Leaf Price / Discount discussion thread

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iPlug said:
Not discounting what you said, just never heard of that or come across it over the last few years as you have. I periodically run these things online, so it's not a one off thing here.

It's an important point to discuss if others are seeing what you are given the implications.

Ok, please try it folks. Put in your location or let the site access it, and see if the offer changes. It's also possible that they have reinstated the old policy, after screwing me and many others out of over $3k.
 
LeftieBiker, what was your down payment + total monthly payment amount for your 2018 SL w/pro pilot, if you don't mind me asking?


Here was the final Nissan page I was working on, tried different zip codes to check around other places, if the hyperlink still works for others:

https://www.nissanusa.com/pe-nissan/lease-finance-payment-calculator/LEAF/17119?totalPrice=33375

Jealous here of some of the New England area deals (for a 3 year/30k mile lease, my zip code rings up $3979 total down at signing and $279/mo while in NY rings up at $2929 total down and $259/mo). It's been like that with the Prius Prime over on PriusChat too since it's been out - NE has much better deals than us. :cry: Likely some hardball and other incentives via the dealers can get these numbers down more.

Not sure we posted our prior Leaf lease terms. In April 2016 we acquired our 2016 Leaf SV with a 3 yr/36k mile lease here in CA:
$2,395.00 Total down (includes all CA and other taxes)
$254.94/mo payments (includes all CA and other taxes)
=$11,572.84 total lease pre-CA and utility rebates
-$2,500 CA rebate
-$500 utility rebate
=$8,572.84 total lease cost to us

We will be using this baseline when shopping for our next lease if it is another Leaf. Appreciate the input of others in this thread, helps make all of us smarter shoppers.
 
I put $4k down to get $299 a month for my 2018 SL. (I have an arrangement with my cooperative household that covers about 2/3 of the costs, so it isn't as bad as it looks for me. I actually put $2k down and pay about $90 a month.) Nissan apparently just wanted to do that to me - later on they again started offering the full credit on the S, and now it's back in full for all models. I'd expect to see them pull the same sh*t with the ePlus when it's first available. That lets them claim a low MSRP, but it's subsidized by lessees.

Thanks for the info. $##@!#@$#@
 
Two weeks ago I executed on:
2018 SL, 12k miles year, 36 months, with Tech/Pro Pilot, all-weather, cargo thing, floor mats, the silly illuminated grill emblem, splash guards, the cargo cover... I think it actually had every option possible (all I cared about was the first two...)

Our 2015 lease was up, we have a Model S so the range of the 2019 40kwh LEAF is more than sufficient for what we do, and I had no desire to drive my wife's 15 year old Subaru Outback for a few months to possibly get a better deal when the new battery LEAFs come out. ;-)

750 down, 350/month for 36 months. Total payments over the life of the lease just over $13,000. In North Carolina I pay about $10/month in taxes as part of the 350, so Nissan gets 340 of that.

For the math nerds out there:
Gross cap cost: 34670
Cap cost reduction: 11275
Adj cap cost: 23397
Residual: 14703
Depreciation: 8694
Rent charge: 3538

So the money factor here has to be astronomical, but I told the dealer that I didn't care how they got to the numbers (750 down & 350/month) on their end as long as the up-front and monthly checks I write were the correct values. There was an offer for a higher down payment that was a little bit less in total money outlay, but I wanted to minimize the up-front in case someone totals me one day...

I will throw out an unsolicited plug for Leith Nissan in Cary NC, I worked with a guy named Jim G and he was as easy to deal with as anyone I've ever bought a car from.
 
You got a somewhat better deal than me - much lower residual. I paid more up front and have a lower payment, which is less smart but my circumstances are unusual. I hope you are considering buying the car if the battery holds up ok?
 
This is a decent deal. I also checked out Leith, but they essentially refused to negotiate over e-mail, and always had this "internet advisor" in the way. I got mine (bought mine) from Michael Jordan Nissan, who made it seem easy.

Does this math sound right adding up the costs if you decide to buy after the lease?

(350*36) + 750 + 14,703 = 28,050 OTD

So it appears the federal rebate was included, which got your lease costs and down payment down this low.

