Lease versus purchase (buy)

[kubel]

Leasing will cost you just about $1000 more than a straight purchase but if not paying cash some of the diffrence can be made back by lower interest payments.

The best part is that the sales tax waiver applies to EVs both new and used so no real penalty for buying out the lease

Part of the reason I'm doing a lease (followed by a buyout) is because I didn't have anywhere near $7500 in tax obligations for 2011, so I doubt I'll come close in 2012 either. With the lease, I have to pay sales tax on the $7500, a fee for buying out the lease, a lease finder fee, then I pay ridiculous 4.9% interest for the first three months until I can buy out. I'm hoping PenFed will approve me for a 1.9% 60 month car loan, then I can just buy out the lease and sell it after 4 years and hopefully be better off than turning it in at the end of my 39 months.

 

[HighDesertDriver]

We bought out our lease in California after 3 months. The only additional costs vs. purchasing in the first place were the "acquisition fee" and 3 months of 4.99% on the lease instead of 2.99% on the purchase. I did have to write another small check (<$20?) to the DMV for the new registration, but the big difference is in sales tax. On the lease, one pays tax only on the monthly cost of the lease. When buying out the lease, I had to add the sales tax on the remaining 36 of 39 lease months, plus the residual value. These same taxes would have been collected if we had purchased in the first place, so while they may be a "surprise" to some people, I don't view them as "additional."

 

[thankyouOB]

dont forget that you have the option, if you do a schedule A federal, to choose either sales tax or property tax for a deduction.
if you are buying, self-schedule your property tax payments for december and january to void the year when you PAY the sales tax for the Leaf.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

No sales tax in WA so covered on that. As far as price below MSRP, some people who were part of the original Apr 20 / Aug 31 got a bit of a discount probably asearly adopter s but have not seen any discounts on 2012s

 

[downeykp]

Bluester, I made a mistake with reply. The residual was $15000. Sorry I left out a zero.

As it turns out after getting my taxes finished today. I only realized a $2500 credit on taxes. But looking over all of the email transactions from my sale leasing would have gotten the full $7500 credit but all of the lease payments added up to $15000 and the residual was right at $15000 plus the $999 down payment added up to just under $31000. That is $1000 more dollars that what I paid cash for.
Mike Abbott at Oly Nissan was a great salesman. He was honest and a nice guy. The buying experience with the exception of the finance manager was great.

 

[downeykp]

There have been people going through Costco getting a little better deal. Have you looked around the area for an orphan? This might allow you to get a better deal. If you have any other questions, please feel free to PM.

 

[kubel]

At this point, if you qualify for a tier 0 lease, it would be unwise to buy out the lease early seeing as they are offering 0.00071 money factor (1.7% interest). You probably won't find a used car loan deal below 1.7%.

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