Lease an electric car?

[Rein1987]

I have always been taught that it is not wise to lease a car, but my neighbor recently leased an e-golf, and it sounds like a great deal to me.

Her car is $3000 down plus $199/month for 36 months. Will get a $2500 tax credit. Total cost for the 3 years < $8000. My company provides free charge station, so ideally it will costs me $0. In addition, this will enables me to get on carpool line during busy hours.

My current car is 11 years old. In the past two years I spent more than $3000 repairing the car so I really think I should get a new car. My family's average gas bill is about $250 per month. I believe with an electric car we can keep the bill under $100 (We still need another car for longer trip, and my husband needs to commute by car as well).

Please help me to understand how I should choose, lease an electric car, keep current car or buy another gas car?

[humbleMouse]

11 years old is not that old for a car.  Also, you just spent a lot repairing it, so I assume it is running now and probably won't need many future repairs?  I retract that last statement if your car is an audi or something like that.

I think we need more info about what your current car is.  ie.  miles, what the actual repairs were, current issues, ect. 

[forummm]

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/nissan-leaf-almost-paying-me-to-drive-it/

I bought instead of leasing, but the tax credits make leasing a good deal too. And I sold a really great 5-year old Corolla to do it, because of the math being so favorable.

Never put down any money on a lease. If you get totaled leaving the dealership your entire down payment is gone, even if you are not at fault.

[Rein1987]

11 years old is not that old for a car.  Also, you just spent a lot repairing it, so I assume it is running now and probably won't need many future repairs?  I retract that last statement if your car is an audi or something like that.

I think we need more info about what your current car is.  ie.  miles, what the actual repairs were, current issues, ect.

It was a mini cooper. I bought in 2011 from a friend for $7500.
For the past years, I got flat-tires twice, changed brake. The A/C system had a lot of problems. Once it was broken into pieces into the engine and I spent more than $2000 to clean that. The A/C still had some problem. The key's battery died recently that I had to rekey for a few hundred dollars.

Last month, the speakers got into trouble and I have not looked into fixing it. It keeps making a lot of annoying loud noises during driving, even when it was turned off. And there are a lot of small problems here and there.

The mileage is not high though, so I may be able to sell it at a good price. But I'm really frustrated with this car. I'll not buy any used European cars...

[Rein1987]

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/nissan-leaf-almost-paying-me-to-drive-it/

I bought instead of leasing, but the tax credits make leasing a good deal too. And I sold a really great 5-year old Corolla to do it, because of the math being so favorable.

Never put down any money on a lease. If you get totaled leaving the dealership your entire down payment is gone, even if you are not at fault.

I'm not very confident that I will favor an electric car for 5+ years...
One reason is that currently my employer provides free charging, and within the reach of an electric car. If I change job, I may lose the charge station. If the new employer is more than 40 miles away, I cannot use the car to commute.

Moreover........If there is going to be a cheaper Tesla version as the rumor said, e.g., $35,000, I want to go for Tesla!

[r3dt4rget]

I have always been taught that it is not wise to lease a car, but my neighbor recently leased an e-golf, and it sounds like a great deal to me.

Her car is $3000 down plus $199/month for 36 months. Will get a $2500 tax credit. Total cost for the 3 years < $8000. My company provides free charge station, so ideally it will costs me $0. In addition, this will enables me to get on carpool line during busy hours.

My current car is 11 years old. In the past two years I spent more than $3000 repairing the car so I really think I should get a new car. My family's average gas bill is about $250 per month. I believe with an electric car we can keep the bill under $100 (We still need another car for longer trip, and my husband needs to commute by car as well).

Please help me to understand how I should choose, lease an electric car, keep current car or buy another gas car?

If I were you, I would sell the Mini and buy a Prius. You could easily cut your gas bill in half and you are now in a much more reliable, practical vehicle. I don't know how much the Mini is worth, but I've seen decent Prius's in the 2004-2006 years with around 100k for around $5-6k.

The lease will be a most expensive route. $8k every 3 years is a ton of money to spend on a car.

[forummm]

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/nissan-leaf-almost-paying-me-to-drive-it/

I bought instead of leasing, but the tax credits make leasing a good deal too. And I sold a really great 5-year old Corolla to do it, because of the math being so favorable.

Never put down any money on a lease. If you get totaled leaving the dealership your entire down payment is gone, even if you are not at fault.