In comparison, mine (SV with tech + weather) at MJ was a purchase with 0 pct 60 months: 525*60 - 7,500 = 24,000 OTD

$4,050 premium essentially for the SL seems a bit steep if I'm calculating this right...but $350 a month is pretty good. Gotta love the NC vehicle sales tax is only 3 pct! (Many states charge full sales tax)

ljwobker said:
Two weeks ago I executed on:
2018 SL, 12k miles year, 36 months, with Tech/Pro Pilot, all-weather, cargo thing, floor mats, the silly illuminated grill emblem, splash guards, the cargo cover... I think it actually had every option possible (all I cared about was the first two...)

Our 2015 lease was up, we have a Model S so the range of the 2019 40kwh LEAF is more than sufficient for what we do, and I had no desire to drive my wife's 15 year old Subaru Outback for a few months to possibly get a better deal when the new battery LEAFs come out. ;-)

750 down, 350/month for 36 months. Total payments over the life of the lease just over $13,000. In North Carolina I pay about $10/month in taxes as part of the 350, so Nissan gets 340 of that.

For the math nerds out there:
Gross cap cost: 34670
Cap cost reduction: 11275
Adj cap cost: 23397
Residual: 14703
Depreciation: 8694
Rent charge: 3538

So the money factor here has to be astronomical, but I told the dealer that I didn't care how they got to the numbers (750 down & 350/month) on their end as long as the up-front and monthly checks I write were the correct values. There was an offer for a higher down payment that was a little bit less in total money outlay, but I wanted to minimize the up-front in case someone totals me one day...

I will throw out an unsolicited plug for Leith Nissan in Cary NC, I worked with a guy named Jim G and he was as easy to deal with as anyone I've ever bought a car from.
 
I'd say it is very unlikely that I'll buy the car at the end of the lease - this is our third 3-year lease (2012, 2015, 2019 models...)

Too much changes from year to year and (at least so far) the $$ outlay has been worth it to drive something new. It's also possible that the tech will plateau and in 3 years I'll think it's worth permanently buying the car... but there's so much technology risk with these cars that I didn't want to be long-term committed to a LEAF. We already own a Model S: that's our long-term EV committment for sure.

And I went into this knowing I was going to lease and placing near-zero importance on how things were calculated. If the dealer wanted to call it all rent and near zero depreciation, that was fine with me. The opposite structure? -- also fine with me.

My negotiation tactics: I was very clear up-front that I cared only about meeting some set of requirements on the car itself (at least a 2018 SL with Tech and All-weather and a couple of excluded colors) and I was going to lease. They had to get a down-payment and monthly payment number that I was OK with, and I didn't care how they did it. I'd like to think that giving them some flexibility in the deal structure allowed them to get to the numbers I cared about.

I leased my 2015 LEAF from Michael Jordan in Durham. This time around I went to talk to them, but their initial lease offer was not even remotely close to competitive (they wanted almost $100/month more for the same terms and a slightly less nice vehicle!) and seemed to have zero interest in getting closer to my price. I was told by multiple dealers that "the lease deals are not nearly as good as the purchase deals" which seems to be mostly born out by the pricing I got.

I'd contend that the federal rebate is always "included" in the price, because it's not like they aren't going to redeem that credit! It's just a matter of how much of that they're willing to include in all the other variably-named "discounts" that go into the reduction of purchase price.
 
The amount of the Federal credit they pass on is what changes. It used to be all of it, then for a while, little, then most...

The only thing wrong with your deal, given your preferences, is that the residual is below what will likely be the market value at lease end. Not way below, but the best way to give yourself options without spending more money than needed is to put the residual at or near the likely market value at end of lease. Mine is at $17k, which I'd say will be the most the car would sell for, while yours, at $14k, would be a very good deal to buy in 3 years. If you are happy with the deal, though, that's what matters. And if you do decide to keep the car, you'll be happy then, too.
 
Leased a leaf today in bay area, ca. Needed one for hov lane commute in a month.

Leaf S with QC. No weather package.

$10550 all in for 36 months and 10000 miles/year. Could have bargained lower, but just last week, I was struggling at $12k, so the sudden drop in prices this week surprised me.

Vpp and loyalty. $5300 driveoff and $139+tax per month.
 
"$5300 driveoff and $139+tax per month"

I see a lot of people putting a lot of money down on a lease. Isn't that a bad idea? What if it gets totalled or stolen? Wouldn't it be better to spread the down payment over the whole term of the lease?
 
rocketfast said:
Leased a leaf today in bay area, ca. Needed one for hov lane commute in a month.

Leaf S with QC. No weather package.

