Deal check on MINI Electric

Ask the Hackrs
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Revisiting this thread… I’ve been considering getting a 3rd car - something that my wife can drive if I ever need to take the SUV out (my other car is a 6mt and she refuses to learn), and something I can drive in the winters when the roads are filled with salt. Also want something really small that wouldn’t take up too much space in the garage. And lastly… something I won’t hate to drive.

I’m really interested on the Mini EV, and was looking at used options because I don’t qualify for the $7,500 tax incentive and don’t want to spend a ton of money on a 3rd car. Then I realized the loophole with leasing where if the manufacturer is willing to take the $7,500 off the price of the car, I can bypass that income cap associated with the tax credit.

That being said, it got me to really start considering coming back to leasing (I haven’t leased in a while now). But I noticed the 2 door EV has a significantly lower residual than the gas powered one. I’m wondering if they’re doing this to compensate for providing the $7,500 up front.

Here’s my calculator link for the deal they have advertised:

My questions:

  1. Looks like doing it this way and then cutting a check for the $15,827 (including tax) at the end would still net me out better than if I was to finance it or pay cash up front. Unless my math is wrong? But it seems to be very minimal savings.
  2. I haven’t been able to find much info on Minis in this forum. Does anyone know if they are further discounting these cars? I’m in Chicagoland, and I’d imagine dealers would have a really hard time selling a 110 mile range EV in the midwest. But I haven’t been able to find much information.
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42%? Why, just WHY do you want to lease this. ($7500 is tempting, but 42% means you need to buy it out now)

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Go test drive a new Mini EV, and then go test drive a slightly used i3. Just paying cash for a slightly used i3 will be much better than a new new Mini EV with free money from the government. The free money from the government will already be factored into the used car value of the i3.

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Well $7,500 was the reason. Think of it like a lease with intention to buy to secure the $7,500 discount

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Thanks, I’ll check it out. Only knock against the i3 (besides the looks) for me is that it’s RWD and i don’t really want a separate set of winter tires.

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What state are you in? I’m guessing you’re going to be able to do a lot better, perhaps with a Hyundai, Nissan, Kia, Toyota or Subaru EV. Or as @z0lt3c posts below, to go with @AutoNinjas for the discount.

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These are selling wholesale in the mid-20’s – so if your just after low TCO, I think you would be better off being the second owner then the first. Also see this post from @AutoNinjas if you want an actual discount (9%);

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I believe that the i3 qualifies for the used EV tax credit too, although it sounds like OP might not qualify for that.

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Im in illinois… so in addition to the $7,500 lease cash i could potentially also get a $4k rebate from illinois which doesnt seem to have an income cap - but there’s conflicting info on if it’s applicable to leases or not.

The hyundai kona ev isn’t sold in illinois for whatever reason. The nissan ev is much too large, same with the subaru soulterra. One of the things that attracts me about the mini ev is how small it is.

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Thanks, I’ll check these out, somehow these didnt show up when i was searching for info on mini deals.

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Yup that’s part of the issue. The whole reason i was considering leasing is because of the tax credit loophole which allows dealers to bypass limitations such as US manufacturing requirement and income caps associated with the tax credit by offering it in the form of lease cash.

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Had an odd encounter today with the dealer. I was told that if i order the car, the $7,500 incentive isnt garranteed to be available at time of delivery. This confuses me because theyre also askikg for a non refundable $1k deposit. How can i place an order with a non refundable deposit and not know how much ill be paying? I know with BMW dealers here in the midwest, deposits are refundable, and you can lock in rate/incentives at time of credit app. Susprised that mini wouldnt do somethint similar. Anyone have any insight into this?

I was debating between an in stock model vs a custom order - turns out the custom order wouldn’t be much different in price even after discount than the in stock model. But i have a feeling they’re telling me that the incentive isn’t garranteed because they want me to purchase the in stock model (which has been sitting in inventory for over 4 months now) as opposed to special ordering one.

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