2019 LEAF SL with tech - first time lessee, help pls!

Ask the Hackrs
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My husband and I are looking at our first lease on our first EV. I have read so much and am still trying to wrap my head around Leasing. I understand that EV technology improving so we don’t want to be stuck with something, but I’ve always been taught to buy never lease cars.

We began from the following 2019 Nissan Leaf SL offer good thru 1/2/2019:

Nissan Leaf SL, $345 monthly, 36mo/10K, $3,979 initial payment (includes first month payment)

INCLUDES $8450 manufacturers rebate

MSRP $37,095 incl destination

Cap Cost $23,991 incl $595 acquisition fee

Purchase for $15,209 at lease end

EXCLUDES TAX TITLE LICENSE

The best offer (we think) is the following:

2019 Nissan Leaf SL with Tech Package, MSRP $38,395

36mo/increased to 12K miles ($345 + 18= $363 monthly pmt)

$4000 drive off

$363 month plus tax, for a final total $397 monthly

We negotiated via email, and confirmed that the money factor is .00258 for Tiers 1-3 credit.

Are we getting a good deal?

We have top tier credit, and .00258 = ~6.192% which I think is terrible. If we bought, I am sure we would qualify for 0.9% 60 month financing (I’d prefer 0%)

.00258 seems to be a common rate for Nissan, although I saw someone get it down to .00178 on a 2018 Leaf deal in February. I’d feel better about that.

I’ve heard Bolts have better deals, but I dislike the Bolt, and the only other car we’d consider right now is the VW eGolf.

Thanks in advance!

Nadine

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Why in God’s name would you put $4000 down? MF isn’t negotiable so it is whatever the bank sets it at.

If you’re truly set on a Leaf (which has way less range than the Bolt), you’re going to pay through the roof for it. It doesn’t lease well at all and the deal you have in front of you is awful. What’s your sales price and incentives breakdown? You’re effectively paying over $500 a month for a Leaf

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Thanks for the feedback.

The 4K drive off is about the same as the manuafacturers deal at $3934, but includes the fees. And the 2018 required $2934 so I was thinking this was standard. But perhaps we try to negotiate that down and try for a better monthly payment.

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I’m in the market for a leaf as well but doesn’t have any good deal currently. Depending on your current need, maybe once they actually launch the 60kwh car then this old model will drop in price… otherwise, you should get as many quotes using truecar to get a baseline for the discount and negotiate from there. You’re in SoCal and competition definitely helps.

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It didn’t require any down payment. That is just an example

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Thanks for your input!

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It leases poorly because of the terrible residual I looked for one for a long time and gave up. In CA you will probably qualify for 2500 rebate and maybe 500 additional from your power company.

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Nadine -

The money factor is, indeed, significantly higher on the 2019 Leaf than the 2018 model. You are spot on. Good for you for noticing that! :grinning:

You said you were considering purchasing, but keep this in mind: The $8450 incentive is for leasing customers. There is no incentive from Nissan for purchases of the Leaf at this time. You would be eligible to claim a federal tax credit of $7500 for 2017, but as you may know, it’s only a nonrefundable credit that reduces your tax liability up to that amount. It’s not a refundable tax credit.

Whether you lease or purchase, you will be eligible for a $2500 rebate from the Clean Vehicle Rebate Project, and if you’re a Southern California Edison customer, you’ll be eligible for a $450 from them. So, that would cover about 75% of your down payment.

If you’re not hooked on the Leaf, though, you may want to consider a Prius Prime or Volt. You could get one of those for about the same monthly payment, with close to $0 down, and you’d still be eligible for the two rebates I mentioned, although the one from CVRP would be $1500 rather than $2500 since the Prius Prime and Volt are plug-in hybrids and not fully electrical cars.

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Thanks for your input Mark, I really appreciate it. I’ve learned so much reading these forums, and I am grateful that this community exists!

We are actually in NorCal, Bay Area, but the site forced me to enter 2 tags :slight_smile:
PGE’s rebate actually goes from $500 to $800 on 1/1/19!!

Here’s where we are today in our dealings:
We have narrowed our search to a lease on the 2018 SL, and dropped the tech package.

Our current offer is $2K drive off, 36/12K miles, $362.15 monthly, with all tax, title, license. The money factor at .00186 (4.46%) is much more palatable to me.

Am I getting a better deal now!?! I think I am, as overall lease costs are down to
$14,679 (so $407/mo) vs the original $17,884.55 ($496/mo originally).

Thanks for any further feedback!

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Nice! Extra money is always good. :smiley:

With the Leaf, what you’ve described may be as good as it gets at this time. The residual value is dismal no matter which model year you choose, but at least the money factor on the 2018 model is much lower.

Keep in mind that since you’re starting off with last year’s model, of course you should expect to pay less. Even though it’s new to you, the car is worth less now than it would have been a year ago. But if you really like it and think you’ll keep it for the full term of the lease, you’ll be fine. Even if you decide to get rid of it, I believe Nissan does allow lease transfers, so that’s an option if it comes to that.

Keep up posted. I’d love to get a Leaf myself, but I may wait for the upgraded battery pack to arrive.

Good luck! :+1:

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If you do lease transfer you might have to pay back the CVRP.

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Very good point, sharksfan. Possession of the vehicle for 30 months is required to keep the full amount of the rebate.

Thank you.

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@PaleEmpress I just wanted to make sure you knew that if you were to purchase a 2018 there is an additional $3000 PG&E rebate right now.

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I asked for that before, it is not a rebate, it lets you buy the car for $3000 below MSRP. In other words, if sell price is less than $3000 below MSRP, then the PG&E discount is useless since they do not stack.

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Nissan does not do a clean transfer, you will still remain on the lease and ultimately responsible if anything goes wrong.

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@sharksfan15 Yeah, I just found that out last night. Too bad. It seems like you should be able to combine with dealer discount because I would think PG&E rebate is coming from PG&E and Nissan.

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Hi PaleEmpress, I live in the Bay Area, too, just got a 2018 SL Leaf this weekend in Davis for $33,057 selling price, MSRP of $37,465. It’s an SL with cargo mats and splash guards. Same 2018 money factor, $8250 incentives (plus $1000 loyalty). I worked with Ramin. I think they have one more left at that dealer. My co-worker and I each bought one so I probably should have gotten an even better deal. :confused:

Lots of 2018 SVs left close-by (and in Dublin they have several), but nothing with the All-Weather package, which I consider a must-have - except at Razzari in Merced…

Thanks, all, for the confirmation about the PG&E $3000 ‘rebate’. I was hoping that would stack, too, but it didn’t.

Good luck!

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Have you considered a Clarity?

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I was emailing with Ramin last week. Very transparent guy.

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Hi there,
I am on the same boat looking for a 2019 SL with tech pacakge.
The hayward nissan quoted me $33,855 pretax, MSRP38,395.
Was your $33057 before tax or after tax? Do you mind to share your Out The Door Price with us?
THank you.