$10550 all in for 36 months and 10000 miles/year. Could have bargained lower, but just last week, I was struggling at $12k, so the sudden drop in prices this week surprised me.

Vpp and loyalty. $5300 driveoff and $139+tax per month.
Very nice. If you get the $2.5k CA rebate and $800 PG&E utility rebate, that's only $7,250 for the lease.

Bay Area climate should be kinder to battery than most places in CA.

Triggerhappy007 said:
"$5300 driveoff and $139+tax per month"

I see a lot of people putting a lot of money down on a lease. Isn't that a bad idea? What if it gets totalled or stolen? Wouldn't it be better to spread the down payment over the whole term of the lease?
I think you still have to pay the lease balance to get out of contract if the car is totaled and not reparable. AFAIK, the auto insurance company pays the cash value of a totaled car to the lease finance company.


A large down payment may come down to mostly a cost opportunity issue. Certainly Nissan would reduce the total lease cost to the consumer for a larger down payment, but a lower down payment may provide a greater cost opportunity for the consumer. YMMV.
 
I was under the impression that if someone totaled a leased vehicle, assuming it's normally insured, you were basically out the car and the remainder of the lease was either forgiven or paid off by the insurance company or something along those lines. But regardless of how you got there, if you've only had the car for (as an example) 12 months, you are out the down payment and all the monthly payments made to that point... so if you have a very large up-front, your effective cost per month to drive the car is a LOT higher than if you have a smaller/zero down payment. But I'm not authoritative on that ;)
 
ljwobker said:
I was under the impression that if someone totaled a leased vehicle, assuming it's normally insured, you were basically out the car and the remainder of the lease was either forgiven or paid off by the insurance company or something along those lines. But regardless of how you got there, if you've only had the car for (as an example) 12 months, you are out the down payment and all the monthly payments made to that point... so if you have a very large up-front, your effective cost per month to drive the car is a LOT higher than if you have a smaller/zero down payment. But I'm not authoritative on that ;)

You have it right.
 
ljwobker said:
I was under the impression that if someone totaled a leased vehicle, assuming it's normally insured, you were basically out the car and the remainder of the lease was either forgiven or paid off by the insurance company or something along those lines. But regardless of how you got there, if you've only had the car for (as an example) 12 months, you are out the down payment and all the monthly payments made to that point... so if you have a very large up-front, your effective cost per month to drive the car is a LOT higher than if you have a smaller/zero down payment. But I'm not authoritative on that ;)

I simply did not know this (and this is my 3rd Nissan leaf lease!). I will be more careful on my 4th lease.
 
LeftieBiker said:
Good deal - as long as it isn't cold where you live.

Yeah. I thought about it. My commute is 40 miles a day with free charging at work. I thought, I will just crank up the heater when it is cold (we don't go below 32f here).
 
ljwobker said:
I was under the impression that if someone totaled a leased vehicle, assuming it's normally insured, you were basically out the car and the remainder of the lease was either forgiven or paid off by the insurance company or something along those lines. But regardless of how you got there, if you've only had the car for (as an example) 12 months, you are out the down payment and all the monthly payments made to that point... so if you have a very large up-front, your effective cost per month to drive the car is a LOT higher than if you have a smaller/zero down payment. But I'm not authoritative on that ;)
I'm no expert here either, but got the information from reading about leases online.

I mentioned "I think you still have to pay the lease balance to get out of contract if the car is totaled and not reparable." What you mention is not necessarily mutually exclusive. Gap insurance written into lease insurance might be how the insurance company is able to "forgive" (pay-off) the rest. If that is the case, one would expect lease insurance to be higher on a vehicle with a lower down payment.

Someone with more expertise with leases may be able to clarify here as I may just be muddying the waters.
 
Nissan/NMAC self-insures for GAP coverage. If your leased Nissan is totaled, you walk away with nothing, owing nothing. That's why large down payments are more risky then small ones, or none: you lose little or nothing in the latter cases. I always tell people: If you want to get a better deal (most dealerships like to see some cash upfront) then put as much down as you are willing to lose - no more.
 
My 2014 B was totaled. The gap insurance paid off the car. Mercedes always has a large residual to lower the payments. The gap covered all of that.
 
There are some great deals to lease right now, I'm pretty close to pulling the trigger on a 2018 SV with All Weather and Tech Packages. Roughly $11k net for 36 months (including taxes and fees) and then a $13.4k residual if I want to buy it or I'll have the option to walk away clean.
 
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