2011, 2012 Nissan Leaf Leasing Information

[evnow]

not sure which thread i should have this in, but after being "initially" approved by capital one auto finance, i got a followup letter that advises me that i my loan was declined.

reason; "incomplete or missing credit history"

Have you tried penfed ?

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

I don't understand.. how can you have a high credit score but no credit history?

how credit scores are determined are beyond me i do have several bills and credit cards i manage and pay every month. i dont carry any balances, so i really dont know.

 

[walterbays]

how credit scores are determined are beyond me

I think the scoring formulae are secret, but you can get your score. And you can get your credit reports so you have a chance to correct any misinformation there - and errors are pretty common. Your report is free if you have been denied credit. Do a web search for "credit report denied" and for "credit score"

 

[evnow]

how credit scores are determined are beyond me i do have several bills and credit cards i manage and pay every month. i dont carry any balances, so i really dont know.

Try posting your situation in fatwallet. You will probably get good advice on how to get a loan ...

http://www.fatwallet.com/forums/finance/

 

[EVDRIVER]

not sure which thread i should have this in, but after being "initially" approved by capital one auto finance, i got a followup letter that advises me that i my loan was declined.

reason; "incomplete or missing credit history"

Have you tried penfed ?

You have the right to the specific reason in writing.

 

[DaveinOlyWA]

Yep got Letter in writing with above reason. Got credit report. Nothing bad on it except child support which has been direct debit from payroll over 7 years. Credit rating is over 740 .

Will check on the link when I get home

 

[topaz420]

Is it possible to get out of the Leaf Lease?

I will be using it as my primary car and I don't know if it will work out (true range, convenience, etc etc)

If someone wants to "take over" my Leaf lease, is that possible? I have seen sites like LeaseTrader.com that help people get into and out of leases, but when I asked Fontana Nissan about it, he said he had never heard of getting out of your lease (?)

Any information from the community would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Daniel

 

[BrendanDolan]

I'd have to call NMAC to see if they allow leases to be swapped like many other lenders do (for instance, BMW's are always on swaplease.com). I do know that you can terminate the lease at any time by giving NMAC the payoff amount on the car. At any given time, a lease has a payoff like a normal loan does, and as long as NMAC gets that amount the LEAF is yours.

Basically, if you want out of the lease and can't swap it, you can sell it for the payoff amount (or higher if you're lucky) and then be done with it.

 

[Coffee_Slurry]

Don't forget the EV Project commitment, if you're in one of those areas. Or the CA rebate.
You will have to give back the $5k if you break your lease.

 

[mwalsh]

You will have to give back the $5k if you break your lease.

Correction....may have to give the $5k back. There is a scenario dealing with financial hardship that would allow you to skate away with the $5k (or at least a part of it) still in your pocket!

 

[topaz420]

You will have to give back the $5k if you break your lease.

Correction....may have to give the $5k back. There is a scenario dealing with financial hardship that would allow you to skate away with the $5k (or at least a part of it) still in your pocket!

Would paying the lease off or transferring it to another person be considered "breaking" it for purposes of the California rebate?

 

[topaz420]

Don't forget the EV Project commitment, if you're in one of those areas. Or the CA rebate.
You will have to give back the $5k if you break your lease.

Good point - is there some fine print for the EV Project that says how long you have to keep the car or remain living in the home that they assessed?

Thanks to you and MWalsh for the helpful insights

 

[topaz420]

I'd have to call NMAC to see if they allow leases to be swapped like many other lenders do (for instance, BMW's are always on swaplease.com). I do know that you can terminate the lease at any time by giving NMAC the payoff amount on the car. At any given time, a lease has a payoff like a normal loan does, and as long as NMAC gets that amount the LEAF is yours.

Basically, if you want out of the lease and can't swap it, you can sell it for the payoff amount (or higher if you're lucky) and then be done with it.

Thanks for the info - this is my first lease because I really can't afford to purchase this car outright and I wouldn't have enough tax liability to benefit from the federal credit.

Thanks,
Daniel

 

[LEAFer]

Would paying the lease off or transferring it to another person be considered "breaking" it for purposes of the California rebate?

