity, so a lease helps us out there (in 2 years, all that neg is gone). We got the huge debt for a cheap car out of her name, and I only have one car under mine.
2: The technology is rapidly improving compared to internal combustion engines.
Just between the 12 and 13 model years, you have a slight increase in overall range, and a sharp drop in charge times with that 6.6kw onboard charger on the SV and SL models (yes, I am a car salesman who knows the Leaf well enough to actually inform, not just sell. we have 4 of our sales people here who drive leaf's. not including the 5 others in shop, service, and accounting who also drive leafs). After the first month I realized I'm not going to have much range anxiety, and I know that from experience showing me I could go another 12 miles when my guess-o-meter dropped to dashes after saying 9 miles left. I'm more confident with actually using the climate control, and I know I can average about 2 trees in a 20 mile round trip if I need to drive economically. Otherwise, I'm enjoying my car by taking turns fast, feeling the instant torque put me in my seat, and enjoying the quiet ride through the lovely Salt Lake scenery.
On a random note, I've gotten into the swing of selling cars, so I've started to look at the Zero motorcycle brand. Interesting stuff going on over there...
 
LEAFfan said:
DG, please tell your customers that it is a 6.0kW charger, not 6.6. It isn't twice as fast as the 3.3.

Interesting, I got into a habit of saying 6.6 after the salesman that sold me the car. Leased, actually, for all the reasons already outlined in this thread. Yes, I went with a 6.6 charger option... or is it 6.0kW? Is it the charger's limit or is it the fact that EVSE's of today are mostly 30 amp and the charger could in theory pull 32 Amps thus cutting charging time in half and actually is a 6.6 but limited by most charging stations?
 
LEAFfan said:
DG, please tell your customers that it is a 6.0kW charger, not 6.6. It isn't twice as fast as the 3.3.

I was very curious about that and when I was at the dealership last night picking up my Leaf after some service done to it, I asked a Leaf tech and he said it actually is indeed a 6.6kW charger that is installed in 2013 models (optional on S).
 
In Georgia, leasing is THE way to go right now. Lessees enjoy a $5k state income tax credit. That's right, lessees. So a 24 month lease equates to getting a free LEAF. Combine gas vs. power savings, with the $5k tax credit, and if you lease an S you're getting paid to drive it, and if you lease an SV you're profiting a little bit...a penny a mile. Purchasing a LEAF right now in GA requires driving 100k miles before you're getting paid to drive it. Therefore, the lease. We bought our first at sticker, happily I might add, on 12/31/11. Heading out to lease a second LEAF this weekend. Not sure we need two EVs long-term, but confident we can utilize them around the household (4 drivers) effectively for the next two years. Thanks Nissan and the taxpayers of Georgia for the FREE RIDE during the next two years!
 
I leased my Leaf here in Oregon. I put 1999 down and am paying 106 a month for a total over two years of 4437. Fed Gov is paying more for me to drive my car than I am.

I think the government incentives are a good reason to lease. Incentives on new cars crush the resale value of competing used cars, if Fed Gov is still handing out checks in two years then my leaf isn't going to worth the 17k and change that Nissan is predicting.
 
I leased my first Leaf, Model S with the charging package, two year lease. I was looking for a more fuel efficient vehicle and when I started researching I found the Leaf. With Nissan offering a lease for $199/mo I figured I would give it a shot. I hadn't even driven one before I signed the paperwork. I did sit in one at the Dallas Auto Show, though. I figured in two years if I liked it I could buy/lease another, preferably with more range, or turn it in if I found it didn't suit me.

So far I love the car. I just need to stop driving it so much so I don't go over on the mileage. :D
 
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