2018 Leaf buy or lease

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ayekay

Member
Joined
Jun 11, 2013
Messages
13
Location
Redmond, WA
I leased the past 2 times.. but am thinking about buying the 2018 model.. how would you make this decision ?

thanks in advance
 
Unless you live in a Cold climate and have range needs well below 100 miles, I would definitely lease if I were you. I'm not you, but I did just lease a 2018 SL.
 
Lease. Your financial hit is minimal and if you are an active investor, could by negligible. Your lease will then be essentially a 3 year test drive to determine whether the car works for you. Get LEAF Spy and track battery stats from DAY ONE

Doing it after you detect problems is kinda sorta like remembering to lock the barn door as you go running after your horse. The math on the TCO of lease verses buy is straightforward enough and you will find the difference to be very insignificant when compared to the possibility of buying a car that might fall short of what you want it to do.
 
I do not recommend buying an BEV at this point in time. I do expect by 2020-2025, the market will have matured enough to consider purchase.
 
ayekay said:
I leased the past 2 times.. but am thinking about buying the 2018 model.. how would you make this decision ?

thanks in advance

Depends on lots of factors.

Technology is changing rapidly. Do you want to keep up, or are you OK with the current level for a while? I bought a cutting edge cell phone and owned it for more than a decade. This was an amusing experience, as the phone gradually went from "Wow, that's cool" to "Wow, that still works?", with a long period of "boring phone" in the middle.

Price including tax rebates. I've seen some crazy cheap leases in the past, one in 2015 that was the cheapest I've ever seen a Leaf, but the leases I've seen for the 2018 are much more expensive. However, the lease still might be better if you don't have enough owed in taxes to take advantage of the Federal non-refundable credit. Don't forget the impact of sales taxes. Businesses have tax reasons to lease.

Where you live and how much you drive in a year. Cooler climates are better than hot climates for battery life, salt on roads rusts out any car, leases have mileage limits.

And more.

Look at the extra cost to lease, and ask if it is worth it. If the extra cost is zero or even negative, then there is little reason not to lease. If the extra cost is a large enough fraction of the car's price, then there is little reason not to buy. Between? Harder to say, of course.
 
thanks everyone for the info. I've leased a leaf for a few years now. I live in Seattle and a range of 100 is sufficient for my needs.

Based on the current lease numbers for a 2018 SV, I see that what I'll pay for leasing for 6 years is the same as the purchase price - fed rebate and sales tax exemption.

this is what made me think about buying Vs leasing.
 
Based on the current lease numbers for a 2018 SV, I see that what I'll pay for leasing for 6 years is the same as the purchase price - fed rebate and sales tax exemption.

No offense, but that is exactly why you should lease, not buy. You will have a low risk 3 year test drive before you have to decide about buying.
 
LeftieBiker said:
Based on the current lease numbers for a 2018 SV, I see that what I'll pay for leasing for 6 years is the same as the purchase price - fed rebate and sales tax exemption.

No offense, but that is exactly why you should lease, not buy. You will have a low risk 3 year test drive before you have to decide about buying.

WA is a bit more complicated. By buying now, He saves at least $3,000 in sales tax. If he leases, he would save just over $1500 since only the transaction completed by May 31st is exempt. This of course includes the entire lease term but would not include the buyout if he went that route.
 
thanks... yes the $3000 sales tax exemption which ends in May was a factor.. the other was that Nissan Leafs 3 years from now won't be eligible for the $7500 tax rebate as well.
 
Speaking of utilities,

Most have special EV electric service rates, some have $500 service rebates, and some have $3000 EV purchase rebates
 
OrientExpress said:
Speaking of utilities,

Most have special EV electric service rates, some have $500 service rebates, and some have $3000 EV purchase rebates

None that I'm aware of in Western Washington.
 
ayekay said:
thanks... yes the $3000 sales tax exemption which ends in May was a factor.. the other was that Nissan Leafs 3 years from now won't be eligible for the $7500 tax rebate as well.
the tax credit is applied to the lease so you would get that immediately instead of having to wait until you file your tax return or be required to have that much tax liability.
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
ayekay said:
thanks... yes the $3000 sales tax exemption which ends in May was a factor.. the other was that Nissan Leafs 3 years from now won't be eligible for the $7500 tax rebate as well.
the tax credit is applied to the lease so you would get that immediately instead of having to wait until you file your tax return
You can always amend withholding
 
DaveinOlyWA said:
ayekay said:
thanks... yes the $3000 sales tax exemption which ends in May was a factor.. the other was that Nissan Leafs 3 years from now won't be eligible for the $7500 tax rebate as well.
the tax credit is applied to the lease so you would get that immediately instead of having to wait until you file your tax return or be required to have that much tax liability.

Keep in mind that Nissan now passes on the Federal tax credit only if you lease an S. Lease an SV or SL and you get a couple of thousand instead, with a higher residual.
 
LeftieBiker said:
DaveinOlyWA said:
ayekay said:
thanks... yes the $3000 sales tax exemption which ends in May was a factor.. the other was that Nissan Leafs 3 years from now won't be eligible for the $7500 tax rebate as well.
the tax credit is applied to the lease so you would get that immediately instead of having to wait until you file your tax return or be required to have that much tax liability.

Keep in mind that Nissan now passes on the Federal tax credit only if you lease an S. Lease an SV or SL and you get a couple of thousand instead, with a higher residual.

that would be news. Did you not just lease an SL? How much did they give you?
 
LeftieBiker said:
DaveinOlyWA said:
ayekay said:
thanks... yes the $3000 sales tax exemption which ends in May was a factor.. the other was that Nissan Leafs 3 years from now won't be eligible for the $7500 tax rebate as well.
the tax credit is applied to the lease so you would get that immediately instead of having to wait until you file your tax return or be required to have that much tax liability.

Keep in mind that Nissan now passes on the Federal tax credit only if you lease an S. Lease an SV or SL and you get a couple of thousand instead, with a higher residual.
Do you mean that the 'couple thousand' is via the higher residual, or that both are given ? If the latter, then how much in total ?

For people who will not buy the car at lease term the residual ~ discount, perhaps a little better depending on how taxes are applied.
 
that would be news. Did you not just lease an SL? How much did they give you
?

I started a whole topic on this, and response was tepid, at best. I got about $2700 from Nissan, while they pocketed the tax credit. They also raised the residual about $1k, which lowers the payments slightly, but also makes the car less affordable to buy.
 
LeftieBiker said:
that would be news. Did you not just lease an SL? How much did they give you
?

I started a whole topic on this, and response was tepid, at best. I got about $2700 from Nissan, while they pocketed the tax credit. They also raised the residual about $1k, which lowers the payments slightly, but also makes the car less affordable to buy.

Interesting. I have seen random reports of this but it seems more regional than anything. What is total cost (lease payments - interest + residual + downpayment) of SL compared to sticker?
 
I posted all of that in the appropriate thread. 'New Order Details' I think. The tax credit skim isn't regional, though: Nissan's website shows it. You leased an S, IIRC, so you got the credit.
 
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