Nope. You have to return the car to Tesla.
1 Like
As of right now no 18 months on these but hopefully in the future with ridiculous RVs.
Nissans gonna have to move them somehow eventually. Man are they piling up really bad.
4 Likes
I do think that the interest, taxes, etc. make a reasonable difference. What do you think?
I enumerated a few scenarios for a 72 month loan at 5.59% interest, which is what Tesla offers.
It looks like in order to break even with leasing, I’d have to sell the car for a little over $25,000. Even if I were to sell it for $34,000, it would be $215 per month TCO. That sounds great, still, but it’s not exactly $44.00 per month TCO. But I supposed I remain a little skeptical that the price of a used Tesla Model 3 RWD is going to stay at around $34,000 in 3 years.
I’m not familiar with used car trends at all. Isn’t there a chance that the price of a used Tesla will dip below $25,000, especially considering that the used EV incentive begins at sale prices below $25,000?
There are other factors to consider like potential damage to car dropping its value, people not wanting to buy the RWD when they get the full EV credit for the other Model 3 models, etc. At this point, does it become justifiable to go either way?
1 Like
I would say its a toss-up. Its no-ones guess
1 Like
Stop overthinking everything and just do what you think is best…then come back 3 years from now and let us know how it went 
If car gets damaged, you are still liable before you turn it in so leasing or buying you will have to fix it before turning in or selling etc
Either way you will be stuck with it for 36 months to satisfy the $3500 rebate (or pro rated I’m guessing if sold early)
BTW You are not understanding TCO as @z0lt3c explained it to you lease vs buy favors buying as that $5K interest minus the $3600 potential equity when selling is $1595:36=$44/mo
You factor in the whole $7500 and $3500 rebates into your calculations for TCO 
I understand how @z0lt3c explained TCO, and I understand how they arrived at $44.00.
I did factor in the $11,000 rebates into my calculation. I subtract the rebate from the total cost figure to get the total paid figure.
If I get a 72 month loan at a 5.59% rate, I will have paid $28,519.14 after three years - principal, interest, and taxes. With the $11,000 rebate, I will have paid $11,000 less, for a total of $17,519.14 over the three years.
After 3 years, I will have $24,197.82 left on the loan. If I sell the car for $34,000, $24,197.82 of it will pay off the remainder of the loan, leaving me with a profit of $9,802.18. I’ve already put $17,519.14 into the car loan, so if I subtract the profit, I’ve spent $7,716.96 over the three years, or $214.36 a month. I’m plenty happy with that, but it makes an assumption the car will worth $34,000 in three years. (As an aside, are people really buying used Teslas at the same effective price as a brand new one with the EV credit?)
There’s an additional $8,299.63 of taxes and interest that are not accounted for in their calculation, which they acknowledge. But it’s not truly $44 a month TCO unless I’m really misunderstanding what TCO is.
1 Like
Chase the car first, payment second if this is going to be your main vehicle. That being said, the M3RWD is a very comfortable vehicle. Good seats, good visibility, and good room for 4 people.
If you are coming from an A3 I don’t see how the M3 isn’t a better vehicle in every functional way.
4 Likes
Not for me. I’m 6’2” and had my seat set all the way down and back. No adult would be able to sit behind me, fyi.
The Model 3 is compact/subcompact in size fyi
Did you ever try sitting in an A3?
Yeah that’s subcompact too LoL
I used to think the Model 3 was “midsize” until i sat in it but it’s a tiny car.
It’s deceiving from the outside.
Have you made a decision of what you plan to do today? Are you going to lease it or finance it?
I doubt that folks are still buying used Teslas for the price of a new one.
1 Like
I’m still thinking through it. I haven’t decided. I am trying to figure out the difference between financing and leasing. It’s a little tough to decide to lease when this topic is full of people telling me it’s the obvious choice to finance it instead. So, I’m trying to understand the trade offs before making a decision. Tesla told me I could switch to a finance and delay the delivery by a day or two.
If no one is buying Teslas at $34,000, I just don’t see how the financing makes sense, because it assumes I could sell the car for around that price in 3 years in order for it to be wiser to finance. Well, I’d have to sell it above $25,000 to break even with leasing.