I'm not very confident that I will favor an electric car for 5+ years...
One reason is that currently my employer provides free charging, and within the reach of an electric car. If I change job, I may lose the charge station. If the new employer is more than 40 miles away, I cannot use the car to commute.

Moreover........If there is going to be a cheaper Tesla version as the rumor said, e.g., $35,000, I want to go for Tesla!

Re charging: It's super cheap at home. We pay about $10/mo for our 2 cars combined to charge at night. Your utility rates and mileage may be higher.

And you shouldn't live 40 miles from your job anyway.

[Sojourner]

I have always been taught that it is not wise to lease a car, but my neighbor recently leased an e-golf, and it sounds like a great deal to me.

Her car is $3000 down plus $199/month for 36 months. Will get a $2500 tax credit.

In my research into leased electric vehicles, my understanding was the tax incentives go to the vehicle Owner, which is the leasing company not the lessee.  May want to verify this prior to locking in on the deal.  Now on a purchase, sure you would be entitled to the tax credits.  The leasing company may reduce the lease price of the vehicle taking the credit into account, but the lessee may find that the tax credit has already been taken.  2 cents.

[forummm]

I have always been taught that it is not wise to lease a car, but my neighbor recently leased an e-golf, and it sounds like a great deal to me.

Her car is $3000 down plus $199/month for 36 months. Will get a $2500 tax credit.

In my research into leased electric vehicles, my understanding was the tax incentives go to the vehicle Owner, which is the leasing company not the lessee.  May want to verify this prior to locking in on the deal.  Now on a purchase, sure you would be entitled to the tax credits.  The leasing company may reduce the lease price of the vehicle taking the credit into account, but the lessee may find that the tax credit has already been taken.  2 cents.

It depends on the state. In GA, the federal tax credit goes to the finance company and the state credit goes to the lessee. The state credit is being changed next week though and I don't know how that affects leases going forward.

The federal tax credit is $7500, but is not available to lessees. Make sure the price of your car has been discounted by at least that amount, since the finance company gets to keep it. Nissan has something like a $8500 credit for leasing (passing on the tax credit). They also have a $3500 rebate and 0% financing for 72 mo (last I checked). So for me I got $7500 federal, $5000 state, $3500 Nissan, and 0% on the total before tax credits. So I borrowed the $26,000 at 0%, invested the $12500 in tax refunds, and won't even have any cash in the deal for another few years (I'm essentially sending a portion of the tax credits in each month until then). In the mean time, I'm making money on the invested portion, not buying gas or oil changes, and the car is still worth more than what I paid for it net ($13500).

[Rein1987]

I have always been taught that it is not wise to lease a car, but my neighbor recently leased an e-golf, and it sounds like a great deal to me.

Her car is $3000 down plus $199/month for 36 months. Will get a $2500 tax credit.

In my research into leased electric vehicles, my understanding was the tax incentives go to the vehicle Owner, which is the leasing company not the lessee.  May want to verify this prior to locking in on the deal.  Now on a purchase, sure you would be entitled to the tax credits.  The leasing company may reduce the lease price of the vehicle taking the credit into account, but the lessee may find that the tax credit has already been taken.  2 cents.

In CA, if you lease an electric car, you will get a  $2500 rebate check within 90 day.

[Rein1987]

http://forum.mrmoneymustache.com/share-your-badassity/nissan-leaf-almost-paying-me-to-drive-it/

I bought instead of leasing, but the tax credits make leasing a good deal too. And I sold a really great 5-year old Corolla to do it, because of the math being so favorable.

Never put down any money on a lease. If you get totaled leaving the dealership your entire down payment is gone, even if you are not at fault.

I'm not very confident that I will favor an electric car for 5+ years...
One reason is that currently my employer provides free charging, and within the reach of an electric car. If I change job, I may lose the charge station. If the new employer is more than 40 miles away, I cannot use the car to commute.

Moreover........If there is going to be a cheaper Tesla version as the rumor said, e.g., $35,000, I want to go for Tesla!

Re charging: It's super cheap at home. We pay about $10/mo for our 2 cars combined to charge at night. Your utility rates and mileage may be higher.

And you shouldn't live 40 miles from your job anyway.

Recently my husband has a job opportunity, a job more than 40 miles away. Compensation is about 50% more than his current job.
Because it's too far, he did not take it.

However, because more and more job opportunities there, there may be one day that we are willing to take a job offer there. (But both of us do not want to live there).