Newbie to leasing about to pull the trigger maybe

[mhigley]

I am a newbie to leasing but I have been driving EVs for years. The Leaf is my dream car. I can't afford to buy a new Leaf so leasing is my only option. Even the lease price has been out of my reach.

Today I saw an ad for a Nissan dealer that said they have a lease deal for a 2012 SV LEAF for $2700 down $88 a month. The small print reads 24 months/12k miles a year/ $2700 cap reduction. Only your state tax and license addtional. Total cost of lease $4,812 with approved credit.

I called the dealer and he said my payment will probably be around $138 when my taxes are figured into the payment.

Please tell me this is not too good to be true. I can do the $2700 down/ $138 a month no problem.

The dealership was closing for the day when I called so I won't be able to get to get any more details until Monday.

I am so excited I can't stand it!

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

get on down there and fill out the paperwork. its free until you sign on the dotted line. will say one thing for sure; there have been some outstanding lease deals. you will be basically driving a LEAF for just over $200 a month. In most case, you would be saving at least half that in gas

 

[mhigley]

I just hope it's not too good to be true. It's an out of town dealership. I called my local Nissan dealer and he said he could get me a 2012 SL for $4800 down and $155 a month. The local dealer said the $88 dollar a month lease deal would require a $4800 down payment as well but I did't get that from the ad.

Mark Higley
Hoping to have a Leaf soon

 

[LEAFer]

There might be a difference between "down" and "drive-off", whereby the down is toward cap-cost-reduction (which lowers your monthly payment ) and sales tax ... which unfortunately has to be paid on the $7,500 federal tax credit, plus any reduction offered by Nissan. Hopefully this amount of extra sales tax does NOT get added to the "down", resulting in a much higher drive-off.

(In some states, crazy as it may seem, you must actually pay sales tax on the entire MSRP, not just on the portion your are leasing for 2 years.)

Find out tomorrow (or Monday) and let us know !

 

[mhigley]

I ended up talking to my local dealer and said they could do $2700 down and $125 a month on an SL. I called them back and asked if that was with everything included. The salesman said it was with everything included with no additional fees! I told them to charge it up because I was coming down to get it. I knew the deal was too good to be true and that it would change a bit when I got there but it ended up changing too much. Every time the salesman left the desk the price got higher until after 2 1/2 hours of paperwork and talking, the salesman disappeared and the finance guy comes over with a $2700 down deal with a $206 payment. My total would have been $7644. The finance guy said the additional $502 in property taxes was what raised my payment to $206. I can only guess that they were adding in both years of property taxes into the payment?

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I ended up talking to my local dealer and said they could do $2700 down and $125 a month on an SL. I called them back and asked if that was with everything included. The salesman said it was with everything included with no additional fees! I told them to charge it up because I was coming down to get it. I knew the deal was too good to be true and that it would change a bit when I got there but it ended up changing too much. Every time the salesman left the desk the price got higher until after 2 1/2 hours of paperwork and talking, the salesman disappeared and the finance guy comes over with a $2700 down deal with a $206 payment. My total would have been $7644. The finance guy said the additional $502 in property taxes was what raised my payment to $206. I can only guess that they were adding in both years of property taxes into the payment?

you mean "sales tax?" sounds like they are charging sales tax on the full purchase price but if your sales tax was say 8% then taxes on 38,000 would be $3040 over 36 months is $84 added to $125... is well about what you got.

check your state laws on how sales tax is figured on leases. they vary from state to state...

 

[mhigley]

In Kansas we have to pay sales tax as well as personal property tax.

I am talking to another dealer in the KC area today. He is being much more upfront about the costs.

For an SL 24 month lease

Drive off with all fees, Kansas state taxes and first month payment included = $3264 down

$209 a month for 23 payments = $4807

I pay County personal property tax of $1004 for two years

Total cost $9075

The dealer said he would get back to me on a price for an SV at 24 months.