2 Likes
I am curious to know what you ended up doing. For all the reasons you’ve listed here above, I went the leasing route three weeks ago (thanks, NJ, for $4k in rebates!), and I haven’t looked back. With all the advancements in battery tech we see all over the news these days in China, who knows how much today’s old tech will be worth three years from now. Plus, I’m convinced that it makes sense to rent something that depreciates (cars?) and own something that appreciates in value (house?). Financing requires making a lot of assumptions on resale values, and there are too many variables (tech, battery degradation, restylings, incentives, global economy, war, pandemic, Elon himself) at play with Tesla to make a solid case. The world is not a stable and predictable place as it used to be 20 years ago, thanks to globalization! Like you, I’m very risk-averse, so for me it made sense to just wait things out with a lease. No matter what you end up doing, only one thing is certain: I can guarantee you that you’ll enjoy every minute of your car. It’s so much fun to drive around! And if you go over your allotted mileage, it’s just $250 for 1000 miles, so don’t sweat it. Enjoy!
2 Likes
What’s your end goal? Are you looking to make a profit or break even after 3 years if you finance it?
If I were in your shoes and financed it, I would keep the car for more than 3 years.
What is the actual monthly payment and amount due at signing before any rebates?
What is the MSRP of the car? $43k?
Maybe I wasn’t super clear in my post, but I don’t want to keep it longer than 3 years. My partner and I would like an EV, in general. We like the way they drive, the convenience of charging, the (supposed) reduced maintenance, etc. But there isn’t an EV on the market that ticks all our boxes. I’d like to be able to confidently say, “We want to keep this for 5+ years”, but there isn’t a car we feel that way about.
We need a car. We’re borrowing a very generous family member’s spare car, but we’re carless otherwise. We’re treating this as a kind of stop gap. We’d like to re-evaluate EVs in three years when there’s more on the market and, hopefully, an EV that we really enjoy. I’m hoping that more cars will qualify for the federal rebate as the effects of the IRA set in. I could be wrong about that future, but it’s the assumption I’m operating under. It’s also possible I end up LOVING the Tesla and will have wished I bought it outright. But I just don’t feel that way right now. I did try to do my due diligence and rented one from Hertz for a week. I left feeling a little mixed.
I’m open to an ICE car as a stop gap. My partner feels really strongly about an EV, so here we are. I hope that helps explain where I’m coming from.
Here are the stats I have. Here’s a link to a calculator.
MSRP: $43,630
Money Factor: 0.0007917
Residual: $28,630.80
Base Monthly Payment: $473.95
Taxes: $29.62
Total Monthly Payment: $503.57
Total DAS: $1,337.01
The DAS includes the acquisition fee, the government fees, first month’s payment, and sales/use tax. I also paid a $250 order fee which isn’t reflected here. There’s a $395 disposition fee.
The price of the car dropped $1,000 yesterday, and my agreement doesn’t reflect that yet, so I’ll have to call to have it updated. But this is accurate as of my current lease agreement.
1 Like
One other thing to consider with a Tesla lease is that if you find the car isn’t working out for your lifestyle; you can transfer the lease fairly easily (if there is more than a year left)…maybe even at a profit.
Liability for the lease would go to the new leasee as well.
1 Like
You have to make a decision, and arrive at the math, that you can live with. I think you understand both sides of the argument well enough, at this point… I can offer a few datapoints.
They have been making the Model 3 since 2018 and there is a quite a bit of data that can be used to understand it’s depreciation. You will find the M3RWD has the least resale price variability across the Tesla lineup. I had already shared some wholesale pricing across model years earlier;
2023 TESLA MODEL 3 2WD 4D SEDAN BASE MMR $39,900
2022 TESLA MODEL 3 2WD 4D SEDAN BASE MMR $36,600
2021 TESLA MODEL 3 2WD 4D SEDAN BASE MMR $34,600
2020 TESLA MODEL 3 2WD 4D SEDAN BASE MMR $30,600
Keep in mind that the battery alone, as a take out part, in a 3 year old M3RWD is worth around $15K.
You are taking a risk on a RV projection one way or another. In the case of a lease, you are just letting the bank establish the RV. Maybe you are more comfortable with this because it’s known upfront. The problem is, if the bank is wrong, you cannot recapture the equity (like you did in your A3) because Tesla does not allow buyouts. With a purchase and future plan to resale, you are letting the market set the RV.
In either lease or purchase scenario, you will waste money on interest. I know it’s hard to purchase a car in cash, but that is really the best TCO solution, at the current rates for either financial product.
5 Likes