My Nissan Leaf Forum

First, the price i've negotiated down to is 31,297 for purchasing the leaf (this does NOT include the government rebate). Does this seem like a fair price?

If I opt to lease (which is what the dealer is pushing for) the lease purchase amount is based on 28,350 (I have no clue if this is a deal).

My real question is, I try to keep my taxes zero'd out every year (withhold the proper amount etc etc.), and the dealership is telling me that if I do that, I will forfeit the 7500 incentive because I must OWE more than i've paid to the government. Now, I'm a married, home owner, no children and pay in around 16k a year in taxes, I thought that because i'm paying 16k in taxes that this would simply be dropping the amount I owe in taxes to 8500ish (thus instead of getting no refund or a few bucks, i'd get 7500). Who is correct in this scenario?


side note, which may not have any relevance:

I worked out the purchase price over the phone last night, and when I went into the dealership this morning, they were really pushing the lease. When I told them I was still considering the outright purchase the salesman informed me that they weren't interested in selling at the price they quoted me, thus I get slightly hot and talk about how this is a bait and switch and they finally come back around and honor the afore mentioned deal, but now with this "information" about the 7500 being wasted. All in all I'm just hoping some of the fleet here can help me w/ the clarification.

thanks in advance, looking forward to reading some more of the Forum.

Jshuntr

Welcome! As long as you have more than $7.5K tax liability, the rebate should apply. Please feel free to peruse the following thread, and ask additional questions there. Be sure to check with your tax advisor as well. One more thing, where are you located?

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=8678

You are correct. The incentive is based on your tax liability, not how much you've under or overpaid in withholding. Note, my understanding is that there are a few other calculations that might affect whether or not you can claim the full amount. There are detailed threads on this issue.

As far as leasing vs. buying it's personal preference but leasing is attractive since 1) it guarantees you get the immediate and full benefit of the Federal tax incentive, and 2) will tend to shield you from any unexpected developments or deficiencies in the technology.

Sounds like Nissan is strongly incentivizing the dealers to go for leases. So you may benefit from that also.

Thanks for the welcome and speedy response, surfingslovak! I will certainly read the thread provided.

Knoxville, Tennessee

Thanks Nubo! I had read up on the incentive over the past few months (thus waiting until the end of December to pull the trigger), and this information the finance guy was throwing just seemed way off. Based on my interaction, I think you're correct in your statement regarding incentives for leasing.

There are smokin' deals now on leases ($200-250). I would definitely lease for two years.

The lease amount should include the $7500 credit already so should therefore be that much less than the purchase price. Since the amounts you show are only $3000 apart, no wonder the dealer is trying to push the lease! Recent leases I've seen show $9425 "NMAC Lease Cash" which includes the full $7500 + additional Nissan incentives to the dealer to lease.

Also, as others have said the dealer is completely wrong about the ramifications of withholding. If your total tax is $16k, you'll have no problem claiming the full $7500.

Also, I don't know where you're located, but in California at least you need at least a 3 year lease to qualify for the $2500 state rebate, so keep that in mind.

Are you looking at a 2012 SL fully loaded or another year/configuration?

I think the recent announcement that they are actually offering a capacity warranty helps resale value and makes purchase still attractive. I purchased and don't regret it, it gives me flexibility to sell whenever I want. If I were starting over, I would either lease a 2012 or wait a little bit and consider buying a 2013 once they announce the full specs.

So sorry, I am indeed purchasing a 2012 SL Fully loaded.

I read the other thread regarding the tax break as well, great information and I believe that I may go to another local nissan dealer and work out a deal there because there certainly seems to be some shady activities to lead people into a lease.

(which of course isn't really a bad thing (leasing that is), I can see several upsides to a lease, but as fooljoe pointed out, the numbers they gave me, just didn't add up.)

Lord, what a shady bunch. I forget, are car dealers rated above or below congress?

Bill