No and Yes. Paying it off and keeping the car: No. Transfer: yes, you'd be "breaking" your commitment. But I guess there's a middle-of-the-road: If you transfer, and the car stays in CA for the remainder of the required 36months, you're simply morally obligated to transfer the pro-rated remainder portion of the $5k benefit to the new owner. If you transfer and the car leaves CA, you are obligated to refund the pro-rated remainder portion of the $5k. (Not sure how (or if) they'll "know" or can check on you.) If you move out-of-state ... same obligation to refund the rebate.

 

[planet4ever]

If you transfer and the car leaves CA, you are obligated to refund the pro-rated remainder portion of the $5k. (Not sure how (or if) they'll "know" or can check on you.) If you move out-of-state ... same obligation to refund the rebate.

Correct, and I suspect the test and check is very simple. So long as the vehicle is registered in CA for three years they will be happy. If DMV drops the registration, it may have a flag to notify ARB or CCSE.

 

[ttweed]

...is there some fine print for the EV Project that says how long you have to keep the car or remain living in the home that they assessed?

The EV Project commitment is for 2 years. The agreement states that they can take back the equipment if you don't comply with the terms. After the 24 months, the equipment ownership transfers to the user if they have complied with their obligations to supply data under the project specs.

TT

 

[LEAFer]

I am bumping this thread ...

Reason: We have imminent deliveries ... and the lease "facts" are known (rather than the pricing "of $379/mo. is an example of an offer if vehicle were sold in August 2010" disclaimer on the Nissan website).

Question: what are the CURRENT and ACTUAL money factors (rates) for leasing on different tiers ? (See page 1 of this thread for the August info.)

 

[Ingen]

If you transfer and the car leaves CA, you are obligated to refund the pro-rated remainder portion of the $5k. (Not sure how (or if) they'll "know" or can check on you.) If you move out-of-state ... same obligation to refund the rebate.

Correct, and I suspect the test and check is very simple. So long as the vehicle is registered in CA for three years they will be happy. If DMV drops the registration, it may have a flag to notify ARB or CCSE.

I'm not certain how this particular rebate works, BUT I did receive a similar CARB rebate on my Civic GX (Natural Gas Vehicle) back in 2007. According to the application I had to keep it for the three year or I had to return the pro-rated amount to CARB. In 2010, they emailed me at the end of the three years and asked me to send in a copy of my registration showing that I was still the registered owner of the vehicle. Not sure what they would have done if I didn't send in the information, but I would guess it would probably get legally messy.

Based on that information, I would guess that if you sold your LEAF or had someone else take over the lease before the three years are up you'd be legally liable to return the pro-rated amount, IRREGARDLESS of whether or not the car was in California. Again, I'm not saying this is the case for this particular rebate but I personally would NOT risk breaking a legally binding contract with CARB.

 

[Gonewild]

Easiest way to compare is to use the money factor equivalent interest rate. Sine the best rate is 4.9% - if you can get financing for less than that, you would be better off buying. Infact, since lease has some additional costs like acquisition fee, even if the finance rate is slighlty higher, it would still be the better option.

Lease is better if
- You can't get 7,500 tax credit for some reason
- You want to buy a new car in 3 or 4 years, but don't want the hassle of selling used Leaf or the risk of a low used value for Leaf

The various calculations comparing the buy vs lease tells us how much is the "convinience" of leasing is costing us in terms of dollars.

ps : The average rates in bankrate and other places seems to be much higher than what people can get in their credit unions. My CU gives 3.4% - bankrate average is 6.22%.

http://www.bankrate.com/funnel/graph/Default.aspx?cat=8&ids=234,-1&state=zz&d=180&t=MSLine&eco=-1

Evnow. So would it be cheaper for me to lease if I can only get around $6k of the 7,500?

 

[evnow]

Evnow. So would it be cheaper for me to lease if I can only get around $6k of the 7,500?

Do you think you will buy at the end of lease or return ?

Anyway, check this thread.

http://www.mynissanleaf.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=1640&start=0

I made it sticky.